Derek and the Dominos

Name	Derek and the Dominos
Landscape	Yes
Background	group_or_band
Origin	New York, New York, USA
Genre	Blues-rock
Years active	1970–1971
Label	Polydor
Associated acts	Delaney, Bonnie & Friends The Allman Brothers Band
Past members	Eric Clapton Bobby Whitlock Carl Radle Jim Gordon

Derek and the Dominos were a blues-rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends.

The band released only one studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, which featured prominent contributions from guest guitarist Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band. The album went on to receive critical acclaim, but initially faltered in sales and in radio airplay. Although released in 1970 it was not until March 1972 that the album's single "Layla" (a tale of unrequited love inspired by Clapton's relationship with his friend George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd Harrison) would make the top ten in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The album, which has received praise from both critics and fans alike, is often considered to be the defining achievement of Clapton's career.

Beginnings

The seeds of Derek and the Dominos can be found in the band members' involvement with Delaney, Bonnie & Friends of which they were all members, including Duane Allman who had played with the act before Clapton. The members' departures from the group were caused by the constant infighting between Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Whitlock explains: Gordon and Radle left D&B; to play on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour with Leon Russell, but Whitlock remained on with the Bramletts for a short time.

Whitlock was looking for a gig, and Steve Cropper suggested he visit Clapton in England; Whitlock would subsequently live in Clapton's house and during that period the two would jam, hang out and write the bulk of the Dominos' catalogue.

Soon after, they called the rest of their former Delaney and Bonnie musicians, Dave Mason, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon and together the quintet became the backing band for George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass. Yet another version emerges from Clapton's biography in which the guitarist maintains that it was Ashton that suggested to Clapton the name "Del and the Dominos" ("Del" being his nickname for Clapton). Del and Eric were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos." Either way, the band took up the new name and embarked on a summer tour of small clubs in England where Clapton chose to play anonymously, still weary from the fame and high-profile chaos that he had felt plagued Cream and Blind Faith. An article about the band in Hit Parader magazine suggested the band's contracts with halls that booked their live performances included clauses stating Clapton's name was not to be used as a crowd-puller. Dexter’s account of the facts appears somewhat more plausible at least than Whitlock's, as Ashton, Gardener and Dyke were never on the “Eric Clapton and Friends" tour.

From late August to early October 1970, working at Criteria Studios in Miami under the guidance of Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, the band recorded Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, a double album now regarded by many critics as Clapton's masterpiece. Most of the material, including Layla (which later became an FM radio staple) was inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, who was married to his best friend George Harrison. It was not until several years later that Pattie would consent to an affair and later move in with Clapton in 1974, and marry him in 1979. They separated in 1985 when Clapton started a relationship with Lori Del Santo, and they divorced in 1988. Whitlock reminiscing would later say:

Duane Allman's inclusion

A few uninspired days into the Layla sessions, Dowd, who was also producing for the Allmans for their album Idlewild South, invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami, where Clapton first heard Duane Allman play. The Dominoes were sneaked into the show with the help of Dowd and sat between the riser and fans below. At the concert, Dowd distinctly remembers:

Formal introductions were made after the show. Eric invited the entire band to Criteria Studios for a jam. After the concert was over, they all came back to the studio and jammed until approximately 6:00 the next night, Dowd remembered. "They were trading licks. They were swapping guitars. They were talking shop and information and having a ball no holds barred, just admiration for each other's technique and facility. There was no control. We turned the tapes on and they went on for 15 to 18 hours like that. You just kept the machines rolling. I went through two or three sets of engineers. It was a wonderful experience."

Those jams can be found on the second CD of . After the all night jam Duane had hoped he would be able to sit in the studio as an observer while the Dominos recorded, but Eric would have none of that. According to Dowd, Clapton told him, "Get your guitar. We got to play." When Duane arrived at Criteria Studios on 28 August to play on "Tell the Truth", the sessions were lifted to a higher level. Many critics would later notice that Clapton played best when in a band composed of dual guitars; working with another guitarist kept him from getting "sloppy and lazy and this was undeniably the case with Duane Allman."

