Reptile

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Despite the signals in other recent Clapton recordings, the title track of Reptile will have some of his followers checking their CD decks. It's not blues, nor reggae, but a very plausible take on smooth bossa nova guitar, redolent of George Benson or Ronny Jordan. Clapton's voice, not always convincing in the past, is also on exceptional form, if not reinvented: it's almost always resonant, sure-footed and tuneful, particularly on his growling cover of Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby". Stylistic departures appear elsewhere too, in the samba of "Believe In Life" and the jazz balladry of "I Want A Little Girl", but the blues remains Clapton's cornerstone. It's there in whatever style he plays, especially in tunes like "Got You On My Mind" and "Broken Down". Fans of his guitar-playing might wish he'd stepped back from the mike more often, but on any terms this is one of Slowhand's strongest albums for many years. --Mark Gilbert

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Customer reviews

review by: Armchair reviewer date: 2007-04-10 rating:
A mixed bag but......
He released Journeyman which was cool and then...as far as an original album of material goes there was Pilgrim and then this. Now, Pilgrim was full of strong songs that were poorly (or overly) produced by Simon Climie. This album has fairly weak material that Mr Climie seems to have had sound more natural. Which is a shame because the songs on Pilgrim are so much stronger and ones that Eric really cared about. Even worse, Back Home, the follow up in terms of a 'normal' Clapton album, was not only weak in terms of songs, but those 'orrible production values were back in the fray. In this sense, apart from Me and Mr Johnson, this is the best Eric Clapton album in years.
Its an interesting concept involving Eric's upbringing (Reptile being a term of endearment), but the only musical references are instrumental. How wonderful had this been an autobiographical excursion for this most colourful of artists. He's got enough to talk about!!! Instead, we have a bunch of covers and some lightweight original material. For the record, the best track is a cover of Stevie Wonder's I Ain't Gonna Stand For It Baby. Don't let this be your first Clapton experience, though its his best non-all blues album for the last 10 years at least. Go for Layla, 461 Ocean Boulevard, Slowhand, Journeyman, or if you're splashing out, the wonderful Crossroads 1 and 2. He really is a genius, but not here!

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review by: date: 2004-02-22 rating:
"Pilgrim" revisited
Some people like the sensitive balladeer that Eric Clapton has become in later years. Some like his low-key 70s amalgams of rock, pop, blues, and country. Some liked him as a gritty bluesman. And it seems like he is trying to saisfy everybody on "Reptile", his 2001 release.

Clapton has dug up some really obscure oldies, he covers a couple of slightly more familiar songs by Ray Charles, J.J. Cale and Stevie Wonder, and he has penned a few himself as well. And some of these songs are really good...he performs well on a fine rendition of an old Big Joe Turner-recording, the relatively tough, bluesy R&B of "Got You On My Mind", and plays some nice slide dobro as well.
This take on Ray Charles' "Come Back Baby" is equally good, as is the ancient "I Want A Little Girl", which has been recorded by everybody from Louis Armstrong to T-Bone Walker. And the pleasant AOR trifle "Superman Inside" is okay, too.

And that's about it, really. Not that the remaining eight songs and two instrumentals are terrible, not at all. They're just bland...the kind of songs that you won't be able to recall once they've finished. No memorable hooks, lyrics, riffs, instrumental passages, anything. Even Clapton's covers of tunes by James Taylor and J.J. Cale are boring, and there are too many "Pilgrim"-like ballads and nondescript acoustic shuffles here, too much material lacking in substance.

If the "Pilgrim" and "Reptile" albums are Eric Clapton's way of distancing himself from the "guitar hero" image which he never really liked, it is certainly working. This is definitely one of the minor items in the Clapton catalogue.

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review by: date: 2003-09-09 rating:
Laid back . . .
Yeah, there are the odd upbeat numbers, but the over-all feel of the album is relaxing and cool.

For proof try 'Reptile' itself, a wonderful instrumental with a soft and smooth, almost velvety texture to it. Styles range from this to more upbeat, a touch of jazz to blues (of course), exploring - but not in too much depth - a range of music with still one foot (at least) firmly planted on the right side of blue(s).

Best examples include 'Got You On My Mind', Travelin' Light', 'Come Back Baby' - EC at his heartfelt blues best, 'I Want A Little Girl' & 'Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight'.

This won't break any barriers, musically, nor will it convert many people to his music; but the youthful Eric who looks out of the album cover has grown up into someone who makes good music, and makes it sound as if it's very easy to do so. Of course it isn't easy, but the fact that this sounds that way, makes it a very valuable addition to the Clapton canon.

He may well be mellowing, but as this collection attests, there is still emotion and solid rock blues in his blood.

