Search - Eric Clapton :: Back Home

Good Album-Great High Resolution Audio

J. M. Falkner | 09/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"3 stars for the album and 4 1/2 for the DVD side high resolution audio. Not one of Eric's best efforts, but a very comforting album mostly dedicated to the songwriters he admires most over the years and to his family. If you're a Clapton fan (and have learned not to expect too much), you'll enjoy it. I bought the DualDisc version and am very impressed with the audio quality on the DVD side which for once is in real DVD-Audio (both 2 channel & 5.1 surround) using 24 bit sampled at 48khz. This is so welcome since most DVD sides on DualDiscs only provide Dolby Digital sound which is way too compressed."

Clapton is good, and the extras are worth it for a true fan!

Music Chick | Ohio United States | 12/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is a must have. If you are trying to decide on which version to buy as a gift, get the more expensive dual-disc version. Your fan gift recipient will thank you! Any Clapton fan will tell you that he sounds different on various albums and with different groups, so yeah he sounds different on this album. He is evolving like all great music legends do through their career. My husband is a huge fan and loves to collect Clapton music and videos. He had the original version, but then saw the dual-disc version and immediately wanted it. The collectible guitar picks are a nifty touch for fans and the DVD is an excellent quality production that fans will appreciate, both for the interview and for the performances. If you like these types of extras you will be very happy with the DVD. As for the music, many people have said it is not his best and not typical Clapton. I don't agree. With a repertoire like Clapton's it would be impossible to pick a "Best" anyway. I admit the change in style from one song to the next is unusual at first, but the songs grow on you. I look at it like this. If you like Eric's music as a whole, then you will like this CD. I know fans who were not really turned on when he ventured into different styles like doing the "Me and Mr. Johnson" album. Then again, true fans would know that some of the stuff that is considered to be among the best of Clapton - like the Cream music - is not necessarily the music that Clapton himself preferred. So, while that music may be the "best" for a fan, it is not the "best" fit for Clapton - and that is according to Clapton himself. Cream broke up because Clapton wanted to do music that fit his style better. He has enough clout to be able to do that in more recent years, and he is following his own path. Fans who truly appreciate his musical interests and influences as well as his music will appreciate these albums more. I think any fan who truly enjoys Clapton's music collection as a whole will appreciate the diversity of this album's mix and the fact that this is music that Clapton is really interested in personally. This is a glimpse into the true artist through various windows."

More Journeyman work from a real live musician

metraton | Fort Worth | 09/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know if this is or isn't EC's "best." More and more I have a problem with all of the "best" talk about art: Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" and Salvador Dali's "Last Supper" cover the same subject matter, but are extremely different. Is one of them better than the other? I'm not sure that's an meaningful question--they are each their respective painter's artistic expression. They're unique.

This album contains a stylistically eclectic mix of covers and originals that represent aspects of an artist who has continued to evolve for over 40 years. It's probably not meaningful to try to compare this work with his other work to determine what's "best." This is a very good album in terms of musical content (and a FLAWLESS one technically, IMHO). Like another reviewer, I was cool to these songs on first hearing, but have warmed up to them with repeated listening-- (except for "Revolution," which I just don't care for--at least not yet).

EC reveals in the interview on the DVD side that this album was recorded pretty much simultaneously with the Robert Johnson cover album. He said that, during the two years they were making "Back Home," if he and his musical cohorts got "stuck" while working on a particular song, they would do a Robert Johnson song. I have to wonder if that switch wasn't helpful for more reasons than the stylistic change it represented. "Back Home" appears to be a real studio album--recorded piecemeal, with each participant laying down tracks, mostly in isolation. It is well known that this is not EC's preferred method of production, favoring as he does the practice of recording as if he were doing a live performance---everybody together in one studio, playing the song all the way through, repeating until the best take emerges--in other words, the way the Robert Johnson album apparently was recorded (see the "Sessions for Robert J" DVD). Maybe the switch from "studio" mode to "live" mode was what blew out the cobwebs and allowed them to go back to work on "Back Home." Probably it was both the circumstances and the content (the Robert J. stuff sounds like it nearly played itself).

However it was "birthed," this is a very workmanlike CD--the work of a journeyman professional. Time will tell if any of the new songs join "Layla," "Sunshine...," "Tears in Heaven," etc. in the pantheon of EC greats. Whether they do or not, this CD is worth buying and playing, and I recommend the dual CD/DVD version for the content and the enhanced reproduction quality the DVD side makes possible (you can still play the CD side in the car). The guitar picks that come with the limited edition are...cool---I'm just trying to keep them away from my 18 year old (also an EC fan).

I gave this one four stars, but seldom give five to anything, unless on first hearing it's a full-blown theophany. Yeah, yeah, I know, "Clapton is God...." but you know what I mean.

My one (minor) complaint is that, while the guest artists are identified on the album cover, the songs they play on are not. You can assume (and hear) that Vince Gill is on the song he co-wrote, and you can hear John Mayer elsewhere, but it would have been nice to credit these folks better.

Anyway, buy it. It's good."