Eric Clapton

Vinyl Reissues WaRneRs

Getting back on track. After a sloppy end to the 70s, Eric Clapton worked his way back to peak form through the 80s with these four albums, now reissued on vinyl, remastered from the original analogue masters.

He dropped his 70s band for 1983’s Money And Cigarettes

(7/10), bringing in Ry Cooder, Albert Lee and a rhythm section of Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn and Roger Hawkins. Hear them all step up to the plate on Everybody Oughta Make A Change. The songs get a makeover on Behind The Sun (8/10) with hits Forever Man and Tangled In Love plus live favourites She’s Waiting and Same Old Blues.

The guitar synthesiser Clapton of August (7/10) gave him new sounds to explore, while Tina Turner kept him in touch with the charts on Tearing Us Apart, and 1989’s Journeyman (9/10) reaps all the benefits. Amid the lush production there are majestic songs (Pretending, No Alibis), reflective songs (Running On Faith, Old Love), covers

(Ray Charles, Bo Diddley) and even a designer hit (Bad Love).

A classic, then and now.

Behind The Sun and Journeyman have both been reconfigured as double albums, getting you deeper into the groove, although it also means you’re never sitting down for long. Strangely, August is a single album even though it’s virtually the same length as Behind The Sun.

hugh Fielder