Clapton

A loner by nature, virtuoso guitarist and rock legend Eric Clapton took refuge in the blues as a teenager growing up in post-war Britain. This bestselling memoir shows how his own emotional ups and downs were well suited to the tortured temperament of the music. Rejected by his mother, and an outcast until he became a musician, Clapton's life has been anything but an easy ride. Simon Vance tells his story with a somber eloquence usually reserved for great theatrical presentations. In a quintessentially British way, the result is an emotion-fueled soliloquy with a slightly mournful air that matches Clapton's own tortured notes on the guitar. A revealing look at the man behind the myth. J.S.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

August 20, 2007
Readers hoping for sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll won't be disappointed by the legendary guitarist's autobiography. As he retraces every step of his career, from the early stints with the Yardbirds and Cream to his solo successes, Clapton also devotes copious detail to his drug and alcohol addictions, particularly how they intersected with his romantic obsession with Pattie Boyd. His relationship with the woman for whom he wrote “Layla” culminated in a turbulent marriage he describes as “drunken forays into the unknown.” But he genuinely warms to the subject of his recovery, stressing its spiritual elements and eagerly discussing the fund-raising efforts for his Crossroads clinic in Antigua. His self-reckoning is filled with modesty, especially in the form of dissatisfaction with his early successes. He professes ambivalence about the famous “Clapton is God” graffiti, although he admits he was grateful for the recognition from fans. At times, he sounds more like landed gentry than a rock star: bragging about his collection of contemporary art, vigorously defending his hunting and fishing as leisure activities, and extolling the virtues of his quiet country living. But both the youthful excesses and the current calm state are narrated with an engaging tone that nudges Clapton's story ahead of other rock 'n' roll memoirs.

That's why they call it the blues. Guitar legend Eric Clapton looks back at his life in this self-inflicted account of painful memories. Clapton, a veteran of such legendary bands as the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos, is ruthless with himself. He holds nothing back, nor does he ask forgiveness for a life of selfishness and excess. Bill Nighy becomes Clapton in this first-person narrative. With dignity and humility coming through in his performance, Nighy talks about Clapton's decades of cheating, philandering, drug use, selfishness, and outright stupidity. But he's so brutally honest and guilty it feels like he is too hard on himself. We have to wonder if a more dispassionate chronicler might have wielded a kinder pen. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine