The 10 Most Expensive Vinyl Records Ever Sold

TUESDAY TRIVIA

What gives goods value? When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's first Tweet sold as an NFT for $2.9 million dollars, that was an eye-popping event. That it was auctioned off as a way of raising money for charity helped build the kitty, for sure. I recall Eric Clapton auctioning an assortment of guitars he owned and played for $6 million a decade or two ago. And original lyrics by major songwriters have fetched a pretty penny or two. Dylan's handwritten lyrics for "Like a Rolling Stone" garnered two million big ones in 2014, surpassing "A Day in the Life" by more than a million. And, I believe it's now been surpassed. 

Which brings us to today's diversion. Can you name the 10 most expensive vinyl records ever sold? 

It's apparent than vinyl has made a comeback in recent years. There's nothing quite like the fidelity of a clean album on a primo stereo system. Analog is warmer, richer and more real. 

That being said, we return to value propositions. It's not just the fact that they are vinyl that gives these 10 records value. If I perfectly reproduced 100 copies of Dylan's lyrics for "Like a Rolling Stone" you will not see any of them fetch the price the original captured. As much was we love the song, the lyrics, and the memories it evokes, it's not going to be what generates stratospheric value.

The operative word in this game is rare. Hence, the album that captured the #10 slot on this list is one in which only 250 vinyls were produced, and of these 245 were destroyed in a fire. Five exist and one of these sold in Britain for 25,742 pounds.

The article we're using as our "final authority" here was published at hmv.com in 2019, so it may be possible that the leaderboard has been penetrated by a newcomer or two. If this is so, leave a comment and link below in the comments so we can become the trivia know-it-alls that we deserve to be in this esoteric space.

One more caveat. I am not going to share the full list here. That might diminish your motivation to go check out the details of each entry that the editor of hmv.com worked so hard to assemble. Instead, I will talk briefly about the five Beatles-related discs on this list. 

Yes, four of the top ten are Beatles vinyls and one other is the John Lennon/Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy, probably the last one he signed before he was shot and killed outside the Dakota in New York Upper West Side. This album came in #5 on this list of most expensive vinyls and sold for $150,000. I've written elsewhere about how I was in Mexico City that day on December 8, 1980 when he was shot. This album was signed that same day, a few hours earlier.

The three Beatles albums on the list are The Beatles: Yesterday & Today, Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band signed by all four ($290K), and the first pressed Beatles White Album, which Ringo had owned and auctioned off for $790K. #7 on the list was not an album, but rather a rare acetate of the beautiful crooner  "Till There Was You".

What's striking to me about the album pictured to your right here is that someone actually decided that this would make a good album cover. It shows The Beatles with beheaded dolls and slabs of meat. The album was a compilation of hits that had been released in North America only, but was quickly withdrawn. 

There's more to the story, though. When The Beatles White Album, which featured an all white cover with nothing else but the name embossed on it, the effect generated all kinds of rumors, including a rumor that there was a photo of The Beatles with dismembered babies on it, and if you soak it in water the image will appear. I vividly recall hearing that, but did not proceed to dunk my album in water to see if an image would appear in the manner of invisible ink. I did, however, play Revolution #9 backwards numerous times to find clues about the death of Paul.  

A mint condition sealed original of the "Beatles as Butchers" cover fetched $125,000 at auction, which placed it at #6 on most expensive vinyls ever sold as of 2019. Instead, the album cover we ended up with on our store shelves was this one pictured to the left.  

#4 on the Top Ten Most Expensive list forever seems to appear as one of the "greatest albums" of all time on Rolling Stone's lists, as well as one of the coolest album covers of all time. We're talking about Sgt. Pepper here, of course. The reason this one sold for $290K is because it was signed by all four of The Beatles. 

It was the original acetate for "Till There Was You" that placed it on this list. If acetates are worthy of being included with the albums, I'm curious what some of the Dylan acetates in Bill Pagel's archives are worth.  

If you're into music and nostalgia, then head over to the website and see what other rare gems are there. You'll see an Elvis's first test pressing at #3 on the list. Can you guess the song? And the #1 has a story behind it that you will think, "What? Huh?" Yet it sold for a cool two million. It is neither British nor American. That's your last clue.

Meantime life goes on...  Listen to the music.

