Eric Clapton
From the Cradle

At thirteen, I discovered "Layla" by chance, while listening to one of my father's many records.   

Imagine, a pseudo-rocker little girl, but musically speaking, doing better than her girlfriends (not out of spite or vanity, far from it, but while they were entertaining themselves with Christina Aguilera, I was listening to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, let's set aside "de gustibus" for a moment...), rummaging through dad's CDs and finding two Clapton records, the amazing "Unplugged" and a best-of collection, and falling in love with this artist. 

From there, I, the girl in question (now eighteen, but still a girl), started paying more attention to the material my dad had to offer.

Yes, in short, I swiped quite a few records from him.

So, recently I helped myself to "From the Cradle", the only one I had not yet listened to attentively. 

Dated 1994, this album rode the wave of the enormous commercial success of "Unplugged", a moment of resurgence and breath in Clapton's solo career (among other things, the album celebrated his thirty years), which until then was not exactly happy.

It may seem strange, but here we have the first openly blues work by this artist: "From The Cradle" is a tribute to the great masters to whom Slowhand owes much of his success, a success that they, unjustly, never had.

In his return to his first love, to the cradle (the "Cradle" in the title indeed), Clapton revives sixteen classics and forgotten gems of the purest blues: accompanied on this endeavor by eight excellent musicians, including Jerry Portnoy on harmonica and Andy Fairweather Low on guitar, he pays his dues to sacred monsters like Willie Dixon, Elmore James, Freddie King, Lowell Fulson, and Muddy Waters.

"From The Cradle" is a kaleidoscope of blues melodies, splendid arpeggios, and gritty solos, smooth, intriguing, never boring or clichéd, even when presenting yet another version of "Hoochie Coochie Man", "It Hurts Me Too", or "How Long Blues" which, on the contrary, are the pieces that most stand out in the entire anthology.

 The only flaw, the vocal interpretation: while being gritty and direct, sometimes it seems a bit "forced", almost mimicking the great artists of the past, but it is still compensated by an exceptional guitar work.

 In conclusion, "From The Cradle" may not be an innovative album, but certainly represents one of the highest moments of Clapton's career, and also one of the reasons why it's possible to forgive him for some of the "missteps" that will follow.

Unmissable, for aficionados and not.