No Reason To Cry
	Produced by Rob Fraboni in association with Eric Clapton and Carl Dean Radle
	Released on August 1976
	UK CHART POSITION #8 . . . US CHART POSITION #15
	Find it at GEMM
RS-1-3004 cover [high resolution photo]

A snapshot of Clapton in time, here hunkered down with The Band in their studio and making the sort of lumbering folk rock & blues you’d find in the smoldering sections of The Basement Tapes. An unusual alliance that even brought Bob Dylan out of the basement, and for three tracks anyway (“Beautiful Thing,” “Sign Language,” “All Our Past Times”) it’s Bob and The Band who do the honors. The rest of the record is typical ‘ton, including a terrific pop hit (“Hello Old Friend”), a bumpy trip south of the border (“Carnival”) and the blues. As Eric’s elpees go, No Reason To Cry is an also-ran, something that disappears from the radar after so many years. Thus it’s ripe for rediscovery, the sort of thing worth digging for if you’ve already made your fortune and are just looking for pieces of historical merit. Clapton’s records tend to cover too much ground stylistically, as if he were trying to please followers of a three-faced god (guitarist, songwriter, blues revivalist), and No Reason To Cry at least succeeds at staying in the same basic ballpark, in this case Shangri-La Studios. Everything here is stamped with the sound of The Band, and it’s led me to muse on more than one occasion that this could be Clapton’s great lost country album. I’m not sure how you “lose” an album that cracked the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic, but you seldom hear about it anymore like you do Backless, Slowhand and 461 Ocean Blvd. Marcy Levy is once again the salt that sweetens everything, earning the spotlight on “Innocent Eyes,” which is a fine gesture of support from her employer. And the closing “Black Summer Rain” is an undiscovered gem. If you’re building a Clapton collection, there’s no reason not to own this album. Think of it as the Planet Waves in the constellation of Clapton.

RS-1-3004 back cover	RS-1-3004 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. BEAUTIFUL THING    (Richard Manuel/Rick Danko)    4:24
2. CARNIVAL    (Eric Clapton)    3:41
3. SIGN LANGUAGE    (Bob Dylan)    2:57
4. COUNTY JAIL BLUES    (Alfred Fields)    3:58
5. ALL OUR PAST TIMES    (Eric Clapton/Rick Danko)    4:36
6. HELLO OLD FRIEND    (Eric Clapton)    3:34
7. DOUBLE TROUBLE    (Otis Rush)    4:19
8. INNOCENT TIMES    (Eric Clapton/Marcy Levy)    4:10
9. HUNGRY    (Dick Sims/Marcy Levy)    3:37
10. BLACK SUMMER RAIN    (Eric Clapton)    4:55
    
    CD reissue bonus track
    
11. LAST NIGHT

CREDITS

ERIC CLAPTON --
Aggie --
Brains Bradley --
Sandy Castle --
Connie --
Rick Danko --
Terry Danko --
Jesse Ed Davis --
Bob Dylan --
Yvonne Elliman --
Bob Ellis --
Georgie Fame --
Albhy Galuten --
Geoffrey Harrison --
Levon Helm --
Garth Hudson --
Chris Jagger --
Konrad Kramer --
Dick La Palm --
Dread Lever --
Marcy Levy --
Dominic Lumetta --
Richard Manuel --
Nello --
Jamie Oldaker --
Pete --
Billy Preston --
Carl Radle --
Robbie Robertson --
Sergio Pastora Rodriguez --
Larry Samuels --
Dick Simms --
Wilton Spears --
George Terry --
Mick Turner --
Wah Wah Watson --
Ronnie Wood --
Ed Anderson -- engineer
Nat Jeffrey (Jeffery?) -- engineer
Ralph Moss -- engineer

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