Related Link

The Beatles White Album Goes On Tour

As You Said by Cream, in response to the passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman

February 2014

Let's go down to where it's clean
To see the time that might have been.
The tides have carried off the beach.
As you said,
The sun is out of reach.
~Jack Bruce, Pete Brown

The passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman earlier this week brought to the forefront once again the dilemma of how to respond to people of exceptional talent, their subsequent fame, and their character disorders. It challenges us because all too often we look up to people who have the same feet of clay that we do. They are not gods. They are flawed. How do we separate their failures as role models from the exceptional gifts they have?

* * * *

The song As You Said by Cream bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown is from one of the great rock and roll double albums of all time, Wheels of Fire. It's psychedelic, surreal art is an attempt to convey the heady times and the remarkable music that Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker performed on stages both sides of the Atlantic. Clapton was practically still a kid when he linked in with Bruce and Baker, two very seasoned musicians with a volatile relationship.

The music they produced was remarkably sophisticated. Each of the men was a virtuoso. And the songs were poetry in motion, lyric content often hearkening back to historical literary roots. For example, the first stanza of As You Said ends with what is likely a reference to Icarus, who flew too near to the sun. The song is an exquisitely crafted lament, and perhaps serves as a warning about stretching too far or attempting to fly to high. Tales of Brave Ulysses from their Disraeli Gears album is explicitly rooted in Homer's Odyssey.

The album itself draws its title from Ezekiel's vision of wheels within wheels:

13-14 The four creatures looked like a blazing fire, or like fiery torches. Tongues of fire shot back and forth between the creatures, and out of the fire, bolts of lightning. The creatures flashed back and forth like strikes of lightning.

15-16 As I watched the four creatures, I saw something that looked like a wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. This is what the wheels looked like: They were identical wheels, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. It looked like they were wheels within wheels, like a gyroscope.*

The chief feature of the double album that so set it apart was the manner in which the first two sides were produced in the studio while the second two sides were recorded live at the Fillmore in March 1968. I have often felt that Side A on this second vinyl is one of the best live rock recordings of all time. The interplay between Clapton and Bruce is unmatched for virtuosity and power as they tackle those blues classics Crossroads and Spoonful. The improvisational breakouts and breathtaking bounty of sound simply soars through the senses.

The personal conflicts between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker were something to which the average teen like myself was oblivious. And maybe its this naive obliviousness that enables us to place these mortals on pedestals and treat them like gods.

Much has been written about Clapton as a god, but the real Clapton was a troubled, self-destructive man for a very long time as he wrestled with his own personal demons and pain. Fortunately, he came out the other side, clear-headed, clean and sober. He was rescued by love.

The same cannot as yet be said for Mr. Baker. A documentary has been been produced on Britain's most gifted drummer, aptly titled Beware of Mr. Baker. It's a gripping portrait of a self-centered, dysfunctional human being. As this Guardian interview shows, the great drummer is anything but a role model. Those who loved him were those whom he hurt most.

Which brings us back to Mr. Hoffman. Are we asking too much to expect our heroes to also be role models as well?  How do we respond when our heroes break the law, hurt others or self-destruct? The reality is, we live in a broken world. Disillusionments will be our lot time and again if we forget this truth.

*Ezekiel 1:13-16, The Message

Historic Rendition of My Back Pages and a Bit of Backstory on the Song

The song "My Back Pages" originally appeared on the early acoustic album Another Side of Bob Dylan. It's interesting that Dylan never played the song in concert until the summer of 1978. Could it be that he now had enough back pages to put authenticity into the performance? He continued to include the song in his playlists on and off till the summer of 2012, performing it 260 times over that period of time.

One of those performances was the 30th Anniversary Concert, 16 October 1992, celebrating a milestone in Dylan's recording career. (Who will be in the 60th anniversary event in 2022?) The concert featured various artists performing over 30 great Dylan songs from his expansive catalog, mostly from the Sicties, though Willy Nelson pulled "What Was It You Wanted" from Oh Mercy, and the O Jays covered "Emotionally Yours" from Empire Burlesque. (You can see the playlist and details about everyone who performed here on Wikipedia.) It was an amazing line-up, and near the end of the night Dylan played two selections --"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and the one featured here, "My Back Pages."

