Description "BELL BOTTOM BLUES" (Eric Clapton, 1970) Bell bottom blues, you made me cry, I don't want to lose this feeling, And if I could choose a place to die, It would be in your arms. Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you? Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back? I'd gladly do it because, I don't want to fade away. Give me one more day, please, I don't want to fade away, In your heart I want to stay. It's all wrong, but it's all right, The way that you treat me baby, Once I was strong but I lost the fight, You won't find a better loser. Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you? Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back? I'd gladly do it because, I don't want to fade away. Give me one more day, please, I don't want to fade away, In your heart I want to stay. Bell bottom blues, don't say goodbye, I'm sure we're gonna meet again, And if we do, don't you be surprised, If you find me with another lover. Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you? Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back? I'd gladly do it because, I don't want to fade away. Give me one more day, please, I don't want to fade away, In your heart I want to stay. I don't want to fade away, Give me one more day please, I don't want to fade away. In your heart I long to stay. DEREK & THE DOMINOS: "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs". DOUBLE LP SET, THE VERY RARE FIRST UK PRESSING, RELEASED DECEMBER 1970,. Was it possible for Eric Clapton to record a double album directly after Cream and Blind Faith, containing the most inspired music of his career, only to fail to sell to such an extent, it never made a UK chart entry in 1970? In spite of the double album Well, that happened in December, 1970, this is that rare very UK first pressing with all four sides in unplayed Mint condition, n a Near Mint / Mint- first edition gatefold! POLYDOR SUPER: 2625 005. The catalogue number was used as a Set Number on the labels because the seperate records were designated individual catalogue numbers and indexed as; RECORD 1: 2335 - 09 RECORD 2: 2335 - 10 INDIVIDUAL MAITRIX FOR BOTH RECORDS, ONE SIDE PER RECORD CAN BE SEEN IN THE PICTURES. RECORD 1: 2335 09 A // 1 ▽ 420 1 1 ~~ 2335 - 09 B // 2 ▽ 420 1 1 RECORD 2: 2335 10 A // 1 ▽ 420 1 1 ~~ 2335 - 10 B // 2 ▽ 420 1 1 Above is precisely how Polydor stamped their maitrix in the 1960's, including for subsidiary labels like 'Track Records' and that becomes relevent to the very first pressings of "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs." It would take too long to explain here why the records pressed with the above maitrixes or a digit higher on the endings, ended up being re-sold two years later. The next Poldor maitrix to have the above would be on the RSO cream label re-issues, I will explain later, I sometimes wish I could just simply say I recognise first issues without needing to look at specific details, because I bought them as they were released, so they are like old loved friends you immediately recognise by the feel. Then I spend a great deal of time providing courtroom like evidence to establish the authenticity of originating in the year printed on the labels and covers, the same years of publication were also re-printed on re-issues. For 1970 the sheer weight and thickness of the vinyl was still the same as the only just ended 1960's decade and for Polydor, the labels ended almost flat and the gradually rising rims over the next few years would reach a positive mound. The combination of several key identification points confirms first pressings, when Mint vinyl is involved, there are no problems because everything is still precisely how it left the pressing plant, in this case an astonishing 48 years ago, 'astonishing' because I remember buying "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs" like it was a few months ago. This is one of the most complicated albums directly related to Eric Clapton of them all, in fact, it was his only album that sold so poorly, it never even entered the UK charts. All will be revealed below, this is not the place to attempt unravelling one of the greatest mysteries in the history of rock music. How one of the world's greatest ever songs would eventually become such a massive selling single, so massive, if you say 'Eric Clapton' to someone, they will automatically think of "Layla." Eric would spend the next 48 years performing "Layla" live at just about every concert, yet the same titled album it was extracted from, and rated today as Clapton's most inspired recording, was a commercial disaster. ORIGINAL 1970 POLYDOR INNER SLEEVES, UNSPLIT AND UNUSED, ONLY NATURAL AGEING AND EVEN THAT IS ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE GLUE'S COLOUR FOR THE POLY-LINING SOAKING THROUGH THE ABSORBENT OUTSIDE. SOME AGEING, RECORD IMPRESSION AND ASSOCIATED LIGHT CREASES, AFTER NEARLY 50 YEARS THAT IS HARDLY SURPRISING. THEY ARE THE ORIGINALS AND HAVE DATES OF MANUFACTURING ON THE FRONT RIGHT CORNERS. I laid that pair down for a close up picture of the bottom sections together, then compiled that under the two inner sleeves; 0970 = September,1970 1190 = November, 1970 Both were made not long before the December, 1970 first issue, Mint records are wonderfull for authentic period items. BOTH INNER SLEEVES ARE IN PERFECTLY STRONG, EXCELLENT+++ CONDITION. FIRST ISSUE ONLY, 'MacNeill Press Ltd. London' PRINTED, MATT GATEFOLD COVER, UNUSED AND PERFECTLY STORED, MEANS NO WEAR AND