Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

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clive gash
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Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby clive gash » 05 Jul 2018, 20:25

On iPlayer now.

Extraordinary really, the most warts and all (with emphasis on the warts, pretty much the final hour is his booze/heartbreak-informed disintegration with ZERO interest paid to his post-Layla records - Tears In Heaven aside) doc I’ve seen. He really didn’t give a shit in the 70s/80s.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby jimboo » 05 Jul 2018, 20:39

I am surprised he is still alive.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby naughty boy » 05 Jul 2018, 21:00

Oh - good. I'll watch that later.

He's kind of inert, as a person, isn't he? no hint of any kind of personality at all.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Phenomenal Cat » 05 Jul 2018, 21:00

Intolerable asshole. I was rooting for him to just die.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby sloopjohnc » 05 Jul 2018, 21:08

Phenomenal Cat wrote:Intolerable asshole. I was rooting for him to just die.


:lol:

I fall under the "inert" description, more like Coan.

For such an influential guy who had interesting friends, he doesn't seem to have much of a personality.
Last edited by sloopjohnc on 05 Jul 2018, 22:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby clive gash » 05 Jul 2018, 21:11

Harsh on Coan that.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Pool Hall Richard » 05 Jul 2018, 21:35

Very good documentary but 70's material has no focus on the music (which i for one really like,) just like with his autobiography he's exorcising his demons, a shame the music gets ignored as a result.

The eeriest bit is the footage around the heroin period, photo's showing the way he was living, and that footage of him being interviewed back in '71/72, whilst on heroin for that movie about Hendrix. Claptons eyes darting from side to side. Was weird enough seeing that in the original movie.

Fair play for taking on the Birmingham racist rant which many still kick him for, he was a fucking mess but somehow still made music. Back in the era when the management should've taken him off the road, less enlightened times. How he survived, god knows.

The Phil Collins era is a strange one as Clapton looks a hell of a lot different and straight but was still drinking right up until 1988. Maybe he managed to "manage" it better rather than just appearing on stage clearly pissed as he did in the 70s,

Well worth a watch, good to see Charlotte Martin being interviewed, Ben Palmer too. His 70s band were only brought on to discuss how much he drank, bit of a waste that, give the film a bit more and discuss the music. Bit weak using that "speed through the time period from 1974 and 1992 but showing the album covers."

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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby sloopjohnc » 05 Jul 2018, 22:06

gash on ignore wrote:Harsh on Coan that.


That's the nicest thing I could think of. . .
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Samoan » 05 Jul 2018, 22:21

A friend (and I think a friend of many of yous) put the Youtube of it on FB a good few months ago.
Highly interesting.
The tiny little letter written to Pattie was rather strange.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby bobzilla77 » 05 Jul 2018, 23:52

Talking about Jimi Hendrix coming to London, Pete Townshend once said something to the effect that, Clapton considered the wah-wah pedal his PERSONAL TRADEMARK, and felt quite possessive about it. Like, if Townshend had started using a wah wah, Clapton would have never spoken to him again. But because Jimi was from outside London, he got a pass. Pretty soon it wasn't Eric's sole thing any more.

All I could think was - how big a prick do you have to be to imagine that you have the exclusive rights in all of London to use a fucking WAH WAH PEDAL? Not as if he invented the fucking thing. It's a piece of musical equipment that he bought in a store!

One imagines Clapton staking out the store for weeks at a time, and any time someone starts looking at the wah wah pedal he chases them away with a swipe of his cane! And the store manager going "God damn it Eric, not again!" and Clapton responds, "It's my personal trademark."
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby naughty boy » 05 Jul 2018, 23:56

bobzilla77 wrote:how big a prick do you have to be to imagine that you have the exclusive rights in all of London to use a fucking WAH WAH PEDAL?


:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Goat Boy » 06 Jul 2018, 07:14

Yeah, he’s an odd cunt.

I’ve always thought there was little discernible personality there. Especially compared to that generation of musicians where personalities where usually bigger than they are now.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Geezee » 06 Jul 2018, 10:52

ORORORO wrote:
bobzilla77 wrote:how big a prick do you have to be to imagine that you have the exclusive rights in all of London to use a fucking WAH WAH PEDAL?


:lol: :lol: :lol:


I remember from his autobiography he mentions that around 66/67, he would literally walk away from anyone who did not know who Robert Johnson was. Just stop the conversation and leave - someone that ignorant wasn't worth his time. And the way he writes about is really weird - it's not like he's humorously remembering "god what a prick i was". It's sort of like - "I wish I was still as principled as that".

I really didn't get the sense - as PHR apparently did - that he was exorcising his demons in that book. It felt to me like he was conducting a history lesson. It's so dry and devoid of passion. I mean it truly suits his image - just very dull - so he's probably an incredibly honest account of who he is - but it's still unfathomable to me that someone who lived a life like that could be so infinitely boring.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Samoan » 06 Jul 2018, 11:10

I didn't find him dull or boring just uber Intense which can be dull in it's own way.
I reckon he held a lot back and it's depicting his PR approved personality and at home he throws the odd saucepan around on occasions and vents about the mess of children's toys and whathaveyou.
Nonsense to the aggressiveness, I've seen more aggression on the my little pony message board......I mean I was told.

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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Rayge » 06 Jul 2018, 13:55

Geezee wrote:[I]t's still unfathomable to me that someone who lived a life like that could be so infinitely boring.


He was born in Surrey and went to school in Surbiton.
Boringness literally goes with the territory.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Samoan » 06 Jul 2018, 15:05

:D
Nonsense to the aggressiveness, I've seen more aggression on the my little pony message board......I mean I was told.

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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Loki » 06 Jul 2018, 15:21

Apparently I have to register and give a credit card # to watch the movie for free.

I guess I'll just have to wait til it comes on TV again.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Nuts » 06 Jul 2018, 15:51

Thought it was midly interesting but not really much about music was it?
Like a bit of Cream but Eric solo I've always found boring and middle of the road. The missus is a fan but I can't get past Wonderful Tonight and I Shot The Sheriff. Am I missing out?
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby sloopjohnc » 06 Jul 2018, 17:04

Rayge wrote:
Geezee wrote:[I]t's still unfathomable to me that someone who lived a life like that could be so infinitely boring.


He was born in Surrey and went to school in Surbiton.
Boringness literally goes with the territory.


17, and visiting England for the first time, I used to take the train from Effingham, where I was staying with family friends, to London. While the train stopped at stations to Waterloo, I used to observe and judge the towns on how they might be at each stop. Surbiton seemed to have nothing going for it at all. Woking looked like a fucking playground in comparison.
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Re: Eric Clapton: A Life In 12 Bars

Postby Nuts » 06 Jul 2018, 17:10

Surbiton is the next town/borough along from me. It was always a dead and alive place, always used to be known for it's abundance of unhinged people. We used to rehearse there once a week and you always got a few mad eyed souls wandering about while waiting for the bus home.
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