Certain details seem to stick with you no matter how long you live, and one that stuck with me (regarding this song) was how Dylan recorded the entire album in one evening. The studio session took place on June 9, 1964. Fourteen songs were recorded, eleven of which appeared on the album Another Side of Bob Dylan. (Contrast this with the weeks and months The Beatles spent on their later albums once relieved from deadlines imposed by touring and the record company.)

There were a number of people in the studio that night including the journalist Nat Hentoff who was working on a piece for The New Yorker. It's a great read as we see first hand how quickly the young Dylan had matured as an artist. Please make time to follow the link at the end of this blog post. Hentoff sets up his piece like this:

From mural in Minneapolis.

A few weeks ago, Dylan invited me to a recording session that was to begin at seven in the evening in a Columbia studio on Seventh Avenue near Fifty-second Street. Before he arrived, a tall, lean, relaxed man in his early thirties came in and introduced himself to me as Tom Wilson, Dylan’s recording producer. He was joined by two engineers, and we all went into the control room. Wilson took up a post at a long, broad table, between the engineers, from which he looked out into a spacious studio with a tall thicket of microphones to the left and, directly in front, an enclave containing a music stand, two microphones, and an upright piano, and set off by a large screen, which would partly shield Dylan as he sang, for the purpose of improving the quality of the sound. “I have no idea what he’s going to record tonight,” Wilson told me. “It’s all to be stuff he’s written in the last couple of months.”

Mural in Haight-Ashbury

Wilson goes on to confide, “I’m somewhat concerned about tonight. We’re going to do a whole album in one session."

Having read a lot of Hentoff's essays and stories over the years, including his autobiography, this article was a special pleasure to read.

Dylan came into the control room, smiling. Although he is fiercely accusatory toward society at large while he is performing, his most marked offstage characteristic is gentleness. He speaks swiftly but softly, and appears persistently anxious to make himself clear. “We’re going to make a good one tonight,” he said to Wilson. “I promise.”

And it was a good one. The album was a summing up of his acoustic stage and a preview, lyrics-wise, of what was to come.

The six legendary performers who sang "My Back Pages" were Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Dylan and George Harrison. In moments like this I can't help but have this thought: When each of these performers was a teen, do you think they imagined being on a stage someday in Madison Square Garden with some of the most famous performers of their generation? For each, though, it all started with a love of making music. Each one is a reflection of the saying, "Follow Your Bliss."

Here are the lyrics, with the performers of each verse inserted.

My Back Pages

Roger McGuinn
Crimson flames tied through my ears

Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ’neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Tom Petty
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Neil Young
Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Eric Clapton
A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Bob Dylan
In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

George Harrison
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Copyright © 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1992 by Special Rider Music

Here's the performance on YouTube.

What's interesting to me is how Dylan, in the Hentoff interview, appears to have no clue how far his fame would carry him. He claimed to be only concerned with the now, and not focused on where the future would take him. “Now there’s this fame business. I know it’s going to go away. It has to. This so-called mass fame comes from people who get caught up in a thing for a while and buy the records. Then they stop. And when they stop, I won’t be famous anymore.”

Now that he's garnered a Nobel Prize, he's compared with Shakespeare along with the suggestion that in 100 years we will still be studying his songs.

The latter part of the interview includes some hilarious myth-making on Dylan's part, but that's another story for another time.... READ IT HERE: Bob Dylan, The Wanderer by Nat Hentoff.

MEANTIME, life goes on all around you. Get into it.

Which is the Best Blues Guitar: Fender Stratocaster or the Gibson Les Paul

Looks like a Strat to me

I have never been a regular guitar play (I did enjoy playing riffs on a bass, but never learned chords on anything but a piano) so I don't really understand why various famous players choose the weapons they employ. I know that the Fender Stratocaster is one of the more popular used by many rock stars, but that others made other choices. For this reason I decided, out of curiosity, to ask Google why Stratocasters were so popular. One response was a link to this really interesting Eric Clapton Speaks: Best Blues Guitar, Gibson or Stratocaster. The article itself was insightful, but the 66 comments were especially illuminating. Here are a few of these.

1. The reason Clapton suddenly went to the Fender Stratocaster in one word Hendrix, because until Hendrix died of a drug overdose Clapton could not be seen with a Strat for to do so would be to be compared, Eric Clapton has freely admitted Jimi Hendrix was the best player of the era. They are a great guitar the Strat the low deck is very comfortable, pickups so versatile, it is just that every man and his dog plays one or a copy of one, how do you stand out if you have only average talent?