ALMOST LIKE NEW. The record's impressions are exceptionally light, so light all I have to describe here are a couple of tiny edge lines, as usual next to the spine and the merest hint of standing. The spine is a major weak spot on all matt gatefold covers, when holding two records, a weakness under double stress BUT this spine is in superb condition, once again I recommend seeing my range of pictures, the artist ,the album title and catlogue number's yellow lettering is still in perfect condition, the ultra thin sheen is still preserved even on the spine. A REALLY BEAUTIFUL UNAGED FIRST ISSUE POLYDOR GATEFOLD COVER, THE MAJORITY AROUND TODAY ARE 'RSO' COVERS . MOST 1970'S RE-ISSUES ARE ON THE 'RSO' LABEL LIKE ALL ERIC CLAPTON ALBUM'S AFTER 1970. JUST BEFORE THE RSO LABEL PRESSING, THE FINAL POLYDOR ISSUE RECORDS BY OUTER RIDGED LABELS. THE COVER IS IN A MINIMUM OF NEAR MINT CONDITION, IN REALITY, MINT- CONDITION IS APPLICABLE BOTH RECORDS HAVE THE DEEPLY GLOSSY SURFACE OF JUST PRESSED VINYL, WITHOUT ANY MARKS ON THE FOUR SIDES. AS TEMPTING AS IT IS, I WILL RESPECT THE AMAZING CONDITION AND NOT PLAY THEM DUE TO THE RARITY. THE RECORDS ARE IN UNPLAYED MINT CONDITION. SIDE 1 "I Looked Away" (Eric Clapton / Bobby Whitlock) "Bell Bottom Blues" (Eric Clapton) "Keep On Growing" (Eric Clapton / Bobby Whitlock) "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Jimmy Cox) SIDE 2 "I Am Your's" (Eric Clapton / Nezami) "Anyday" (Eric Clapton / Bobby Whitlock) "Key To The Highway" (Charles Segar / Willie Broonzy) SIDE 3 "Tell the Truth" (Eric Clapton / Bobby Whitlock) "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?" (Eric Clapton / Bobby Whitlock) "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" (Billy Myles) SIDE 4 "Little Wing" (Jimi Hendrix) "It's Too Late" (Chuck Willis) "Layla" (Eric Clapton / Jim Gordon) (7:10 mins full length version, with Duane Allman.) "Thorn Tree in the Garden" (Bobby Whitlock) DEREK & THE DOMINOS Eric Clapton - guitars & vocals Bobby Whitlock - keyboards, acoustic guitar & vocals Duane Allman - slide guitar Carl Radle - bass Jim Gordon - drums & piano Recorded August - October, 1970, At Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida. Execitive Producer - Tom Dowd, Produced & Arranged By The Dominos I had better deal with the pressing info first because there is not a British text book or website equipped to detail the history of the biggest enigma ever known, many masterpieces failed to sell, but they did not contain one track so immense, the guitar riff is instantly recognised by anyone, anywhere in the world who has a vague interest in music. A guitar riff that can still make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and a lump form in your throat, blues was always about intensive emotions and the despair of unrequited love. "Layla" was written and performed by the greatest white bluesman of all time, at the time his heart was broken clean in two. In fact, pressing info is entangled with the events directly leading up to forming a band with an anonymous name and releasing an album without the name 'Eric Clapton' or a picture of him on the outside cover. I really need to mix the two together and as legend has it, one of the main reasons for the dismal failure of "Layla" (the album) in late 1970. In America and Britain, it was the lack of Clapton's name on the album and the apparently unknown 'Derek', Polydor's PR department did not know he was on the album! After Blind Faith in 1969, John Lennon invited Eric to play on his "Cold Turkey" single, John was also trying to set up a band without any pretentions or reputations, it was with the Plastic Ono Band, two of the 60's greatest artists played a live set in Canada. Lennon and Clapton were a formidable pairing and that took the strain and sowed the seeds of what came next. I followed Clapton right from the first Yardbirds single and his music just accelerated until only the psychedelic power of Cream gave expression to his burning genius. When Cream had reached a logical conclusion, Blind Faith kept the dynamite drumming of Ginger Baker still propelling him along, now another genius, Steve Winwood drew and encouraged Eric's born with ability up to an astonishing level. When it became obvious Blind Faith were under the same pressures as Cream to become mega superstars, like he had with the Yardbirds, Eric moved on in persuit of new horizons, Steve, Ginger & Ric Grech went their seperate ways, after a brief excursion in "Ginger Baker's Air Force," recorded live in January, 1970, a double album was released in June, 1970. I often get asked whyI am so well informed, as a completist by nature, just keeping up with it all required a full involvement! Clapton now desperately sought a place out of the spotlight where he could concentrate on developing his music, r&b / blues did not require that kind of pressure, but an intensity from within while playing with like minded musicians. He met two Americans who opened for Blind Faith on tour, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, an empathy with their r&b / blues / gospel roots next became the ideal place to play his guitar for sheer pleasure, in a setting where those pressures did not exist. He toured with them and met Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon and Duane Allman, who was their previous lead guitarist before Eric and they would soon form 'Derek and The Dominos.' 