Eric Clapton: The 1970s Review

Man, wat a drag this was. Clapton was a brilliant guitarplayer, but a better drinker and heroineshooter than a songwriter... Everyone in this film is doing their best to make it seem that he did great work in the '70-s except: he didn't. The odd good song or show here and their, among a ton of uninspiring and lazy stuff, and sappy albums... OMG... don't watch this unless u're a real Claptonette... I was ill so i suffered through it, but it made feel worse I'm afraid. He should have been the lead guitar player i a solid band, and just sing occasionally... like on Layla... anyway, i'm sorry, never was that much into clapton and this docu didn't help at all...

So no, cut it back to 45 minutes, for the fans...

There is very little concert footage because it's not about concerts. This is a history of how Eric and his music changed in the 1970's. The best documentaries include interviews with people who were there, and many interviews of accompanying musicians are included, as well as professional music critics. The previous review said the '70s was a slow period. True, he did end up producing some laid back music in the second half of the decade, but the early 70's include Layla and its backstory, his best music ever! It's a fascinating story which is told well. This is an excellent documentary.

I'm a huge fan of Eric Clapton's music, but this documentary was worse than a trip to the dentist. Most of the interviews were boring, as was much of the focus on the film. It just seemed to unfold in slow motion. It's 2 1/2 hours long, which immediately is a red flag for any documentary. What we need is a 90 minute compelling documentary on the entire arc of Clapton's music. This wasn't it, especially since much of the 1970's was a slow period for his body of work. Anyway, there might be 20 minutes total of concert footage worth watching, but spare yourself the rest.

This was well researched, comprehensive and well balanced, focussing on an era of Clapton's career which is generally skimmed over in terms of the bullet points of Layla-heroin-comeback-Wonderful Tonight then fast forward to about 1985.

Interviews with the likes of George Terry, Bonnie Bramlett and Bobby Whitlock were excellent and informative. Only minor quibble would be the absence of his voice directly but can't be helped.

Also does not gloss over or shy away from the alcoholism or indeed *that* racist outburst in 1976.

A good companion piece to Life in 12 Bars would like to see a further volume on his 80s work.