2. Absolutely. Strats are very thin sounding guitar. If you are into great tone you would never look at a strat. Personally I believe Hendrix played a strat to look like a freak. Taking a guitar that was developed in conjunction with the surf music of the time, and then not using a left handed model. That’s shear stupidity in it’s own right because you can’t reach the upper frets. His best blues tone was always on the Flying V, again another freak guitar. I played a strat for a time because when I was born meant that I grew up in the 80s and everyone had a strat pretty much. I thought Gibsons were old hat. Then I bought a Gibson Les Paul. That led to me owning about 50 Gibsons. I switched to Hamer, Musicman, Patrick Eggle, PRS and others. I just bought a Carvin SH445. It has an alder body with a maple neck and top with an ebony fretboard and proper upper fret access. It makes anything from Gibson or Fender pale by comparison. It’s the best guitar I’ve played and/or owned. A LOT of the reason for the Strat’s popularity is because they’re a relatively cheap guitar, even as a copy they’re cheaper than a Gibson copy. AND because Hendrix played one. His influence was massive. Fender realised this when they paid Eric Crapton (sic) $100k to exclusively play Fenders. I believe his decision to go that way was as a direct result of Jimi Hendrix. He will never admit it but to me it’s obvious.

3. Gibsons stay in tune better and they have great necks/action. The quality of tone of them compared to a Strat is subjective and not worth debating. I think the true advantage of the Strat is its versatility. A good player can get almost any tone from a Strat. And he can play it all night long because it doesn’t weigh 10 lbs.. Plus, aesthetically, the Strat’s curves are reminiscent of a playboy centerfold. The lines of an LP look like a soccer mom with cankles.

I own and love both guitars, but 90% of the time when my hand reaches for one of them it’s the Strat. That guitar just allows more of my individuality and articulation to come through than does a Gibson. This is perhaps why more of rock’s greatest legends play Strats.

4.  I’ve owned everything under the sun. LPs, strats, PRS, Yamaha, Epi, Ibanez Jem, etc. After all these years and having the experience of owning many guitars, I have had the opportunity to understand what I want in a guitar, by being able to pick out my favourite aspects of each one. Here’s what I learned.

Reading all this made me curious about some other guitar players of the era. What did Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead play, for example. Here's a site that cites his choices over the years. If you're curious about the guitars the Beatles selected, Wikipedia spells it out here.

Personally I really loved the sound of the guitars on Blue Cheer's Vincibus Eruptum and the Doors' "When the Music's Over". Based on this website, Robby Krieger of The Doors favored the Gibson models.

Dylan's guitar selections over the years are documented at www.groundguitar.com/bob-dylan-gear/
It's not surprising that when he went electric he chose a Stratocaster, the guitar of choice by Buddy Holly, who he saw and heard at the Duluth Armory a few days before "the day the music died."

For a page of Stratocaster images, click here.

What a difference a decision can make. Do you have a favorite guitar?

Photo credit: Bill Pagel, San Francisco November 8, 1979

Who's the Greatest Guitarist of All Time?

It happened that about a dozen years ago or more I was asked to settle a dispute between two co-workers. One claimed Eddie Van Halen should get the nod, the other placed Hendrix on that ultimate pedestal. It was up to me to choose the tie-breaking vote. It wasn't really that hard for me. I first made my case for Eric Clapton. But ultimately, for innovation, influence and mastery, well Hendrix really was one of a kind.

It's the kind of debate that has gone on in every field of endeavor no doubt. Who is the greatest boxer? Who was the most influential writer? Who is the most talented magician? What is the best jazz album of all time?

These kinds of debates are probably fairly meaningless in one sense. What I have to think of say about it doesn't influence much of anything. But when a magazine like Rolling Stone weighs in... well, it may not settle the debate for some people but it does reveal how many talented rock and roll guitarists there have been out there. And if nothing else, it gives the publication a chance to sell a lot of magazines. If you're into rock 'n roll guitar, the December 8, 2011 Rolling Stone just might be the ticket.

Before going any further I should note that the electric guitar and the guitar are two different animals. The wonderfulness of a guitar used to be that you could take it anywhere. You could bring it to a remote village or a family reunion or to the beach for a serenade. You can lead choruses or make solitary revelry anywhere in the world with nothing more than a guitar.