'Derek' was not unlike the cryptic names used on covers when record company contracts did not permit a musician to guest on another artist's records, it sounds crazy now but so were the terms of those 1960's contracts! Ex Traffic's Dave Mason had also played with Delaney and Bonnie, Dave, Eric, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon were also together to create the 'house band' for the recording sessions under Phil Spector for George Harrison's triple box set "All Things Must Pass." I did say this was a complicated affair, at the time it just became part of the fascinating events unfolding daily and there to read in the weekly music papers, but that was always connected to looking to find news of when new albums were due! That is the reverse of struggling to make sense of how this all panned out by looking back only, we are now somewhere around April - May in 1970 and the next figure to enter the story. Otis Redding's good friend, co-songwriter, arranger and lead guitarist, the great Steve Cropper knew Bobby Whitlock was spare and needing a band and he told him to head for England and team up with Clapton. Bobby Whitlock and Eric got on immediately, Bobby moved into Eric's house and from enjoyable jams, most of the original material on the double album was composed by them at Eric's home. The recording sessions were long and very productive, lasting from the late summer of August to the winter of Occtober, 1970, it was a very happy time for Eric Clapton musically, if not emotionally. They made the album at Criteria Studios in Miami, the strong Atlantic Records connection of their resident 60's record producer and sound engineer, Tom Dowd, concerned Duane Allman. He had played the lead guitar on Dowd's records recently for the likes of Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, Tom Dowd introduced them and one of rock's most inspired musical pairings of Anglo / American musicians, can be heard on this magnificent double album. Everyone knows Duane Allman's beautiful slide guitar on "Layla", one of the most enjoyable parts of that track title, is listening out for either the Clapton or Allman guitars, and at times I defy anyone to separate them when they both hit stunning slide guitars. I am currently having my waning powers of concentration, just being around this pair of gleaming Mint records I'm twitching to hear the immaculate sound quality unplayed, very first pressings will have. Containing many personal favourite Clapton performances, blues was always going to be special this close to Cream & Blind Faith. "Key To The Highway" is a classic example, that track is just sensational, does music get any better than this? Eric's solo is unreal and the band rock out in a style born out of blues, but the sounds here are way beyond categorising, they trade licks and the sound quality will be simply breathtaking. The sound of these first UK pressings is 'thick and heavy', the bass is unbelievable. Bottom end USA producer Tom Dowd wrote the book for powerful r&b, but perfect audio clarity. Plus unmentioned on the cover a famous record producer/ sound engineer contributed to the recordings, Bill Leverson, I was privileged to meet him at a record fair, he was ironically looking for the first pressing of Delaney & Bonnie's "Going Home" Atlantic single, the B-side was needed for his CD project and the Master Tape was lost, Eric Clapton played superb lead guitar on both sides. I was rather proud to supply him with a Mint first pressing, I knew this would be a tricky description to write, even accepting I will not play the records, I'm still bursting with info but non selling albums are extremely rare at this grand age. I would only end up purring over my most loved Eric Clapton related post Cream tracks to ever appear on one double album, "Bell Bottom Blues", "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?", "Have You Ever Loved A Woman?," "Little Wing", "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" and "Key To The Highway," in fact, every track is a masterpiece ! It's common knowledge who "Layla" was written about and I am not interested in digging over old relationships, I will now get to vital pressing info and where this amazing pair of records fit into the scheme of the rare very first UK pressings. Most people believe Record Collector have accurate dates in their price guide, they should at least look at the labels and covers of a first pressing because they have given the wrong year of publication, 1971, when it was positively in my local record shop before the Christmas of 1970. I had been reading about the sessions and waiting for news of the release, the "Eric Clapton" solo album released in September, 1970, was very well publicised and it made the Top 15 in the UK. A few months later in December, the poor sales were a commercial disaster for "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs," as the same thing happened in America, USA Atco first pressings in top condition are rare. It did not help matters when "Tell The Truth" was issued as a single with a non LP track "Roll It Over" on the B-side in advance of the album in 1970, only to be withdrawn because the band, more likely 'Derek' thought the sound was too 'Spectorish," That dated to June,1970, when it was recorded during the "All Things Must Pass" sessions and the 'edge was missing' or buried under a 'Wall of Sound'. The track was re-recorded for the album and two takes made up the stunning finished item, first issues of "Layla" were also in late 1970 and what a record that was with "Bell Bottom Blues" as the B-side, once again it