First of all, I find it funny that during those years of excellent music (1970-1975 plus before and after :D ) several albums were named with ridiculously long names. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and so forth ;). Despite the length of the title, Layla (etc. Blah-blah-blah) is a record filled with beautiful melody lines created with guitars, basslines, keyboard or even drums. And the sound is hungry! All the way from the beginning the whole album seems to be filled with guitars sounding like they are really in desperate need of something. A fix, perhaps. During the years there's been rumours and facts telling the audience that this album was distilled under heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Which can also be seen from the inner sleeve of the album. Nevertheless, this is once again one of the roadmarks on my musical path.
I'm just wondering, is the hungry sound on guitars achieved by using a certain equipment; Fender Stratocaster(s) jointed with Fender Champ amp or what was the case, then. At the moment, I'm not quite sure what type of guitar-amp combination was used by Duane Allman, Clapton was definitely using the Strat. Still, the sound is great!
Later on, mr Slowhand has surprised with albums filled with more or less nonsense and lame music. The pleasant surprise from him was, of course, the 'From the Cradle' album, although it was a 'bit' too clean and well played to raelly ring the bell. This one, in the other hand, still seems to keep on sounding at least a bit dangerous, dispite the fact that the songs are more or less light pop-music mixed together with the brilliant blues-stylish licks.
The music in this album is consisted of more or less pre-composed songs and structures combined with studio jamming. (If I got it right!? - Comments welcome!!) Which brings the music closer to mere mortals than for example the brilliant masterpieces like Electric Ladyland and Bitches Brew, where the actual composing and arrangement was done during the long and totally free jam-sessions plus the time used behind the mixing table together with the tracks themselves. The instrumentation here is more the same thing you could hear while the band was playing, the studio equipment was made for recording only, not used as an external instrument itself. Which, I suppose, makes the music easier to approach and adopt.
It also seems that on this record, Clapton was capable of creating the personal sound of a whole band on the record. And used the similar setup later on, too. At least on 461 Ocean Boulevard and Slowhand, you can hear the same tonal approach in the final mixdown. But I have to remember to really point out the Duane Allman's brilliant guitar techniques, which really lift this record to the climatic spaces of eager rock noice. If I can say so ;)
Check out at least these songs: Bell Bottom Blues, Key to the Highway, Little Wing, Layla (The end part and mr. Allman !), Thorn Tree in the Garden, Have You Ever Loved a Woman, Tell The Truth. And the others, too ;)
