Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

这张专辑被认为是Eric Clapton一生中最强的专辑之一，而且也被认为是布鲁斯摇滚的巅峰之作。是Eric在解散了Cream之后，和键盘手obby Whitlock，贝司手Carl Radle，鼓手Jim Gordon，以及吉他手Duane Allman组成的Derek and the Dominos推出的。关于Clapton解散Cream的原因，据说是由于他听了The Band的作品，觉得布鲁斯才是自己的方向。专辑推出时市场并不十分看好（Billboard第16，在英国甚至没有上榜），但经过岁月的沉淀之后，这张专辑的价值越来越得到人们的肯定。 这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第115位。 Wishing to escape the superstar expectations that sank Blind Faith before it was launched, Eric Clapton retreated with several sidemen from Delaney & Bonnie to record the material that would form Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. From these meager beginnings grew his greatest album. Duane Allman joined the band shortly after recording began, and his spectacular slide guitar pushed Clapton to new heights. Then again, Clapton may have gotten there without him, considering the emotional turmoil he was in during the recording. He was in hopeless, unrequited love with Patti Boyd, the wife of his best friend, George Harrison, and that pain surges throughout Layla, especially on its epic title track. But what really makes Layla such a powerful record is that Clapton, ignoring the traditions that occasionally painted him into a corner, simply tears through these songs with burning, intense emotion. He makes standards like "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)" into his own, while his collaborations with Bobby Whitlock -- including "Any Day" and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?" -- teem with passion. And, considering what a personal album Layla is, it's somewhat ironic that the lovely coda "Thorn Tree in the Garden" is a solo performance by Whitlock, and that the song sums up the entire album as well as "Layla" itself.