re: NEW Clapton CD with Jerry Pornoy

[Jp Pagan <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx>]

garry hodgson said:

> ...the harp...
> it's... more of an afterthought with eric

michelle lefree said:

> Yup!!!  My first reaction was to ask why does
Clapton need/want a whole
> orchestra backing him up on these elegantly simple
songs?  My next reaction
> was that, jeez, I wish Clapton would unleash Portnoy
at least every now and
> then.  Like the rest of the musicians on this album,
~all~ of Portnoy's
> playing is quite obviously designed and produced to
prop up Clapton's guitar
> and singing.  Finally I realized the pervasive truth
in what you said above.
> The whole thing is very heavily and carefully
orchestrated and produced to
> push Clapton's admittedly capable guitar work and OK
singing right up front.
> It feels real "arranged" and "packaged", which I
somehow find objectionable

Hi all,

   If i might respectfully disagree with some of
this...
   I think overall, Portnoy does what a good musician
is supposed to do -- add to the overall quality of the
music. So it's not a "Harp Album" in the way one of
Rod Piazza's productions or one of Little Walter's
solo albums is -- it's still an example of great
harmonica playing in a solid ensemble, and of good
tunes in general (i'll admit though, it won't reach
the heavy rotation that "From the Cradle" gets, but
that's not Jerry's fault, it's just a matter of
personal taste.) 
   I do think Portnoy gets buried in the mix
sometimes, but he also stands out on some numbers -
"Little Queen of Spades," "Traveling Riverside Blues,"
"Me and the Devil Blues" and on alot of tunes, he
plays all the way through - "When You Got a Good
Friend," "Hell Hound on My Trail," "They're Red Hot"
(in which he has solo), etc - adding to the song,
helping propel it or adding accents. He also provides
part of the basic rhythmic foundation for and has a
solo on "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day"
(which i still found sort of a disappointing addition
to this album cause it's so much like "Rollin' &
Tumblin" from the Unplugged album.)
   I do wish Portnoy  had played more amped however.
He plays acoustic on a number of tunes, and in some
cases i just felt it would have fit in better for him
to been plugged in. 
   One tune I didn't like at all was "32-20 Blues."
Clapton's treatment just felt too "jaunty" for such a
dark tune. (I'm refraining from making any more direct
comparisons between Clapton's arrangements and
Johnson's, cause they're just 2 totally different
approaches to the music.)
   To me, these recordings sound like a bunch of very
highly skilled musicians sitting around cranking out
tunes they know by heart. More polished than, say,
Johnny Young's South Side Blues Band, but with a
similar kind of sharing of the parts (ok, so Big
Walter had more solos than Jerry gets, but you know,
he wasn't way out front like LW was with Muddy.)
   Obviously, I don't exactly share the feeling that
Clapton is a spotlight-hog (which is kind of what some
of the criticisms seem to be saying.) Sure, he's the
featured performer (and he IS the singer!), but on,
for example, "From the Cradle" i think Jerry's playing
MAKES some of those tunes. he's way out front on
"Hootchie Cootchie Man" (natch), "Blues Leave Me
Alone," and "Standin Roun' Cryin." and on a tune like
"Third Degree," Jerry's backup adds a whole other
layer to the song, imo. If Clapton had wanted to just
show himself off, he could have done a better job of
it on this latest album (like he did on Unplugged,
imo).
   Anyway... blues or harp music is like any other
music, of course: you like what you like. This is, to
me, a good album but not a fave, while to some it
won't be so hot, and to others it'll be "goldilocks" -
just what they've been looking for. Just thought i'd
offer my slightly divergent take ;)

      --Jp 
  


	
		
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