On episode 11 of Past Prime, Steve and Matty reassess a guitar great who was called "god" in the 1960s, "Slowhand" in the 1970s, and who was passed down generation to generation as a Classic Rock treasure. But, perhaps his greatest accomplishments are as a style icon. His Armani blazers fit great. He pulls off a mock turtleneck somehow. And he offsets his lack of a chin with a heck of a five o'clock shadow. But that's not what Eric Clapton is known for. We know The Yardbirds. Cream. Blind Faith. Derek and the Dominos. Layla. After Midnight. Wonderful Tonight. Cocaine. If you grew up in the 70s or 80s, Clapton's accomplishments and status were not questioned. He was simply the greatest living guitarist. He was a critically important artist. These were presented as facts. But, by the time Eric Clapton released "Journeyman" in 1989, he was coming back from a bruising decade and the truth was slowly revealing itself. Clapton was telling us the truth in that title -- "Journeyman." So, while forty-something Boomers popped the CD into their BMWs and The Grammy was getting engraved, some of us were finally able to hear the actual revelations: That Clapton was never much of a songwriter. That he mostly covered other people's songs. That he was less than a great singer. And that he never made a masterpiece as a solo artist. Derek and the Dominos was the outlier. The rest was a lot of fiddling with The Blues -- sometimes louder, sometimes trippier, mostly softer. But, for over fifty years, Clapton has been trying to tell us the truth -- he's a journeyman, with no chin, but a lot of style.
To about Eric Clapton's "Journeyman" check out the full essay at Past Prime.

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