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review by: date: 2003-08-29 rating:
Enjoy it on its own merits!
When Eric Clapton and B.B. King planned the production of the album that would eventually become "Riding With The King," they scheduled three months of studio time - much to B.B. King's team's surprise because the King of Blues usually takes much less than that to finish an album. And lo'n behold, they were done in roughly a month, recording almost exclusively live, with very little editing involved. So Clapton decided to "tag on" an album of his own and take advantage of the outstanding group of musicians they had assembled, and the magical atmosphere of the cooperation with them. He had however, he says, "underestimated" how big exactly the effect of B.B. King's presence had been, and things just didn't seem to go together anymore as they had before. Besides, there didn't seem to be a real theme and a purpose to the album. So he took a break from recording and, when meeting with relatives in Canada, was reminded of his uncle Adrian (a.k.a. "Son") who had recently passed away, and whom he hadn't seen at all during the last years before Adrian's death; although growing up, this had been one of the most influential persons in his life. Like those of many outstanding musicians, Eric Clapton's albums often reflect the stage he is in in life; and remembering his uncle, it suddenly became clear to him that his new album had to be a re-examination of his early years, and of his relationship with "Son," a "local James Dean," as Clapton recently described him to Rolling Stone Magazine, and a true "Reptile" (i.e., "one of the guys") of his native Ripley.

I think it is important to take an album for what it is and not look for things which, given the album's history and meaning to the artist who has recorded it, cannot be there. This is obviously neither "Layla" nor "Fresh Cream" nor "Journeyman." Clapton has long since made his mark on blues and rock music, with these and other albums, with and without psychedelia (and he has never really been comfortable with the God-like status to which he was elevated early on anyway). He is no longer chasing Pattie Harrison. He has overcome drug and alcohol abuse; recovery from the latter prompting the doubtlessly difficult separation from his family in Ripley, including and in particular his uncle Adrian. He has founded "Crossroads" and taken control of both his private and his business life. His personality has evolved, and he doesn't exclusively have to rely on his music any longer to express what he wants to say. ("The only personality I had was within my fingers," he told Rolling Stone Magazine about his years with Cream and Blind Faith. "I could play it, but I couldn't say it. When we didn't have a song, I'd just think, 'Let's get stoned.' Which we did when we didn't know what we were doing.")

"Reptile" reflects the joy of Eric Clapton's cooperation with outstanding musicians such as long-time friends Andy Fairweather Low, Billy Preston, Steve Gadd and Nathan East (who have also joined him for what Clapton - sadly, very sadly - maintains is his last world tour - special kudos, though, to Billy Preston who, back from the hospital bed and his fight with chronic liver disease, literally danced on the stage when I saw them) ... and, yes, the Impressions, whom Clapton values so much that he has already announced that they will be featured on his next album, too. Clapton has called "Reptile" an "electric unplugged album" (with an "unplugged" feeling, but "plugged in" instruments) and compared its production to that of "461 Ocean Boulevard," his comeback studio album of 1974, in that during the recording of both albums, he and the other musicians would jam a lot, just playing songs of other artists they liked, and a fair share of those covers eventually made it into the final cut of the album. J.J. Cale's "Travelin' Light," Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby," James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" and Stevie Wonder's "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" are examples here, and Clapton impresses his very own mark on each of them. And although he took some time to remix the album after the initial recording, it still maintains much of the atmosphere present during its production (witness, for example, that spontaneous "Have mercy!" at the end of "Come Back Baby.")

But the album wouldn't be named for Eric Clapton's uncle (and dedicated to him and his wife Sylvia) if it wasn't, in large parts, also about the singer-guitarist's re-evaluation of the things that influenced him in his youth. Hence, songs such as the instrumental title track (which is a bossa nova because, Clapton says, he just loves Brazilian music), the closing and likewise instrumental "Son & Sylvia," "Believe in Life" and, of course, "Find Myself," written early on but finding its true purpose only when the album took its final direction. Despite all this, and its tributes to different musical styles - including those favored by Clapton's uncle - the one thing this album is not is "retro" (Clapton actually fought the record company to keep it from going down that path). It's as much a catalyst for its maker's emotions and state of mind as any of his other albums over the course of the past decades; it's also, blues and beyond, just plain good music ... and incidentally, as if this needed any emphasis at all, Clapton's powers as a guitarist are still fully in place, as not only evidenced on this album but also during his most recent live appearances (with the added benefit of a large screen, concert venue permitting, giving fans an up-and-close view of the man's fretboard wizardry). His latest album should be enjoyed on its own merits, not on those of his numerous past laurels, uniquely important as they are - and on these terms, there is plenty to enjoy indeed.


review by: Marty From SF date: 2002-12-17 rating:
Wonderful Lounge Lizard!
For those expecting the rock of "Layla", the variety of "Pilgrim" or the funkiness of "461 Ocean Boulevard", you might be disappointed, but "Reptile" is a masterpiece. All fourteen songs are what you might expect from a personal concert in a small cafe from Eric Clapton. Rythym and Blues are the mainstay here and it shows with classic covers of Ray Charles', "Come Back Baby", James Taylors' "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" and Stevie Wonders', "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It". This collection stands out for consistency and pure love of 'feel good' club music. Granted, Clapton does push more energy on "Superman Inside", almost 'out-blues' himself on "Got You On My Mind" and pulls at your heartstrings with the lovely instrumental, "Son & Sylvia". Each of Clapton's albums vary from time to time and usually for the better. This is a 'low key evening by the fire' collection. It's just one of the things Clapton does the best.

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