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Whistle Stopper - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
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List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $8.31
Your Save: $ 5.67 ( 41% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Polydor / Umgd
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0731453182028
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: Polydor / Umgd
Manufacturer: Polydor / Umgd
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Polydor / Umgd
Release Date: 1996-08-20
Studio: Polydor / Umgd
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: BEFORE JESSICA THERE WAS LAYLA
Comment: In 1970, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was released, featuring two of the most outstanding guitarists ever, namely Eric Clapton and Duane Allman. A landmark album in its own right, Layla is perhaps one of the most widely disputed LPs in terms of how proper mastering was and is to be done on CD.
The first known CD release was in the early 1980's in a two-disc format; production capabilities of this then-new format could only allow a maximum play time less than 75 minutes, roughly two-and-a-half minutes short of the entirety of this masterpiece. This issuing was, by and large, not well-received by fans and audiophiles, because there was too much noise and tape hiss, signaling that duplication and reproduction had been done from a source quite removed from the original masters.
Since then, serious attempts have been made to issue CD's properly remastered from the original source recordings. Thankfully, Polydor has followed through with the "Clapton Remasters" series, which includes Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. In this version, the 1996, 20-bit production has a rich sound far better than the first generation of CD's to ever come forth.
Contained are the introductory "I Looked Away" and the album rock staple, "Bell Bottom Blues". Quite noteworthy is the band's version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing". The album was released only three months after Hendrix's death, so many thought that this cover was an immediate tribute to the guitar icon. In fact, the track was recorded about one week before his passing. Near the end is the immortal "Layla", arguably one of the greatest rock songs, if not the greatest rock song, ever recorded.
Collectively, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is a most enjoyable, though sometimes poignant, listen. On a parallel with the sorrow that would emanate from witnessing the passing of young, promising stars, including Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and the aforementioned Hendrix, one cannot help but feel the great loss the music world would suffer less than one year after the completion of Layla when, on October 29, 1971, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident.
All in all, the album has, again, the finely tuned, top-notch guitar work of the great Clapton/Allman combination. Perhaps most importantly, it has inaugurated and, due to the popularity that remains over a generation later, has preserved the legacy of not only Eric Clapton and blues artists but also that of the Allman Brothers and the Southern rock genre.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Passion, Brilliance, Perfection
Comment: What can I say about this album that hasn't already been said by most of the reviewers here? This is a stone-cold, front-to-back masterpiece, easily in my Top 10 Desert Island Discs. Combining Clapton and Duane Allman, both at the absolute peak of their abilities and teaming them with a phenomenally tight and soulful group of musicians produced this staple of classic rock.
The sad thing is, a lot of casual listeners don't know anything of this album past "Layla" and "Bell Bottom Blues". I was one of these until I got the album in my 'free' CDs from BMG about 13 years ago. I was completely floored at the stunning passion in this music. They ease you in with the mellow shuffle of "I Looked Away" before the passionate, gut-wrenching "Bell Bottom Blues" - "Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you?! Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back?!" Clapton howls in a fit of unrequited love. Brilliant. Up next is one of my favorite tracks on the record, "Keep On Growing", a rollicking, up-tempo, shuffling stomper with a fantastic shared lead vocal between Clapton and Bobby Whitlock punctuated by Clapton and Allman's fiery dueling solos. 6:22 passes like 10 seconds when you are bathed in this orgy of fiery guitars. Amazing. In fact, Clapton and Whitlock team up on several of the albums best tracks, including the absolutely blazing "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?" and the pleading urgency of "Anyday". "Key To The Highway" is an old blues standard covered by just about everyone under the sun, but the version here may be the best of all time, with the band locked into a barrel-tight yet still relaxed groove while Allman and Clapton push each other to the max, trading licks and solos, almost silently daring each other to top the last. Their emotional reading of Hendrix's "Little Wing" FAR outshines Jimi's original. (Sorry Hendrix fans, but it's true._ The only version I've heard that comes close to this is Stevie Ray Vaughan's haunting instrumental take on it. Another blues chestnut, "Have You Ever Loved A Woman", conveys the theme of this album (Clapton's secret passion for George Harrison's wife, Patti) as well as any of the original tracks. You can hear the pain in Eric's voice as he tears through the lines - "Have you ever loved a woman, so much you tremble in pain? All the time you know, she bears another man's name..." Clapton's soloing on this track is fiery, dirty, raw, and nasty. This isn't all the tunes here ( I didn't even mention the title track, as everyone is familiar by now...)
Bottom line - rock fans, blues fans, Clapton fans, Allman fans, GUITAR fans. BUY THIS ALBUM NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: For anyone who loves rock n' roll, this is a must-have album.
Comment: While you can get a few of the tracks from LAYLA on "Best Of" albums of Clapton classics, this album contains a host of lesser-known gems, such as "Anyday" and "Why Does Love Got to Be so Sad" -- and that last one has got to be the most up-tempo sad love song in history. I've owned LAYLA since the original vinyl release back, like, a million years ago. As music technology advances, I keep on buying it in every new format, because even though the tech changes, this album is always fresh.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Clapton + Allman = timeless
Comment: I absolutely love this album. It sounds as good today as it did over 30 years ago! Clapton has always worn his heart on his sleeve in his songs and never does it better than this....his voice and guitar filled with angst and passion mixed up with Allman's guitar and vocals is the best. Revisiting it gave me chills.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Derek's Only Surviving Domino...
Comment: This was one of the 1st CDs I bought just before I bought my 1st CD player and it remains one of my favorite CDs to this day. I have to admit, I bought it solely for "Layla", which is my all-time favorite song along with "Bell Bottom Blues", "I Looked Away" and "Anyday". I read through a lot of the reviews written about this CD on here and I'm appalled that most every one of these reviews gave Clapton so much credit for ALL the songs. There were several reviews that I read out of many that were posted on here that gave Bobby Whitlock credit for the FIVE songs that he co-wrote with Clapton, not to mention the last song, "Thorn Tree In The Garden", which is solely Bobby's song. Not one person who has written a review on this site concerning this song knows what REAL meaning is behind it - it is NOT about a lost lover. For all of those who wrote that they were wondering what happened to Bobby and if he's okay - Bobby and his wife CoCo have a regular gig here in Austin, TX and at each and every one of their gigs, Bobby tells his audience the story behind "Thorn Tree In The Garden" before they perform it. If you want to know the REAL meaning and the story behind it and the other Domino songs told by Bobby himself, you'll have to come to Austin to find out because I'm not sharing! You can also see what Bobby and his wife have been up to on his MS page. Bobby deserves just as much recognition as Eric and the rest of the "Dominos"!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Layla stands as one of a handful of pillars of classic rock. The short-lived ensemble that was the Dominos provided an outlet for Eric Clapton to vent his then unrequited (and secret) passion for the wife of his best friend, George Harrison. Romantic anguish inspired Clapton to write and collect an embroiling and interconnected song cycle. Meanwhile, latecomer Duane Allman prodded Clapton to tear it up on guitar, so as not to be overwhelmed by his even more talented foil. Of course, Clapton eventually won the hand of his lady love. And then he divorced her. Sometimes real life messes up a good plot line. --Steve Stolder
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