Rock and roll music as we know it requires amps and electricity and sound systems. When Dylan was in Duluth in 1998, the team running the sound system was on the floor of the DECC in the midst of parallel 100 foot longs tables covered with dials and wires and assorted equipment designed to control volume, pitch, yaw and all the rest. This kind of music is not something you bring to a mountaintop except on your iPod.

The Rolling Stone special edition is fun because most of the writers are themselves guitarists or rock musicians. The Eric Clapton profile is written by Eddie Van Halen. The George Harrison piece is penned by Tom Petty. Keith Richards writes about Chuck Berry and Nils Lofgren of the E Street Band writes about Richards. It just adds a dimension that you won't find in most other places.

So let's cut to the chase.

Rolling Stone pretty much settled that one debate between my co-workers by placing their selection for numero uno on the cover. There was only one Hendrix. I still remember the incredible sounds that his three-man band produced on their first album, Are You Experienced? As Tom Morello writes, "He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage." Where he came from and how he accomplished the things he achieved are a book length story. Suffice it to say, few would argue with placing him first and foremost in this list.

I won't be listing all one hundred here, but we really do need to comment on a few of them. Eric Clapton did rock the world with his guitar. Van Halen writes, "Eric Clapton is basically the only guitar player who influenced me – even though I don't sound like him. There was a basic simplicity to his playing, his style, his vibe and his sound. He took a Gibson guitar and plugged it into a Marshall, and that was it. The basics. The blues. His solos were melodic and memorable – and that's what guitar solos should be, part of the song. I could hum them to you."

I myself had all the Cream albums. The live jams on side three of Wheels of Fire never ceases to satisfy.

Number three on the list is Jimmy Page. I remember being in Scott Homan's basement when we heard the first Led Zeppelin album with songs like Dazed and Confused. Page, whose roots had been with the Yardbirds, lived the rock and roll dream and has survived to tell about it. Joe Perry writes, "He had this vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do... He was writing the songs, playing them, producing them – I can't think of any other guitar player since Les Paul that can claim that."

Times of have changed in the music scene, but rock and roll is intimately woven into the Sixties. Much like the atmosphere that sustains life on earth, it nourished imaginations, and comforted a lot of souls during a time of great upheaval.

Time will not permit more than mentions of the rest of the top ten, as selected by Rolling Stone. There is Keith Richards of the Stones weighing in at #4, Jeff Beck #5, B.B. King at #6, Chuck Berry #7, Eddie Van Halen #8, Duane Allman next, and rounding out the top ten is the irrepressibly intense Pete Townshend of The Who.

One of the names on this list (#92) is Dimebag Darrell, who was shot to death while performing in Columbus in 2004. I mention this only because it's proof that going on stage really can be hazardous to your health. Fame isn't the only killer of rock stars.

Much more can be told here, but... I'm on a deadline. If you're favorites are not here, check out the full Greatest Guitarists list at Rolling Stone.

Photos at top of page by Andrew Perfetti

The Little Red-Haired Girl

Due to dense cloud cover I had trouble with my satellite internet connection this a.m. Is this what they mean by "cloud computing"? I doubt it.

Few there are who've never read the comics in a Sunday newspaper. And fewer still who have never seen the Charles Schultz classic Peanuts. For some it is a "fix" and for others a habit.

Schultz created more than 18,000 strips and Charlie Brown even made it to television.

Most of us know the main characters, with Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and Snoopy being the head of that pack. What's interesting is that we not only know all these characters -- and some really are characters -- but that we've even gotten to know those characters who are not ever seen in the strip. A short list of these would have to include the Great Pumpkin, Red Baron and the Little Red-Haired Girl.

Over the years much has been made about who these characters are. That is, what are the meanings these characters symbolize. Whole books have been written about this, though like other great art, maybe all this defining goes far beyond what Charles Schultz envisioned. But art allows for this. The non-specificity lets readers take it into their own spheres.

Is the Great Pumpkin a myth like Santa Claus? A benevolent hope founded on wishful thinking? Or can it be a reference to something more, something senses beyond the senses?

The Little Red-Haired Girl whom we never see is... well, we all know who she is. Like the other symbols, she may have a different name, but we remember her. How could we forget that unrequited longing? Who hasn't been in Charlie Brown's shoes, noticing her but not knowing what to say. The moment comes, it goes, is gone. Anything touched by her, or remotely associated with her, becomes sacred. On one occasion he finds her pencil dropped in the hall. The little teeth marks are a reminder that this is no ordinary pencil.