was totally ignored here and the USA. In 1971 yet another attempt was made to get UK record buyer interest by making "Bell Bottom Blues" the A-side and "Keep On Growing" was now chosen as the B-side, I thought surely now that single would become huge and herald the now almost forgotten "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs," not yet! By 1972 Clapton was in real trouble with alcohol and a heroin addiction that was threatening his now non functioning career. There were no records being made and instead the "History Of Eric Clapton" album was compiled and released, with that came another shot at releasing "Layla", then suddenly in August, 1972, every radio was constantly playing a No.7 hit in the UK and it reached No.10 in the USA. As I said earlier, facts and figures of the history of the one and only studio 'Derek & The Dominos' album, can be found in text books that deal in facts and do not reprint mistakes approximately every two years, charts books are always reliable. As far as the internet is concerned, it seems like a band of self appointed bungling amateurs have taken it upom themseleves to re-write it all without truth being a priority. To piece this lot together, you had to be there and be something of a fanatical Eric Clapton recorder collector who also took in as many gigs as funds and time allowed. In 1972, it was only two years later and Polydor still had the full first pressing batch, give or take a few copies that sold or lay languishing in record shop bargain bins. Without any label re-designs, the chance to re-launch an album containing the original unedited version of a currently much loved track was now worth another try, but no money was spent on publicity or promo work. Fair enough, a double album was an expensive item to buy in the first place when compared to a single, a simple solution was to print new stickers informing and inticing record buyers to hear an exciting full length version. The large sticker had eye catching lettering in red with a 3D effect created buy adding white reflective lines; "Featuring The Full Length Version Of The Hit Single 'Layla' " I clearly remember seeing one in a record shop in 1972 and being impressed, even though my original was bought on issue, seeing the sticker was accidental, I had only lifted the cover out to check if the tracks were the same. The sticker had been stuck on the most stupid possible position from a visibility perspective, which was the whole point of printing and re-distributing the album in the first place. The front bottom right corner, where it was out of sight when flicking through covers, I have no idea how many stickers were made and albums distributed, I suspect Polydor were fishing and hoping for a high demand, well, if they were all in the same bottom right corner covers as well, no wonder they remained unsold. To this day one of the greatest albums of all time has never made a UK chart entry, incidently the next single released from the album was a year later in 1973, "Bell Bottom Blues" was now paired with "Little Wing," by then Clapton's records were released / re-released on Robert Stigwood's new 'RSO' label, he had "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs" re-pressed for the first time but with no luck again. The reason for doing so is just as bizarre as most of this strange and rather sad story, RSO now released a live album, "Derek & The Dominos In Concert" and on the 24th March, 1973, it reached No.36 in the UK charts, only for a week though and it dropped out into obscurity. Some first pressings were sold in December, 1970, then some were later sold in 1972, a year later in 1973 the re-issues were on the RSO label so it's unknown how many 1970 very first pressings were sold over the next two years. Once again Polydor's very reliable maitrix ending digits and the first issue covers alone have the first pressings, inner sleeves are essential, but only conclusive if they were code dated. All that remains is to emphasise how perfect the sound quality will be on both records and how unique that sound and Tom Dowd's original 1970 Stereo mix perfectly preserved on this immaculate first pressings. {Roy} R & M RECORDS. My lifetime's love of music and records began at a very young age, the arrival of the Beatles and the 1960's decade in general had a very profound effect. It was only natural to bring all my first hand experience of collecting vinyl into becoming a professional record seller. Nearly thirty years ago we entered into the wonderful atmosphere of record fairs with the highest possible standards set. When the Internet became the world's new market place for vinyl, in 2001 it was time to join ebay. Those standards were rigidly adhered to as they will always continue to be, the basics of honesty and integrity were very much part of the era the music I love originated in, so here is our friendly and very efficient service we are proud to provide; EVERY RECORD IS FULLY PLAYED AND COMES WITH A 'NO ARGUMENT' MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. I USE GOOD OLD COMMON SENSE AS WELL AS A GLOBALLY ACCEPTED GRADING TERMINOLOGY FROM THE U.K. "RECORD COLLECTOR PRICE GUIDE" BOOK. THERE IT CLEARLY STATES "Sound Quality" AFFECTS EVERY GRADING LEVEL AND THAT IS THE ONE AND ONLY POSSIBLE WAY TO ACCURATELY GRADE RECORDS. i.e. COMBINING A STRICT VISUAL INSPECTION WITH VERY CLOSELY LISTENING TO EVERY SECOND, UNLESS PERHAPS IN THE CASE OF GENUINELY UNPLAYED VINYL. 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