RSO 480
Producer: Tom Dowd
Track listing: Motherless Child / Give Me Strength / Willie and the Hand Jive / Get Ready / I Shot the Sheriff / I Can’t Hold Out / Please Be with Me / Let It Grow / Steady Rollin’ Man / Mainline Florida
August 17, 1974
4 weeks
Following his commercial and artistic triumphs with Cream and Blind Faith, Eric Clapton spent 1969 as a member of the Delaney and Bonnie band. With assistance from many of the players in that group, Clapton cut his self-titled debut solo album, which was released in March 1970. Later that year, Clapton formed Derek and the Dominos, which included Duane Allman on guitar. The group cut the classic album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs before splintering in 1971, with Clapton battling his heroin addiction.
Various live recordings were released as compilations during Clapton’s 1972 and 1973 hiatus. But Clapton wouldn’t make his true comeback until the spring of 1974, when he returned to Criteria Studios in Miami with producer Tom Dowd to work on his second solo studio album. In the fall of 1970, Derek and the Dominos had cut Layla with Dowd at Criteria, but a lot had changed in those four years. Clapton was attempting to get his feet back on the ground, but to do that he needed to make a musical shift. “He knew he had to reach out and find something he hadn’t been doing to get back on the healthier side of doing things,” says Dowd, who also served as an engineer on the three Cream albums. “Eric and I were good friends,” says Dowd. “He knew I was sensitive to where he was coming from.”
To cut the album, Dowd and Clapton auditioned several rhythm sections before a ting to go with former Domino Carl Radle on bass and Jamie Oldaker on drums. While Radle payed on all the tracks, a few other drummers made appearances on 461 Ocean Boulevard. Jim Fox from the James Gang is featured on “Steady Rollin’ Man” and Al Jackson, on loan from Booker T. & the MG’s, played on “Give Me Strength.” Says Dowd, “Everyone wanted to play with Eric.”
Also on hand was George Terry, who had frequented the studio during the Layla sessions. Dowd was initially hesitant to let Terry play guitar during the sessions, but agreed to try him out. “After about a week, George was a vital part of the team,” Dowd says. Yvonne Elliman, featured on Jesus Christ Superstar, and later Saturday Night Fever, contributed backing vocals and co-wrote “Get Ready” with Clapton.
While not in the studio, Clapton and company holed up at a white, tiled-roof house, whose address served as the title of the album. Recorded in April and May of 1974, 461 Ocean Boulevard recast Clapton from a guitar-slinging hotshot to a singer-guitarist more interested in songs than musical virtuosity.
For material, Clapton opted for a mix of traditional blues numbers, like “Motherless Children” and “I Can’t Hold Out,” and Clapton originals, such as “Get Ready” and “Let It Grow.” Terry contributed “Mainline Florida” and turned Clapton on to the album’s gem, “I Shot the Sheriff,” originally recorded by Bob Marley and the Wailers.
After Clapton cut the track, he was hesitant to include it on the album. “Eric wasn’t trying to upstage a record he revered, but when we got ready to put it out, he started to protest, because he didn’t feel that his was as good as the original,” Dowd says. After some discussion, however, “I Shot the Sheriff” was included. 461 Ocean Boulevard hit Number One in its fifth week on the chart, becoming Clapton’s first chart-topping solo album. A month later, “I Shot the Sheriff” topped the Hot 100, the first reggae song to go to Number One. Its success would pave the way for such artists as the Police in the coming years.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of August 17, 1974
1. 461 Ocean Boulevard, Eric Clapton
2. Back Home Again, John Denver
3. Caribou, Elton John
4. Before the Flood, Bob Dylan/The Band
5. On Stage, Loggins & Messina