According to Wikipedia, she first appeared in 1961 in a lunch room scene. We never saw her, but we know she was special because Charlie Brown said, "I'd give anything in the world if that little girl with the red hair would come over and sit with me." We've probably all been there at one time or another.

I guess the Little Red-Haired Girl came mind because of convergence of sorts. When I read Eric Clapton's autobiography a couple weeks ago I learned that his album Derek & the Dominoes was written entirely as an ode to Patty Boyd, George Harrison's wife. He invited her over to hear the album before its release. She rejected his overtures, but the album is a great one, conveying much of Charlie Brown's unreserved, tragicomic stoicism.

Layla was one of the great songs on the album. This link takes you to the lyrics of Bell Bottom Blues, Clapton's Ode to Patty Boyd. To her credit, she remained with George. He wasn't ready for a mature relationship yet.

Clapton Autobiography Proves To Be A Worthy Read

"I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist." ~Eric Clapton

It’s Dylan Days in the Northland, but since I just finished reading Eric Clapton’s autobiography I can’t help but address it one more time.

First, a few details. I listened to the audio version, which was abridged. It was very good and covered his life with ample detail to be satisfying. According to some reviews the unabridged version has dry spots. Perhaps he felt an obligation to produce a lengthier tome, as opposed to a slimmer volume, because he was paid $7 million dollars to write it and did not wish to shortchange his sponsors.

The book comes across as a remarkably candid personal account of his life. He doesn’t flinch from things that put Eric Clapton in a poor light. It's real, tragic at times, actually quite powerful. It's not something you pick up for the juicy gossipy bits. It's a real account of one man's struggle to achieve manhood. This is, in fact, the single theme throughout: Clapton’s struggle to become a mensch. Despite great personal pain, escapist behavior and setbacks, he came through the dark valley and up the other side to make a contributions beyond his own self-promotion.

Being one of the luminaries of the rock scene this past four decades, it’s not surprising that Clapton’s career bisected many other greats of the era and he gives much praise to these with whom he had the privilege of performing. As someone quite talented, his assessments carry a measure of weight.

If you do a Google search you’ll quite a few reviews of this book, and I would encourage you to check them out. I like Greg Kot's review of October 14, 2007 which opens like this:

“Clapton is God,” the graffiti in London once said. But Eric Clapton knew better. He wasn’t God. He was struggling mightily to be a man, and by his own admission didn’t quite become one until he was well into his sixth decade.

“Clapton: The Autobiography” (Broadway Books) does what many rock historians couldn’t: It debunks the legend, de-mythologizes one of the most mythologized electric guitarists ever, puts a lie to the glamor of what it means to be a rock star.

“Backstage, John [Lennon] and I did so much blow that he threw up.” Those few words capture the book’s tenor: intimate, scandalous, titillating, but ultimately sad, at times pathetic. Legends reduced to drug-addled buffoons.

As a first-time author, Clapton has a matter-of-fact, self-deprecating touch. In this autobiography, for which he was reportedly paid nearly $7 million, the guitarist who launched the Yardbirds, Cream and Blind Faith psychoanalyzes himself and recounts a life riddled with drugs, booze, womanizing, shame, self-doubt and self-destructive choices. He sleepwalks through the prime of his life in a haze of self-medication, and rightly trashes most of the albums he released in the ’70s and ’80s. “There was no reason for me to be making records at all,” he acknowledges, yet he went right on making them, tarnishing a great legacy almost beyond repair.

What struck me most about the book is the feeling of transparency it conveys. At the end I felt I understood his views, convictions as it were, regarding music and art and the values he possessed. He lays his heart bare in this story, and perhaps that has always been the power behind his work.

Consider these lines from the song Tears In Heaven, written with Will Jennings after the horrorific loss of his four year old son Conor. I still remember the shock I felt when I heard that nightmarish news in 1991, having a son of my own at a similar age. I can't even imagine going through something like that.

Time can bring you down,

Time can bend your knees.

Time can break your heart,

Have you begging please, begging please.

When I finished the book last night I put on his Greatest Hits album Time Pieces, followed by Derek & the Dominoes and his breakout Journeyman album while making art in my studio. It was a nice evening after a thought provoking read.