1970 Eric Clapton – Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is the debut studio album by English rock musician Eric Clapton, released in August 1970 by Atco and Polydor Records.

After being in several successful rock bands including The Yardbirds, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream and Blind Faith, Clapton recorded an album under his own name in late 1969 and early 1970. The album cover, photographed by Barry Feinstein, depicts Clapton sitting in a Los Angeles photo studiowhile smoking a cigarette, his Fender Stratocaster Brownie electric guitar leaning between his legs.

Clapton recorded some tracks in November 1969 at London’s Olympic Studios and went on to record more songs in 1970 in two sessions; one in January 1970 at the Village Recorders Studio in West Los Angeles and a second session in March the same year at Island Studios in London. A large number of musicians that worked with Clapton on the album had been working with the band Delaney & Bonnie, which previously opened the Blind Faith gigs. The musicians included the core of Derek & the Dominos, including co-creator and co-songwriter Bobby Whitlock, who can be heard on “Let It Rain”.

The song “Let it Rain” had originally been recorded with different lyrics as “She Rides”. Three mixes of the album were done, one by Delaney Bramlett, one by Tom Dowd and one by Clapton himself. The 11-track album, Dowd mix was the one used for the original release. Bramlett’s 10-track album mix without “Told You for the Last Time,” is included in the Deluxe Edition released on CD in 2006.

In an interview from 2006, promoting The Road to Escondido, Clapton recalled that he was very happy making this album and was pleased with the results of the recording sessions, but also noted that “the only thing he didn’t like about the album is his voice”, because it sounds so “high” and “young”, which Clapton disliked, because he “always wanted to sound like an old guy”.