The Layla album

Although most commonly attributed to Clapton, the album was truly a group effort. Only two of the 14 songs on the album were written by Clapton alone and Whitlock wrote one of the tracks alone "Thorn Tree in the Garden". Rather, most of the songs were the product of Clapton and Whitlock's writing co-operation, but a number of blues standards were included as well, including "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Jimmie Cox), "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (a Billy Myles song originally recorded by Freddie King), and "Key to the Highway" (William 'Big Bill' Broonzy).

The last of these was a pure accident—the band heard singer Sam Samudio ("Sam the Sham") in another room at the studio doing the song, liked it, and spontaneously started playing it. The startled Dowd heard what was happening, and quickly told the engineers to "hit the goddamn machine!" and start the tape recorder running—which explains why the track starts with a fade-in to playing clearly already underway.

But the song "Layla" was also included in History of Eric Clapton in 1972, and Atlantic issued the song as a single. It was a smash hit, charting in both the US (#10) and the UK (#7) and again charting in 1982. Clapton reworked the song as an acoustic ballad in 1992 for his MTV: Unplugged album. The song charted at #12 in the US and also won a Grammy Award.

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs has continued to be noticed by critics and has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#89). and Rolling Stone (#115).

Live shows

in Tampa, one of the two shows in which Allman appeared.]] After the recording of Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, the group undertook a drug-riddled and vice-prone US tour that didn't include Allman, who had returned to The Allman Brothers Band after the recording process. However, Allman did perform two shows with the group at Curtis Hixon Hall, in Tampa, Florida, on 1 December 1970, and at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York, the following night. Whitlock recalls their drug situation as: Despite the drugs, the tour resulted in a well received live double album, In Concert, which was recorded from a pair of shows at the Fillmore East in New York, New York. Six of the recordings from that album were digitally remastered and expanded with additional material from the same shows to become Live at the Fillmore, released in 1994.

Tragedy and dissolution

Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by the death of his friend and professional rival, Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a version of "Little Wing", which was added to the album as a tribute. One year later Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews and weak album sales upon release; Clapton took this personally, accelerating his spiral into drug addiction and depression. In 1985 when talking about the band Clapton remarked:

The band disintegrated messily in London just before they could complete their second LP. Much later in an interview with music critic Robert Palmer, Clapton said the second album "broke down halfway through because of the paranoia and tension. And the band just ... dissolved." Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic, killed his mother with a hammer in 1983 during a psychotic episode. He was confined to a mental institution in 1984, where he remains today.

After the dissolution, Clapton turned away from touring and recording to nurse an intense heroin addiction resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 and the Rainbow Concert in 1973 (see 1973 in music), the latter organised by The Who's Pete Townshend to help Clapton kick the drug and build momentum for his return.

Song material from the group has been present on many of Clapton's compilation albums (e.g., The History of Eric Clapton), and music from the abortive second album sessions was later released in a 4CD/cassette box set Crossroads.

The group's sole studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, although initially a critical and commercial flop in 1971, has since charted in 1972 and 1982 and now is not only considered one of Clapton's most outstanding achievements, but also consistently appears in listings of the best rock albums ever recorded. The band's producer, Tom Dowd, said of it that he "felt it was the best ... album I'd been involved with since The Genius of Ray Charles" and was disappointed at the lack of acclaim it garnered on its release.

Members

Eric Clapton - vocals, guitar

Bobby Whitlock - piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals

Jim Gordon - drums, percussion, piano

Carl Radle - bass guitar, percussion

Discography

Albums

1970 - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

1973 - In Concert

1990 -

1994 - Live at the Fillmore

2011 - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs - Deluxe Editon

2011 - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs - Super Deluxe Editon

Singles

"Tell the Truth" / "Roll It Over" (Atco Records, 1970)

"Layla" / "Bell Bottom Blues" (Polydor Records, 1970)

"Layla" / "I Am Yours" (Atco Records, 1971)

"Bell Bottom Blues" / "Keep On Growing" (Polydor Records, 1971)

"Bell Bottom Blues" / "Little Wing" (RSO Records, 1973)

"Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad" [live] / "Presence of the Lord" [live] (RSO Records, 1973)

"Got to Get Better in a Little While" / "Layla" (Polydor Records, 2011)

References

External links

Biography of Derek and the Dominos on VH1

Eric Clapton 'Slowhand' Tourography

Review of Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs from the Soul of Rock n' Roll

MusicChain - Derek & The Dominos

Category:Eric Clapton Category:Supergroups Category:Musical quintets