On Tour With Eric Clapton (Collector's Edition) - Delaney & Bonnie > Reviews > Not As Good As the Title Would Have You Believe

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Average
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	Some decent Southern blues
Disadvantages:	Too technical and not enough feeling

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Perhaps a little ironically, there is a gap in Clapton's recent "Complete Clapton" album; a gap which Delaney and Bonnie's "On Tour With Eric Clapton". Clapton had toured with Delaney and Bonnie with his band Blind Faith, but finding himself at a loose end after they split up, he opted to join them again to keep his hand in. He must have enjoyed the experience, as he later took some of the band he played with here and recorded with them as Derek and the Dominos; a band to whom the original version of the Clapton classic "Layla" was credited.

The title of the album was an obvious attempt by Delaney and Bonnie to cash in on the fame of their new found friend, as even by as early as 1970 Eric Clapton was becoming an internationally known guitarist. By comparison, Delaney and Bonnie had already been dropped by two record labels. Whilst they were getting known in the music business, having come to the attention of both Eric Clapton and George Harrison, sales success had not followed. Add Clapton's name, however, and that success was to follow, giving Delaney and Bonnie their first Top 30 album. The legacy was not to be long lasting, however, as Delaney and Bonnie had gone their separate ways three years after the album was released and Clapton is still going strong nearly thirty years later.

It's not terribly difficult to see why the band didn't do so well. The opening track "Things Get Better" has all the ingredients to be a decent enough soul track, with an upbeat horn section and a funky bass line, but it just never seems to work. The whole thing feels a little lacklustre, almost as if it's a band playing soul music by the numbers, rather than from the heart. I suspect that with a bit more belief, this could have been a pretty decent song.

There's a fairly standard blues opening to the "Poor Elijah-Tribute to Johnson" medley, which reminds me a little of the Southern Blues of the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, although it again seems to be lacking something. The guitars are higher in the mix this time around so you don't have to strain to hear Clapton's solo, although like the previous track it seems technically proficient, but lacking in real feeling. This is pretty much standard Southern Blues with little to recommend it other than that.

There's a similar feel to "Only You Know and I Know", although it's a little more upbeat and up tempo and has a touch of a soul influence to add to the Southern Blues sound. As a fan of Southern Blues, I do quite like this track and it is a fairly decent example of the art, although once more it does seem to lack any real desire and feeling.

The upbeat soul intro to "I Don't Want to Discuss It" makes it sound like something you'd hear in "The Commitments", although Delaney Bramlett's vocals certainly don't compare with Andrew Strong's and it again comes out sounding like a weak version of what could have been something good. As with the previous track, this could have been something I could have loved in another time and place.

The first slower track is the first that really feels as if it's got some heart going into it, although I still feel that the vocalists from "The Commitments" would have done a better job. "That's What My Man is For" is a typical soul ballad, with plenty of horn and the vocals way over the top of everything. The track does last for a nearly five minutes, though and does seem to drag on a bit towards the end,

Things are a little more upbeat for the next track, which seems to add a little rock 'n' roll into the mix. The early parts of "Where There's a Will, There's a Way" remind me a little of Chuck Berry. It doesn't have Berry's all out enthusiasm, but his influence is obvious. The song could have been pretty close to ideal, but it gets let down by the guitar solo where Clapton shows that he has the technical ability for rock 'n' roll, but not really the feel for it and the break for that solo seems to stretch out for an awful lot longer than it needed to. Either side of that, it's a pretty good foot-tapping number. It seems strange to think that, on an album that uses his name as the main selling point, part of it could be improved by the removal of Eric Clapton.

The intro to "Coming Home" always sounds to me as if it's about to break into the Allman Brothers' "Jessica", better known these days as the theme tune to "Top Gear". The Allman Brothers did actually play with Delaney and Bonnie but, perhaps ironically given the similarity of the sound, don't appear on this album. Once more, this is a Southern Blues influenced number and reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd in a couple of parts, but again there doesn't seem to be a great deal of enthusiasm going on through the song. Unfortunately, the song seems to be pretty much over by the time it is three minutes in, but it's only half way through as the rest of the song descends into a kind of jam where the musicians get to show off a little, but without adding anything to the song itself. This seems to be a general criticism of live albums, though, rather than being particular to this album.

After a long and rambling piece from the show's compere, where the audience reaction tells you a great deal about who is the most popular artist on stage (hint: it's not Delaney and Bonnie), the album closes with a "Little Richard Medley". Much like "Where There's a Will...", the band show that they can play rock 'n' roll songs with no problem at all, but they don't seem to be able to put their all into it. Once more the guitar solos are note perfect, which was never really the idea behind rock 'n' roll.

Musically, there isn't really anything wrong with the album, but that seems to be its downfall. There are some really good songs here, but they lose their edge by being so technically perfect. Rock 'n' roll was about having fun and soul and blues was about feeling what you were playing and I never really get that from this band; they seem to be playing the songs, rather than performing them.

As a fan of the Southern Blues and soul styles that are prevalent here, I did enjoy the album, but never really shook the feeling that it could have been a lot better, strangely enough, by being a lot worse. If you like Southern Blues, you'd be far better off picking up an album by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, who do it an awful lot better and if you're an Eric Clapton fan, his own work from around this time is either available on his greatest hits collection, or try looking out for Derek and the Dominos "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs", which has many of the same performers as this album, but with material more suited to their talents.

There are a couple of further downsides to this rather lacklustre album. Partly due to the age of the album and partly due to the fact that it was recorded live, the sound quality isn't the best. Admittedly, by music system isn't the best, but the album sounds a bit tinny and fairly quite in comparison to more modern releases and there are some parts where the mix doesn't seem quite right; the guitars are noticeably quiet on the first track and the bass often seems to be a little overpowering.

The other issue is that it's not easy to find a cheap copy of the album. The cheapest price I can find is from £2.99 at the Amazon Marketplace, with even eBay being at least £1 more expensive and new copies on Amazon costing £8.48. For an album of only 8 tracks and 42 minutes duration, it would have to be an excellent album to be value for money at that price and it's not. There may be some wonderful musicians on show here, but they just don't seem to give their all and the end result is less than the sum of its parts would suggest; it's technically perfect, but it's not a great album.