Derek and the Dominos

Derek and the Dominos was a music group formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist/singer Eric Clapton with other former members of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon and the later inclusion of Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers Band. They were a blues-rock band that demonstrated virtuosity at its finest and is considered to be among Clapton's very finest works.

Tragedy and dissolution

But tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a blistering version of Little Wing as a tribute to him which was added to the album. One year later, on the eve of the group's first American tour, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews on release; Clapton took this personally, accelerating his spiral into drug addiction and depression.

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The shattered group undertook a U.S. tour. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a barrage of drugs (mainly heroin) and alcohol, it resulted in the surprisingly strong live double album In Concert. But the group disintegrated messily in London just before they had completed their now unfinished second LP. Although Radle worked with Clapton for several more years, the split between Clapton and Whitlock was apparently a bitter one, and they never worked together again. Radle would sadly die of alcohol poisoning in 1981 and Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic ? some years later, during a psychotic episode, murdered his mother with a hammer and was confined to a mental institution in 1984, where he remains today.

Related Topics:
Heroin - Alcohol - In Concert - Alcohol poisoning - Schizophrenic

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After the dissolution Clapton turned away from touring and recording to nurse a heroin addiction due to his unrequited and intense romantic longing for Pattie Boyd-Harrison, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh and the "Rainbow Concert" in 1973 (see 1973 in music), organized by The Who's Pete Townshend to help Clapton kick the drug.

Related Topics:
Concert for Bangladesh - Rainbow Concert - The Who - Pete Townshend

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Time has only added to the renown of the group, which is now rated among Eric Clapton's most outstanding achievements. The 1988 Eric Clapton box set retrospective Crossroads featured material from the abortive second album sessions. The Layla Sessions was a 1990 box set expanding that album across three CDs/cassettes. Live at the Fillmore (1994) offered an expanded version of the In Concert album.

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In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs the 89th greatest album of all time. It is number 115 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Related Topics:
VH1 - Rolling Stone

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