As I look over some of the subtitles that we’ve applied to certain episodes of the Eric Clapton series, it leads me to think that perhaps we have been quite rough on Mr. Clapton. After all, any number of rock stars has had substance abuse issues. The main difference here is that Clapton has been extraordinarily forthcoming about his issues.

He has lived a huge portion of his life in public – even though he did not want to – and he has written extensively about his own shortcomings in his autobiography. He seems to have used the autobiography as a means to purge some of the difficult things he’s lived through, and in retrospect, he can be quite tough on himself. I’m afraid that I may have picked up on Clapton’s self-criticism, and that’s too bad, because I believe that if nothing else, he should certainly be credited for his latter sense of self awareness, coupled with the implied intention to set things right.

The eighties were not Clapton’s most prolific period. The appearance of synthesizers and eighties production techniques, often with Phil Collins at the mixing desk, have not aged well. This part of Clapton’s career may be the most difficult to appreciate from a modern perspective, but it happened, and it’s part of his story.

Featured songs include;

1) Heaven Is One Step Away

2) She’s Waiting

3) Forever Man

4) Too Bad

5) It’s in the Way that You Use It

6) Miss You

7) Behind the Mask

8) Wanna Make Love to You

9) After Midnight (version 2)