Pilgrim

Description

Released in 1998 Pilgrim was Erics thirteenth studio album, achieving top 10 status in over ten countries worldwide and going Platinum in the US and Norway. The single My Fathers Eyes went on to win Eric a Grammy award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Since donning an Armani suit back in the decadent 80s, Eric Claptons music had become more polished as hed gotten older. Despite recording the all-blues FROM THE CRADLE collection in 1994, E.C. had either gone unplugged, collaborated with silky-smooth soulsters such as Babyface, or dabbled with current electronic trends.

PILGRIM finds Slowhand doing all of the above on what was his first album of original material in nearly a decade. Unlike many older artists dipping their toes into the electronic pool, Clapton and co-producer Simon Climies restrained use of programming gilds rather than overwhelms these original numbers.

In a welcome turn, Clapton wrote or co-wrote every song with the exception of Bob Dylans Born In Time and Going Down Slow, a St. Louis Jimmy blues nugget. Joined by Babyface on the former, Clapton gives both songs a lite-jazz treatment that meshes well with a burnished vocal style that sounds as if hes been listening to Curtis Mayfield recently. Complementing Claptons emotive vocalising is his always formidable guitar playing. Whether he politely funks it up on Shes Gone or indulges his blues jones on the slow shuffle of Sick And Tired, Eric Claptons musical development continues to be a steady pilgrimage into the new millenium.