What Eric Clapton learned from George Harrison to make 'Layla'

Two legendary albums recorded in the same year using the same musicians, but released by completely different artists... Such an abundance of musical riches could have happened only in the early 1970s, before rock became corporate and was still in a state of communal bliss.

We are talking, of course, about George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and Derek and the Dominos’ Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs. The two albums were created simultaneously, with the latter’s recording sessions taking place while Harrison was in the final stages of completing his first post-Beatles’ solo work.

It’s well known that Derek and the Dominos grew out of Harrison's backing band for All Things Must Pass. The Dominos — Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon — were among the many musicians who played on Harrison’s triple-LP magnum opus. Having just completed work on Clapton’s self-titled solo album that March, they joined the former Beatle in May to begin work on what turned out to be a three-album set, comprising two albums of new songs and a bonus disc of studio jams, dubbed Apple Jam.

On August 23, as work continued on Harrison’s album, Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon flew to Miami to begin work on their own debut, with Tom Dowd producing. But as Whitlock explained in an interview for the 40th anniversary edition of Layla, they had next to nothing to record.

“We didn’t have enough songs for one album, let alone a double,” Whitlock recalled.

Eric Clapton (right, playing a Martin acoustic guitar) and Bobby Whitlock (left) of Derek and The Dominos, backstage before the band's live debut at the Lyceum Theatre, London, 14th June 1970.
Eric Clapton plays a Martin acoustic while talking with Bobby Whitlock backstage before Derek and the Dominos' live debut, at the Lyceum Theatre, London, June 14, 1970. (Image credit: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images)

He and Clapton had written some songs together the previous spring, before they worked on Harrison’s album. As Whitlock recalled, they had three originals: “I Looked Away,” “Anyway” and “Tell the Truth.”

But Whitlock had an idea that he managed to sell to Clapton. Throughout the recording of All Things Must Pass, producer Phil Spector kept the tape running. As a result, he captured many of the extended jams that took place between songs and during rehearsals. A selection of those were presented — including two from a June 18 session that marked the official formation Derek and the Dominos — on the Apple Jam bonus disc.

Source: Elizabeth Swann/guitarplayer.com