Album Review: Eric Clapton – I Still Do

At this stage, it's fair to say Eric Clapton has done just about everything there is to do in music; you'd pull out a checklist, but we haven’t got all day. And once again, Slowhand produces his usual magic on I Still Do, a dozen cuts of familiar soul and blues.

Straight out the gate, a standard about rickety railroads in the Deep South sets the tone. Leroy Carr recorded the original way back in the 1930’s and Clapton brings it right up to date with the perfect amount of gritty electric guitar and honky tonk piano to keep the slow shuffle cooking over just right – with a vocal styling very reminiscent of B.B. King.

A solid mix of new material and covers follows, with Bob Dylan’s ‘I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine’ cropping up along the way – said figure being a philosopher who wrote about evil and guilt. While Dylan’s original version was sparse, Clapton added some delicate harmonica harmonies and light percussion, very much making it his own.

Towards the halfway point comes something a little different. After the fantastically well-crafted original blues number ‘Spiral’ comes ‘Catch The Blues’, complete with a taste of Spain. Acoustic strumming is accompanied by minimalist electric soloing and breathy female backing vocals. Light percussion including a toned down cowbell holds the delicate but relaxing groove together; it all sounds even better accompanying a rum.

Equally impressive is acoustic track ‘Little Man, You’ve Had A Busy Day’, where it's easy to hear why Clapton is regarded as one of the best guitarists off all time. It takes skills to play the loud, screechy solos but its takes decades to know what is just right for the song. It’s the shortest and quite possibly the sweetest track on the record.

‘I Will Be There’ is another acoustic effort, with an added sense of mystery. A collaborator is named as L'Angelo Mysterioso – a moniker first used by George Harrison when he anonymously recorded with Cream back in 1969. This time, it's seen as a relatively safe bet that it's George’s son, Dhani – but regardless of the mysterious angel’s true identity, it’s a pleasant and mellow track telling the tale of friendship during hard times.

At 71, Clapton is showing no signs of slowing down. I Still Do is an outstanding collection of straightforward, honest-to-goodness blues. Some of his contemporaries might be packing it in, or touring behind fifty-year-old material – but Slowhand continues to show why he remains top of the pile.

Rating: 8/10