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09 May, 2011
461 Ocean Boulevard
1 of 1 found this helpful This was Clapton's first album after he stopped taking heroin and because he hadn't practised much during the previous three years (1971-74) his lead guitar playing was a little rusty. Consequently on 461 he and his new band of American musicians settled on an understated, almost minimalist, approach for most of the songs with basically no tweeter shredding solos - to great effect as this is arguably Clapton's most coherent collection in his four decade career. Highlights are the classic crossover rock/reggae groove of I Shot the Sheriff, the emotional cry for help from the depths of Give Me Strength and the sexual tension of Get Ready, as well as the George Harrison influenced Let it Grow (Clapton has written that he ripped off Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven on that one but I can't hear it myself). Add to that two driving rockers in the semi-autobiographical Motherless Children and George Terry's Mainline Florida and covers of three classic blues numbers delivered with rock steady precision, it makes for an outstanding listening experience. Clapton's singing voice had suffered during his addiction and he became a much stronger singer later (check out 1980's Just One Night) but even so his laid-back vocals on this album are convincing and really suit the restrained material.Two other points worth mentioning are the fantastic chemistry between the musicians, especially the rhythm section, where drummer Jamie Oldaker and bassist Carl Radle excel and Tom Dowd's production, where amongst many other good things he achieves the most natural drum sound of any producer I have heard. Despite his perpetual restlessness and the subsequent peaks he scaled Clapton never found better co-conspirators than these Oklahoma boys and on 461 they helped him show he was not still a serious player still capable of making an album with strong tracks all the way through. It's no surprise therefore that it was massively successful and it still stands up as a milestone of 1970's rock.
25 Apr, 2011
Clapton's English band does boogie, blues and ballads.
1 of 1 found this helpful Great singing and an interesting contrast in guitar styles between Clapton and Albert Lee. Slightly thin sound for me but very enjoyable to listen to if you like material whose smooth Fender Stratocaster twang and Yamaha electric grand piano vibe does not make too many demands on your inner ear. Clapton was deep in his heavy drinking phase at this time (1979) and perhaps that shows in his lead playing which is for the most part competent but not exceptional. Even so this eclectic collection is well worth having as a milestone on rock guitar's elder statesman's long and winding road at the end of what had been a tough decade since the demise of Blind Faith.
22 Oct, 2010
This was a very good deal. Fast delivery, low price.
It would have been be almost impossible for The Hoosiers to top their first album The Trick to Life, which spawned several major hits and is a work of pop genius, displaying considerable originality at the same time as strong hints of seventies classic tunes such as ELO's Mr Blue Sky and the theme from the Sweeney - great fun spotting those. The Illusion of Safety is more of a dance album, with dense synthesiser production and perhaps fewer vocal pyrotechnics. Each track is very well crafted, with familiar Hoosier chord changes and more predictable lyrics.However it lacks the wow factor and sheer bounce of the first album. Even so it represents a fine example of the melodic pop genre and is definitely worth a listen or three. The Hoosiers appear to believe that music should be enjoyable to listen to and deserve great credit for not striking the hackneyed nihilistic black leather posturing that nearly all 'cool' rock bands have affected over the past fifty years. Well done boys but why did you wait three long years to give us the Illusion? - commercial suicide or what..