by Craig Constantine

I subscribe to a mail-order CD club. Each month, I receive a card which I can send in to order CDs. If I don't check "send nothing" and return the card, the club ships the "selection of the month" automatically. It's a terrific scheme for them that plays on my laziness. Last month, I forgot to send the card back, and was shipped the selection of the month. In previous months, I had been less than pleased with the selection. However, this month, I was pleasantly surprised with Eric Clapton's latest release, "From the Cradle." Grinning from ear to ear, I ripped off the plastic and stuffed the CD into my player.

The first track opened strong and sounded very good. I settled back, thinking that this would be one of those tracks that would really grow on me. It had a strong back beat, and it wailed out of my speakers like something I could really sink into. Then, slowly, it began to plod, then drag, and finally started to grate on my nerves. I started thinking, "Hey! What happened to Clapton's voice?", followed closely by my wondering what possessed him to write the piece at all. When I checked the discography, I was shocked to see that nothing had in fact possessed him; he hadn't written ANY of the sixteen tracks on the entire CD.

As I skipped through and over tracks, things just got worse. My initial revulsion was so strong, I couldn't listen to more than 30 seconds of each track before I had tossed it back onto the shelf. I spent the rest of the day grumbling about the seventeen or so dollars I'd have to pay if I didn't repackage it and ship it back.

I try to give everything a fair shake before passing judgement, and, the next day, I thought that perhaps I might have judged too quickly. I am an open-minded Eric Clapton fan, and I feel that a certain quality and signature defines all of Clapton's music. However, "From the Cradle" is simply not Eric Clapton. Granted, each album reshapes that "signature" and what I consider "Eric Clapton", but that "uniqueness/signature" that pervades all of his creations is flatly missing. While there is certainly great variety in his past music (listen to "Slow Hand" and "Behind the Sun" back to back), "From the Cradle" is simply different. I firmly believe that change is often good, and growth is often better, but this album is neither.

Of course, "From the Cradle" physically sounds like Eric Clapton - by which I mean I can often recognize his straining voice. But the feel of the music is... well, it doesn't "feel" at all. Sometimes it sounds a lot like the blues, and, at other times, it sounds like it really wishes it sounded like the blues. I've heard blues that made me think and feel blue, blues that made my neck muscles loosen up and made my head loll around uncontrollably, and blues that made me understand what the song and the writer were about. "From the Cradle", though, just sounds like Eric Clapton living out a dream of being a blues singer.

A few days after I had struggled twice through it, I heard that it was nominated for a Grammy. (Which was the funniest thing I'd heard all week.) Assuming that the people who pick the Grammy nominees know more about music than I do, I decided that I had better listen again. Maybe I had judged too quickly. So, I taped myself to my chair, prepared to see what I thought after a few repetitions of the album. That painful experience has only strengthened my opinion.

A friend of mine who stumbled upon me in the process of suffering through one of the tracks said, "Eeuuh, he's straining his voice... and that music, it's not engaging - it's irritating... I just want to rip it out and throw it," to which I firmly agreed. It sounds to me like all sixteen tracks start with one of three guitar riffs. The tracks plod along like elephant marches and run together, forming a big smear in my mind. Although "From the Cradle" has spent several hours in my player, I still can only identify one song with its title without listening to the refrains.

It is beyond me how "From the Cradle" won the Grammy for best "Traditionaly Blues Album." My opinion of the album is obvious. My suggestion, however, is that you BORROW a copy and decide for yourself. You may find something I missed - just don't expect to find Eric Clapton.