It was midsummer 1970 in Florida. Eric Clapton looked out over the blue water knowing his life was at yet another crucial crossroad.
"I was standing there wondering which way to go and was paralysed with fear about making a decision," he would later recount.
"It seemed there were all these choices, musically and emotionally."
Fed up with stardom, he'd dismantled his supergroup Blind Faith and fled Britain with a drug habit, a broken heart and a crazy plan to make an album that would win back a lost love.
The woman in question was Pattie Boyd. She was the wife of one of Clapton's closest friends: former Beatle George Harrison.
Neglected and betrayed by her own husband, Pattie had grown close to Clapton, but in the end she could not bring herself to run away with him.
Unable to steal his wife, Clapton had taken off with George's band, a group he now called Derek and the Dominos.
Despite the curious name, it was no ordinary set of musicians. Drummer Jim Gordon was as good as they get. Bassist Carl Radle and keyboard player Bobby Whitlock were not far behind.
Obsessed with the music of The Band, Clapton was trying to create his own band of brothers, in effect to sidestep the expectations of stardom.
Now holed up in Miami, the Dominos carried a heavy musical burden — help Clapton write a musical letter that would win back the woman he still loved.
It wasn't easy, but then the creative floodgates opened
There were many problems though.
According to Clapton's biographer, Paul Scott, the band was consuming "vast quantities of weapons-grade narcotics".
Waking late in the morning they would exercise all day, walking and swimming to prepare for their excesses each night in the studio.
For those working with the band, it was all deeply disturbing. Record label boss Ahmet Ertegun took the unusual step of taking Clapton aside and begging him not to go down the road he'd seen taken by Ray Charles and other greats. It was all to no avail.
There was another problem, too, that in some ways was even harder to deal with.
The songs were simply not coming, and when they did they lacked the magic Clapton desired.
All that changed when, at the suggestion of producer Tom Dowd, Clapton and the band decided to take some time out to attend an Allman Brothers concert.
Clapton was stunned as he watched lead guitarist Duane Allman. Invited backstage and jamming after the gig, Clapton invited Allman to become part of the group.
Suddenly, the creative floodgates opened.
Clapton found his musical brother
In finding Allman, Clapton had found another musical brother, creating the final element of the band he'd long dreamed of.
Listening to deluxe additions of Layla, it isn't hard to hear Duane's impact. In fact, it could be argued that the album that would in time become the cornerstone for Clapton's reputation was not a solo record at all, but the work of one of rock's greatest ever groups.
As producer Tom Dowd saw it, "the whole album is definitely equal parts Eric and Duane".
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Bobby Whitlock was even more open about the input others made, sometimes without credit.
"He [Duane] brought the best out of us, even with the song writing… we were just getting ideas and then shaping them," he remarked.
There's no better example of this than the album's title song, Layla. Clapton may have written the tune and the words, but it was Allman who came up with the songs startling opening riff.
When it came time to end the song, drummer Jim Gordon played his part, offering a piano coda he had written that worked perfectly as the ending of the now famous song.
The group dynamic was the key
In every way the group dynamic was the essential element at the heart of the album. Read the song credits and you quickly realise Bobby Whitlock co-wrote many of the key selections.
Listening to the restored versions of the LP, you can hear how he entwines himself vocally around Clapton, giving his band leader's voice a depth and reach it never had before or after.
But in the end the true magic of Layla lies in the interplay between the two lead guitarists, Eric Clapton and Duane Allman.
"There had to be some sort of telepathy going on because I've never seen spontaneous inspiration happen at that rate and level," Tom Dowd recalled.
"One of them would play something, and the other reacted instantaneously. Never once did either of them have to say, 'Could you play that again, please?'"
Then, Clapton played the song to Pattie
Armed with the tapes of the album, Clapton flew back to Britain. There, he invited Pattie to meet him at his apartment.
Sitting alone he played her the song Layla — not once but three times. She was in equal measure stunned and horrified. Stunned at the passion of his plea for her love, horrified that soon the world — including her husband — would know what was going on.
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In this intimate moment, it's hard to know precisely what happened next. According to another of Clapton's biographers Philip Norman, Pattie was momentarily overwhelmed and physically succumbed to Clapton pleas for love.
The reaction, he says, did not last. Having made love, she regathered herself and told her suitor she was staying with George.
Distressed, Clapton produced a small packet filled with white powder. The threat was clear. Come with me or I go down another road. Pattie departed. Could things get any worse?
On November 8 — 50 years ago today — Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was released. In Britain, it failed to chart. In America, it limped into the top 20 album charts. Across the board the reviews were mixed. Clapton was devastated.
In time, of course, the album would be rereleased and gain the recognition it deserved.
But for those who created it, it would hold something that amounted to a curse.
The casualties kept coming
Clapton became the first casualty. Having completed a tour of America with the Dominos, he withdrew into heroin addiction.
Duane Allman returned to his band. Less than a year later, he was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Within a decade, Carl Radle would succumb to cancer — Jim Gordon to mental illness.
Having played a crucial role in one of rock's greatest albums, only Bobby Whitlock would survive and prosper.
Asked about what happened to the group he said: "The band, we never really broke up. It just dissipated".
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What Whitlock doesn't say is that the end came one grey afternoon when a drug addled Clapton saw his old friend coming down the driveway of his home, but refused to answer the door.
It's been said often enough that the great moments in rock and roll happen late at night when no-one is there, with no-one to record them.
But listening back 50 years on, the album we now call Layla tells another story. As the songs unfold, we are there late at night listening to one man's private pain unfurl, given form by a group of musicians creating a timeless piece of art.
Eric Clapton always said he did not want to be a star but a part of a truly great band. With Derek and the Dominos he may have lost the girl, but he most certainly fulfilled his dream.
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2020-11-07 18:00:00Z
CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTA4L2VyaWMtY2xhcHRvbi1sYXlsYS1wYXR0aWUtYm95cy1zZWN1cmVkLXBsYWNlLW11c2ljLWhpc3RvcnkvMTI4NTIxOTjSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI4NTIxOTg
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