Eric Clapton

Life In 12 Bars

EaglE Rock Dredging Slowhand’s emotional depths. It’s a curious thing that Eric Clapton has become a byword for toothless pipe-and-slippers rock. As Life In 12 Bars capably reminds us, no 1960s survivor has taken more body blows, nor harbours more demons beneath the MOR reputation.

Driven by voice-overs, rare stills and some amazing archive footage, pathos drips through this doc from the start, as Clapton’s troubled childhood renders him “spoilt”, “selfish” and “introverted” (his words), then poisons his 60s relationships, the guitarist presented as a philandering zombie. Most ghastly – and magnetic – is the 70s section, from the tragi-comic footage of an alcoholic Clapton berating the crowd and calling his band “c**ts”, to unearthed interview tapes that are chillingly candid (“I don’t like life… and I’m not going to live very long”).

But live he did. And although Clapton’s late work doesn’t electrify as it once did, by the credits you’ll salute him just for staying upright.

Henry Yates