You get what you give to an album like 461 Ocean Boulevard. Eric Clapton spent much of the 1960s and early 1970s innovating in rock and roll far more than most. Cream and Derek and the Dominos are proof enough of his brilliant instrumental quality and so too are parts of 461 Ocean Boulevard, an album remembered more for a shaky but ultimately cool cover of Bob Marley and The Wailers than anything else. A shame that’s the case, too, considering the instrumentally rich and blues-focused tone found on the rest of the album. Blues rock brilliance is expected of Clapton because we listeners know exactly what he can do with this material. More should be expected of him than he ever managed in his solo career. But he, like many contemporaries, drifted far from what suited him and never saw fit to return to it until much too late. 461 Ocean Boulevard is a little slippery at times but an ultimately satisfying piece of laid-back rock.
Easy listening this is not, though. Far from it. An uproar becomes clear on opener Motherless Children, that stomping good time a call to arms before we’re given a chance to rest with the gorgeous Give Me Strength. It’s the latter that, so many listens later, is the stronger experience. Clapton creates a louder message in the quiet; the organ-featuring call for strength from a higher power is one of his very best. Like many Clapton albums, it’s a mixture of originals, traditional songs, and covers. Crucial to all those, particularly the Marley hit and Johnny Otis track, Willie and the Hand Jive, is the ability Clapton has as an instrumentalist to turn these songs into his own reflections. He finds strength in the words of others and acts accordingly. Slowed blues rock, contemplative features and supporting vocalists on Get Ready highlight the attitude and mood Clapton wants.
He succeeds in achieving that laid-back but reflective style across 461 Ocean Boulevard. His Marley cover, while popular, feels like an outlier to the sound Clapton and the instrumental crew in the studio work so hard on. What follows is an exceptional B-side of those charming guitar structures that made Clapton a household name. I Can’t Hold Out is a lush bit of guitar work from one of the greats, and the follow-up track, Please Be With Me, is a heart-on-the-sleeve style of song that every blues album inevitably features. Clapton makes good on the expectations of the genre, though, subverting what he can with some heavier touches of percussion and angrier guitar work. The B-side completely engulfs the A-side. Quality is assured on that latter half.
Let It Grow is just one of the many examples of that quality. An utterly wonderful instrumental piece that defines the album just as well as the A-side highlight, Give Me Strength. Clapton is at his best when building contemplative blues structure. He’s keen to let his guitar do the talking but needs, at times, a vocal burst to push it that way. He does just that on Let It Grow, a piece of work which feels far more influential than anything else on the album, and yet feels somewhat hidden away in the shadow of I Shot the Sheriff. Album closer Mainline Florida is a tremendous overview track. A song that summarises the album. Bolstered instrumentals, suggestive and contemplative they may be, that can still be enjoyed as straight-shooting, entry-level blues. It’s the subtleties and shock Clapton has embedded across 461 Ocean Boulevard that still stand out, even now.
