Rating : 10/10

24 July 2004

One of Eric's best. Great tracks he chose to play. My favourite are It hurts me too /I love the way he sings it and plays slide in such tough way. Then there are Five long Years and Groanin' the blues featuring the best solos on the album, and I'm tore down has a great rhythm, love it! Out of the few acoustics, Motherless child is my favourite as it is so tender folksy blues.

Rating : 10/10

7 April 2004

Wow! After 10 long years I still think "5 Long Years" is the greatest rock/blues tunes ever recorded, (O.K. maybe tied with Hendrix's "Red House") I have seen Eric 3 times live but nothing compared to seeing him perform this song on S.N.L. I was blown away watching him attack the fret board with such passion! This is easily a "must have" for any Blues/Rock/Guitar fan!

Rating : 10/10

20 October 2003

Clapton creates poetry with emotion on this album. His roar ardour flows through his guitar in a way which only he is capable of. If asked what is blues by someone, I would present them with this album. An eclectic, passionate rendition of the original modern genre, the blues. Too few albums today have this sort of metier; this is doesn't sound like an album, like something that can be produced as a commodity, it sounds like a man's soul wired to a guitar. That is in a sense what it is, Eric throws away the rule book for pure, deep blues.

Rating : 9/10

14 August 2003

This is Eric Clapton playing the music he loves and is best at. This is the one album I wish I could have seen the tour for and never did. "Blues before Sunrise" is a very strong start as Eric's voice is grittier and more blues like. Almost rivalling some of the Mississippi Delta Blues singers he emulates.
Next he slows it down for "Third Degree" which is a very strong song in the vain of "Have you ever loved a Woman. Five Long years picks it up, and again a strong performance. "Tore Down" is jazzier and up tempo, well worth the listen, Next is the personal favourite and one of his strongest performances on record. Possibly the classic blues song of his career "Sinners Prayer" a song I have never seen him perform in concert and would love to see him do. "It hurts me too is a reworking of the version on the Crossroads box set. It is however a very strong performance. The acoustic version of "Driftin" is also very strong and somewhat different than the version on EC was here. There is not a bad song on the CD. I have simply mentioned the highlights. This CD is a must for any blues fan and a must for any Eric Clapton fan............ENJOY

Rating : 10/10

4 July 2003

This is definitely one of the best albums Eric has put out in his whole career (and that's saying something). Despite the lack of a major popularity hit all true Clapton fans will love this album. I was amazed by the emotion Eric put into some of the songs, like "Someday After Awhile", "Groaning the Blues", and "Blues Before Sunrise" three of my personal favourite songs on this album and in his career. This album solidified Eric as one of the top if not the top blues artist of all time.

Rating : 10/10

10 May 2003

Well, It has been almost a decade since he released this record, and it still brings goose bumps on me. They're all just wonderful. Especially the sol on fifth track "Five Long Years' gives me emotional inspiration. I think this album is one of his BEST albums.

Rating : 10/10

6 February 2003

One Of the Best Blues Albums I have ever listened to. If you play blues guitar you will learn something from hearing the songs on here. For the people that gave this a 9 I think that they are confused as hell...this is a blues album....not a rock album...So don't compare it to Layla.......all I have to say is "Tore Down" is dam great. Just think he was self taught.

Rating : 10/10

19 December 2002

Very good album, one of the best. Seen 2 concerts in a row of that tour, could not lay my hands on more tickets. In particular the acoustic part of the concert. A few months after the tour, a Dutch TV channel broadcasted an one hour documentary of the rehearsal for that tour. Great stuff!

Rating : 9/10

21 October 2001

I guess that in conception this record would have to be every diehard Clapton fan's dream: freed from the commercial pressures of his big-bucks record company, Eric finally gets to make the album he's always wanted to make - raw, live-in-the-studio versions of his favourite blues songs. As one would expect, Eric rises to the occasion magnificently, playing with great fluidity and feeling across a range of blues styles - electric lead, electric slide, and acoustic. I remember reading an interview with Eric in the early 90's where he admitted to the influence of the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, and you can he hear that influence on a number of tracks here, particularly Eric's stinging tone and attack on 'Groaning the Blues.' That said, however, my favourite track on the record is actually the only one with no Eric solo(!) - 'Motherless Child.' On this song, the percussive acoustic backing and Eric's plaintive vocal combine to produce one of his most moving studio performances (maybe Eric was exorcising the demons of his own well known childhood history on this track). My only criticism of this record is that on a few tracks the backing band sounds a little cluttered and unwieldy. Still, this album remains one of the finest examples of what Eric is really about musically - Blues with a capital B!

