Eric Clapton - I Still Do

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good album from Eric

My first response to this album was relief.  After the frankly dismal Old Sock, this is Eric back to somewhere near his best in places and although I don't think it's a classic, it's a very decent album.

The material here is a mixture of blues, JJ Cale covers, one or two other standards and a couple of pretty good new songs from Eric.  It all (well, almost all) has a directness and solid musical honesty which is very welcome after Old Sock's slick indulgence and insincere gloss, and Eric seems to me to be back in his natural territory with tracks like the opener Alabama Woman Blues and JJ Cale's Can't Let You Do It, with a sort of semi-acoustic, slightly laid back but robust feel pretty well throughout.  Frankly, I could have done without Little Man, You've Had A Busy Day, but the odd track I don't like on an album is forgivable and most of it is fine, tight and well performed stuff with enough variety to make it a good listen.

OK, this isn't ground-breaking.  There isn't a wealth of new material from Eric and it's largely the man and his (excellent) band doing what he does well in a fairly familiar way with restrained, classy production from the legendary Glyn Johns.  For me, there's nothing wrong with that.  Nothing at all.  And as a Clapton devotee of almost half a century's standing I'm pleased to find he can still make a worthwhile album.  This is more than worthwhile, I think; I like it a lot and I can recommend it.