Beginning with 1989\u2019s Journeyman<\/i> and continuing through 2004\u2019s Me And Mr. Johnson,<\/i> Eric Clapton rotated studio albums consisting of blues covers\u2014including one with B.B. King (Riding With The King<\/i>)\u2014with rock\/blues fusion releases that boasted many original compositions. <\/p>\n
Reptile,<\/i> released in March of 2001, returned producer Simon Climie and many of the band members from Clapton\u2019s Pilgrim<\/i> project, yet the results were very different and the music was ultimately superior. Clapton managed to keep Climie\u2019s inclination to program instruments under control. The drum machines were turned down and the synthesizers used more judiciously. It all added up to an intimate, very good album.<\/p>\n
Andy Fairweather-Low returned as the second guitarist as did Joe Sample, who handled the keyboards on eight of the tracks. The inspired addition was the use of the legendary soul group, The Impressions, as back-up singers for ten of the fourteen tracks. They complemented Clapton\u2019s vocals well and provided a fullness of sound that was unique among his releases. <\/p>\n
As with many of his non-blues studio albums, sometimes Clapton\u2019s guitar playing disappears into the background and the solos are much too short. Still, what is present is representative of his talent. Two instrumentals bookend the album. The title song has a smooth, almost jazz feel to it while \u201cSon & Sylvia\u201d contains some nice acoustic work. <\/p>\n
The old Ray Charles tune \u201cCome Back Baby\u201d is given a superior treatment. Billy Preston\u2019s joyful organ playing drives the song along and combines well with Clapton\u2019s bluesy guitar lines, while his near-gospel vocal floats above the mix. \u201cI Ain\u2019t Gonna Stand For It\u201d is a rare, successful cover of a Stevie Wonder composition. <\/p>\n
\u201cSuperman Inside\u201d and the J.J. Cale tune \u201cTravelin\u2019 Light\u201d find him in rock mode while his own composition, \u201cBelieve In Life,\u201d is a quiet love song. <\/p>\n
Reptile<\/i> presents the modern studio Clapton at his best, and while it may not contain the guitar pyrotechnics that I would necessarily like to hear, it is still a satisfying album. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":30621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5887],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42291","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-eric-clapton","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42291"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}