Rating : 10/10

21 April 2001

This album is right up there with the Layla, Disraeli Gears albums as a masterpiece of Blues music. Rock and Roll is a result of the Blues and on this album Eric and his band have shown the world the original Blues musicians are the real "Kings" of Rock n Roll not Mr. Presley.

If this album does not stir any emotion under the sun for you then you emotionless. Get to know the true roots of rock music.

This is a must album for any music lover and if you are a Clapton fan, he will not disappoint you. Great guitar riffs.

Rating : 9/10

20 November 2000

Eric finally decides that he has had enough of making pop music and put together this marvelous hardcore blues album. Through the years he has said that he always wanted to release a blues album, a tribute to his heroes, and here it is. I guess the record-company allowed him to do "From The Cradle" because of his success with the "Unplugged" - album two years earlier. His records were selling well again and the company finally left him with full control. This album features such great guitar-playing that can only be matched by his playing during the Dominos-days! The one mistake Eric does here, is his voice. He tries so hard to copy the original singer and sometimes it just don't work. For instance in Blues Before Sunrise, a fast number that kicks of the album. Eric compensate his singing in the previous number already in the next: Third Degree. It has a fantastic guitar tone! Reconsider Baby features some great finger style guitar performed by Mr. Clapton. Hoochie Coochie Man has been more or less a standard number during EC's concerts since this album, and it's always very good. Here too. One of the real highlights is Five Long Years. A heavy number and such great playing! Among the best Eric has ever released officially!

Tore Down and How Long Blues follows next. There's really nothing to complain about on these songs but you really don't miss anything special if you skip them. More highlights on this record are Sinner's Prayer and Someday After A While. Someday After A While is so very well done and the solo... the solo!

I have never cared too much for Standin' Round Crying. The reason being that when I first heard it Jimmy Vaughan played slide on it. I hate Jimmy's playing! Can't help it, sorry.

The solo-performance on the acoustic Driftin' is as good as it gets and the last track is slow, yet heavy, driven by some outstanding guitar-work. Groaning the Blues is definitively on of the highlights of the highlights! If you like the blues, or if you want to discover where Eric comes from, get "From The Cradle" now!

Oh, it was recorded live in the studio too, with exception for dobro on How Long Blues and the drums for Motherless Child (not Motherless Children, which is a completely other song, opening the album "461 Ocean Boulevard"!).

Rating : 10/10

20 November 2000

This was my FIRST intro to the blues, even though I had already become an EC fan thru UNPLUGGED; it took a while to really get into the groove, but once I was there I couldn't wait for him to record more live blues. So many of these songs are little known, but now are very much loved. I'm so sorry I missed the tour in support of the album; if you ever get a chance to see the Martin Scorcese bootleg of "nothing but the blues" you MUST see it; it is sweaty, earthy, heart-wrenching blues, covering these tunes.

Rating : 10/10

18 November 2000

From the cradle is simply the best album available...anywhere! It contains the finest blues guitar playing and singing I have ever heard. EC's voice ranges from a rough gravel to a smooth blues voice. Solo's on songs like 'Five long Years' or 'Groaning the Blues' make the hairs on your neck stand on end. This album is filled with emotion, it is a must for any EC or blues fan anywhere,
go and buy it.

Rating : 10/10

25 September 2000

A superb 'roots' album as Clapton explores the Chess Chicago sounds he so openly loves. The whole album is almost a chronology the Chicago sound. Driftin' blues coming towards the end, just like Muddy Waters began playing acoustic towards the end. Another stellar vocal performance by Clapton and the guitar work is moving.