From the Cradle explained

From the Cradle
Type:studio
Longtype:of cover songs
Artist:Eric Clapton
Cover:EC From the Cradle.jpg
Released:[1]
Recorded:1994
Studio:Olympic Studios, Barnes, London
Genre:Blues, electric blues, British blues, soul blues
Label:Duck / Warner Bros.
Producer:Eric Clapton, Russ Titelman
Prev Title:Derek and the Dominos Live at the Fillmore
Prev Year:1994
Next Title:The Cream of Clapton
Next Year:1995

From the Cradle is the twelfth solo studio album by Eric Clapton, released on 12 September 1994 by Warner Bros. Records.[2] A blues cover album and Clapton's follow-up to his successful 1992 live album, Unplugged, it is his only UK number-one album to date.

Although he had long been associated with the blues, From the Cradle was Clapton's first attempt at an all-blues album. He would subsequently record Riding with the King with B. B. King; a tribute to Robert Johnson, Me and Mr. Johnson; and a collaboration with J. J. Cale, The Road to Escondido.

Title

The title comes from the last line of a four-line poem written by Clapton (and which he never set to music) and printed in his own handwriting on the second page of the CD booklet: "All along this path I tread / My heart betrays my weary head / with nothing but my love to save / from the cradle to the grave."[3]

Critical reception

From the Cradle has prompted a wide range of critical response. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic feels that the album is almost perfect, with Clapton's guitar soloing "original and captivating". The weakness for him is Clapton's singing, which attempts to merely imitate the original singers, but is laboured or overly emotive, and falls short of the originals. Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly felt that the recordings were "flawlessly faithful" but rather boring, especially compared with the inspiration evident in Cream's live version of "Spoonful". The Music Box's John Metzger felt that Clapton's appearance on Saturday Night Live to promote the record was more powerful than the album itself, which was a "perfunctory" performance lacking any originality. Robert Christgau compared Eric Clapton's work on the album to Son Seals and Otis Rush, saying that Clapton played better than the former, but sang worse than the latter and felt that "Motherless Child" and "Blues Before Sunrise" were stand-out tracks on the album.

According to the liner notes, the album was almost entirely recorded live in the studio with no overdubs or edits, the only overdubs being featured on "How Long Blues" (dobro) and "Motherless Child" (drums).[4]

The album won Clapton the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album and he received a further nomination for Album of the Year.

In July 2014, Guitar World placed From the Cradle on their list "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994".[5]

Track listing

  1. "Blues Before Sunrise" (Leroy Carr) – 2:58 this version is inspired also by Elmore James's rendition of the song
  2. "Third Degree" (Eddie Boyd, Willie Dixon) – 5:07
  3. "Reconsider Baby" (Lowell Fulson) – 3:20
  4. "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Dixon) – 3:16 originally performed by Muddy Waters
  5. "Five Long Years" (Boyd) – 4:47
  6. "I'm Tore Down" (Sonny Thompson) – 3:02 originally performed by Freddie King
  7. "How Long Blues" (Carr) – 3:09
  8. "Goin' Away Baby" (James A. Lane) – 4:00
  9. "Blues Leave Me Alone" (Lane) – 3:36
  10. "Sinner's Prayer" (Lloyd Glenn, Fulson)[6] – 3:20
  11. "Motherless Child" (Robert Hicks)[7] – 2:57
  12. "It Hurts Me Too" (Tampa Red) – 3:17 credited in the booklet to Elmore James, whose version was the blueprint for this one
  13. "Someday After a While" (Freddy King, Thompson) – 4:27
  14. "Standin' Round Crying" (McKinley Morganfield) – 3:39
  15. "Driftin'" (Charles Brown, Johnny Moore, Eddie Williams) (Johnny Moore's Three Blazers) – 3:10
  16. "Groaning the Blues" (Dixon) – 6:05 originally performed by Otis Rush

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1994–1996)Peak
position
European Albums (IFPI)[8] 2
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] 3
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[10] 10
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[11] 6
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[12] 6
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[13] 5

Year-end charts

Chart (1994)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[14] 60
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] 35
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[16] 60
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 62
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[18] 35
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 40
US Billboard 200[20] 64

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BPI.
  2. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r203316|tab=review|pure_url=yes}} Review: ''From the Cradle'' by Eric Clapton ]. Erlewine . Stephen Thomas . Stephen Thomas Erlewine . . United States . 5 July 2011.
  3. CD booklet, page 2.
  4. CD booklet, page 15.
  5. Web site: Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994 . 14 July 2014 . . 14 July 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140715053900/http://www.guitarworld.com/superunknown-50-iconic-albums-defined-1994 . 15 July 2014 .
  6. https://archive.today/20130628193440/http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&keyID=1349220&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID BMI – Repertoire Search Sinner's Prayer
  7. Web site: Original versions of Motherless Chile Blues written by Barbecue Bob SecondHandSongs . 2023-11-25 . secondhandsongs.com.
  8. Hits of the World > Canada, Europe. Billboard. 106. 41. 0006-2510. 15 October 1994. 64, 65. 14 November 2015.
  9. Hits of the World > Finland / Between the Bullets. Billboard. 106. 40. 0006-2510. 8 October 1994. 67, 111. 14 November 2015.
  10. Web site: Classifiche. Musica e Dischi. it. 20 June 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Eric Clapton".
  11. Book: Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 . . Roppongi, Tokyo . 2006 . 4-87131-077-9 . ja.
  12. Hits of the World > Portugal / Hits in Japan / Between the Bullets. Billboard. 106. 42. 0006-2510. 8 October 1994. 53, 99, 111. 14 November 2015.
  13. Hits of the World > Belgium, Spain. Billboard. 106. 44. 0006-2510. 5 November 1994. 56, 57. 14 November 2015.
  14. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20151102014251/http://i.imgur.com/3GuDxzg.jpg . The ARIA Australian Top 100 Albums 1994 . 2 November 2015 . 19 May 2022 . Australian Recording Industry Association Ltd..
  15. Web site: Austriancharts.at – Jahreshitparade 1994 . de . Hung Medien . 2015-07-23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111012022455/http://austriancharts.at/1994_album.asp . 12 October 2011 .
  16. Web site: Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1994 . ASP . nl . 2015-07-23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150920112251/http://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=1994&cat=a . 20 September 2015 .
  17. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts. de. GfK Entertainment. offiziellecharts.de. 16 January 2021.
  18. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 1994. The Official New Zealand Music Chart. 2015-07-23.
  19. Web site: Hitparade.ch – Schweizer Jahreshitparade1994 . de . Hung Medien . Swiss Music Charts . ASP . 2015-07-23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131105103846/http://hitparade.ch/year.asp?key=1994 . 5 November 2013 .
  20. Web site: Billboard 200 Albums – Year End 1990. Billboard. 5 October 2016.
  21. Web site: Billboard 200 Albums – Year End 1990. Billboard. 5 October 2016.

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