The Briefing Room
General Category => General Discussion => Music Threads => Topic started by: corbe on December 28, 2018, 04:39:39 pm
-
The Sound Of Slowhand Clapping Befits The New Eric Clapton Biography
A new biography by Philip Norman, 'Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton,' dwells on the salacious details of one of our most beloved rock stars but doesn't adequately celebrate his talent.
By Bruce Edward Walker
December 28, 2018
It’s a story often told since the 1960s: A talented, albeit spoiled and emotionally damaged, child ages into a pampered post-adolescent celebrity with substance-abuse issues and a trail of wrecked lives behind him and finally seeks redemption upon reaching adulthood decades later. In the case of guitarist extraordinaire Eric Clapton, it’s been told in elaborate detail—including a 2007 mea culpa penned by the man himself.
Mostly forgotten in these many retellings is the music he was inspired to create despite or perhaps due to his many insecurities masked by a fog of alcohol and heroin, as well as bounteous sex and obsessive relationships with his best friend’s wife, among others. But, unfortunately, the biographical details of Clapton’s life too easily lend themselves to a simple recounting of all the sex and drugs with only a mild seasoning of the rock and roll that subsidized the whole megillah.
It’s all reminiscent of the old BBC “I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again†gag wherein an emcee announces, “Ladies and gentlemen: Petula Clark sings!†and another voice responds, “Yes, we know that.†From countless magazine articles and anthology liner notes to previous books by Steve Turner and Chris Welch, tell-all documentaries, the aforementioned autobiography by the man himself as well as another by his ex-wife, it’s all a sordid paint-by-numbers exercise by this point. It seems there’s nothing new under, in front of, or behind the sun.
A Profound Inspiration
<..snip..>
http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/28/sound-slowhand-clapping-befits-new-eric-clapton-biography/ (http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/28/sound-slowhand-clapping-befits-new-eric-clapton-biography/)