'Layla and other assorted love songs' by Derek and the Dominos is brutal and beautiful

Many times, it seems that artists produce great work during times of deep personal turmoil. In a sense, the turmoil overtakes them and helps push the work to places so creatively honest that it is unlikely the artist could have produced it under normal circumstances. The anguish takes the artist to his very core in which he bares his soul for all to see. The anguish that drives this record is heartbreak.

Most people know the 'Derek' in this band is guitar legend Eric Clapton. At this point in his life, Clapton was a full-fledged rock and roll 'god.' He spent most of the 1960s bouncing from band to band, going from the Yardbirds to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to Cream to Blind Faith in only a few years. His legend grew with each stop, but he was uneasy in the spotlight. With the Dominos, he sought to play the music he loved with the mask of anonymity.

When Clapton started making this record, his heart was reeling. He had fallen in love with his good friend George Harrison's wife, Patti. When she returned to her husband, he was devastated and the hopeless despair that gripped his heart fueled most of this record. Though he and Patti would eventually marry, on this record he sought solace back in the arms of his beloved blues music and the horrors of heroin.

Backed by members of the Delaney and Bonnie touring band, Clapton leads the listener on a first hand tour of the pain of unrequited love. The song titles tell it all. Songs like: 'Why Does Love Got to be So Sad,' 'Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out,' 'Have You Ever Loved a Woman,' and 'Thorn Tree in the Garden' reverberate with mournful angst. Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers sat in on many of the recording sessions. His artful slide guitar work pushed Clapton to new heights. The word 'legend' is thrown around much too lightly. However, Clapton and Allman are legends, and they pushed each other to rarefied places on these songs.

The most well known song from this set is obviously 'Layla.' Clapton specifically wrote this song about his relationship with Patti Harrison. Rock critic Dave Marsh said this is one of the few songs where a singer or writer reached so deeply into himself that the effect of hearing him is akin to witnessing a murder or suicide. He is right. During this song, Clapton is teetering on the cliff's edge and is not sure whether to jump or not.

From the opening burst of guitars by Clapton and Allman, the song careens through each verse with vocals that define terror. By the final verse, the singer reaches his breaking point: "Let's make the best of the situation/Before I finally go insane/Please don't say we'll never find a way/Or tell me all my love's in vain."

Then come the final guitar solos where Clapton and Allman duel each other by pushing their slide guitar talents higher and higher. Then the guitars grow quiet, and Jim Gordon's piano work pushes the song to its gentle conclusion with guitars gently weeping in the background.

If it is possible for an album to have an aura around it, this one does. It is dark, brooding, and exhausting.

Though he has made good music throughout his career, nothing else Clapton has produced comes close to this. In a way, I am glad because it probably means tranquility has come into his heart. This record is hard to listen to, but at the same time, the listener knows it would be wrong not to listen. When somebody opens his heart to you like this, it would be a sin not to listen.