Eric Clapton

Me & Mr Johnson

**3/4 - proceed with caution

Review Score:

(6/10)
I know that a lot of listeners are prepared to receive this CD as the Second Coming. It is Eric Clapton playing Robert Johnson, after all. And others will be equally prepared to hate it on the same grounds.

But to me "Me And Mr Johnson" is neither very bad nor very good. Eric Clapton has brought in Muddy Waters' former harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, and the Beatles' organ player Billy Preston, and he himself plays excellent slide guitar on a couple of tracks, including a good rendition of "Traveling Riverside Blues", but the overall impression is quite bland.

Staying away from songs like "Sweet Home Chicago" and "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", which have been covered about a million times, Clapton focuses on somewhat lesser-known songs instead.
The arrangements are mostly acoustic, with some electric numbers thrown in for good measure, but almost every song is recorded using a full band which includes drums, keyboards, and two or three guitars. Whether or not you consider that an improvment is a matter of taste, I suppose...a few of the arrangements are certainly too cluttered for my taste.

Highlights include the aforementioned "Traveling Riverside Blues", an acoustic "Come On In My Kitchen", played in traditional country blues fashion, and an excellent "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day", one of only a few songs which really manage to get that deep, swinging blues groove going.
The rest is not excactly bad, but considering how good Clapton's last pure blues album, "From The Cradle", was, "Me And Mr Johnson" is certainly a disappointment. And the sound is surprisingly mediocre...it's flat and dull, certainly not what you would expect from a 2004 release.

All in all, "Me And Mr Johnson" doesn't excactly blow Johnson's originals out of the water, and it doesn't come close to matching Peter Green's two excellent Robert Johnson-tributes either.
Hardcore Clapton fans will want to check it out, of course, and some of them will instinctively hate everybody who doesn't give it five stars, and start clicking repeatedly on the "No, this review wasn't helpful, it was blasphemous and should never have been published"-button.
But most people would be better off listening to Robert Johnson playing Robert Johnson, rather than spend their money on these indisctinct performances which will only serve to make newcomers wonder what the big deal is with this guy Johnson. Considering the admiration that Eric Clapton has always expressed for Robert Johnson, "Me And Mr Johnson" is curiously devoid of soul and passion, and, sadly, ranks among Clapton's most forgettable albums.

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