As a legendary guitarist, Eric Clapton has few peers. Even in 1975, relatively early on in a career that continues to this day, he was already able to reminisce about working with Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix. He was touring in support of There’s One in Every Crowd at the time with a band that was assembled for the previous year’s release of 461 Ocean Boulevard partly as a reaction to his distaste with the supergroup format. And, at least here, it sounds like they were having fun.

Indeed, this recording works almost as well as a snapshot of the band’s life on the road as it does as a exploration of Eric Clapton. There are a number of distractions, especially in Part 1. Eric starts the interview with an acoustic guitar in hands, and shortly after he puts it down, Marcy Levy and Yvonne Elliman stumble through the door trying to remember details of the events from the previous evening and morning. Combined with Clapton’s seeming discomfort with his success, there are few stretches of meaningful, uninterrupted material. However, the interview does seem to gain some momentum after a short break at the end of Part 1, resuming with the lighting of cigarettes and an increased pace.

Part 1 00:00 – Intro / who gave Eric a guitar? 00:34 – Staying the same in the face of success 01:50 – “Make it two” 02:20 – Roots: American, British, Canadian 03:53 – Hearing American blues / affinity with simplicity 05:35 – Playing spoons, defining folk music 06:54 – Incorporating reggae into the music / graphic artists 08:02 – The girls show up and settle in 10:22 – Bob Marley the revolutionary / no good reggae musicians (except Carl Radle) 11:43 – Hoodwinked by Bob Marley and Bob Dylan? 12:37 – [Interlude – COVER YOUR EARS AT 12:50] 13:05 – Not getting days off / remembering last night / nasal spray 14:36 – [Interlude – making drinks, teaching the blues, plans for a jam] 16:16 – Life as an itinerant musician 18:19 – Learning to sing from Delaney Bramlett / making Eric Clapton / Barry Feinstein 21:44 – Lessons learned from Duane Allman 22:46 – Not knowing Jimmy Page / sociological implications of living on an island 24:20 – The most peaceful spirit he’s ever worked with 25:06 – Learning from other performers / the benefits of sticking together in a band 28:25 – Cream / the current band / John Mayall 29:30 – [Interlude] 29:53 – Working with Bob Dylan / “music for the gods,” the computational brain

Part 2 00:00 – The next album / reviews of There’s One in Every Crowd 01:24 – Making albums for critics, oneself / Bob Dylan’s set at Newport 03:54 – Staying anonymous / surviving one’s success 06:23 – Music becoming the most important thing / too much money, too little music 09:17 – Feeling competitive 10:05 – Leaving the Yardbirds / an impurist phase 11:57 – Tyrannical audiences / the biggest musical sin 14:43 – Unable to understand the success of Cream 15:55 – Outgrowing Cream 17:30 – “Layla”: who plays what, how the song developed 18:57 – Re-mixing old songs 20:56 – Songwriting process: hotel > studio > stage / “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” 23:08 – Comparisons to Jimi Hendrix 24:34 – Playing with Jimi / remembering Robert Johnson 25:48 – Intuitions of impending death 27:08 – Other blues artist influences 28:32 – Three dead people you have to listen to 29:59 – Book recommendations