Derek And The Dominos – Layla And Other Assorted Love Sessions (Paddington 025/026/027/028/029, PADVD – 002)

Layla And Other Assorted Love Sessions (Paddington 025/026/027/028/029, PADVD – 002)

Complete Studio Sessions for Layla & Unreleased 2nd Album
SESSION FOR LAYLA Album
Outtake & Alternate Version Aug. – Sept. 1970 from the Carl Radle Private Tapes and More

Disc 1: I Looked Away (Rough Mix Version 1), I Looked Away (Rough Mix Version 2), Bell Bottom Blues (Basic Track with False Start), Bell Bottom Blues (Basic Track Guitar Overdub), Keep On Growing (Basic Track), Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out (Basic Track), Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out (Alternate Mix with False Start), Any Day (Alternate Take), Tell The Truth (Backing Jam), Tell The Truth (Rough Mix), Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Alternate Take 1), Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Alternate Take 2 with False Start), Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Unreleased Mono from Original Test Press Acetate), Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Alternate Take), Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Alternate Master 1 Rough Mix), Layla (Guitar Overdub Out of Tune Version),  Layla (From “Tom Dowd & The Language of Music”)
Jams Aug. – Sept. 1970 with Duane Allman

Disc 2: Jam I (Rough Mix), Jam II (Rough Mix), Jam III (Rough Mix), Jam IV (Rough Mix)

Disc 3: Jam V (Rough Mix), Jam V (Alternate Version), Tender Love (Rough Mix), Jam VI, Jam VII, Jam VIII, Jam IX
SESSIONS FOR UNRELEASED 2nd Album
Original Version Recorded for Unreleased 2nd Album
Disc 4: Moody Jam, Jim’s Song, Chocolate, Son of Apache, Evil, Snake Lake Blues, Mean Old Frisco, High, I’ve Been All Day, Got to Get Better in A Little While, One More Chance, It’s Hard To Find A Friend, Till I See You Again
SESSIONS & JAMS RECORDED FOR UNRELEASED 2nd Album
Disc 5: Evil (Basic Track), Snake Lake Blues (Minor Key), Snake Lake Blues (Major Key), Mean Old Frisco (Basic Track), High (Alternate Mix), Got To Get Better In A Little While (Alternate Basic Track), One More Chance (Basic Track), Is My Love, Devil Road (Rene Armando on Vocals), Sick at Heart, Instrumental #1, Instrumental #2
JOHNNY CASH TV SHOW – November 5, 1970, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Bonus DVD: It’s Too Late, Matchbox (with Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins)

Paddington have taken on the task of compiling all the studio outtakes and jams recorded during the sessions for Derek & the Dominos Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and all tracks from the attempted second album.

Disc one features outtakes and jams previously available on Scorpio’s Derek is Eric. Some of these tracks are sourced from an ambient room microphone and are not board mixes. Although the quality varies between songs, it still sounds excellent. Paddington’s version of the Carl Radle tapes sound louder and punchier and some of the tracks have a few extra seconds at the start. However, “Nobody Knows (Basic Track)” and “Anyday” on Scorpio sound crisper and less muffled. Also included here are “Layla (Out of Tune Version)” and the alternate mix of “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” also featured on the Yellow Dog release, Layla and Other Assorted Unreleased Songs. Paddington is a slight upgrade in sound. The second version of “Layla” is sound clips taken from Tom Dowd & The Language of Music DVD and has a breakdown of some of Eric and Duane’s solos with added commentary from Tom himself. This disc gives us an excellent look into how these songs evolved. I would love to have been a fly on the wall during these sessions (I bet even the flies were high).

Discs two and three contain a bunch of unstructured, yet very interesting, jams with and without Duane and even one that includes the rest of the Allman Brothers Band. Some of these were remixed and included in the Dominos 20th Anniversary Box Set in somewhat edited form. It’s a lot of Hendrix style jamming where the solos go on forever. Paddington often runs at the wrong speed.

On disc four, we finally get into the unreleased second album tracks. “Evil” and “Snake Lake Blues” are the same versions featured on the Eric Clapton Crossroads box set, released in 1988 on Polydor. “Got to Get Better” and “One More Chance” are also the same recordings as the Clapton box set but very different mixes. Polydor mixed out the clavinet on “Got to Get Better”, and “One More Chance” on Paddington has the drums mixed out. I believe “It’s Hard to Find a Friend” and “Till I See You Again” are Jim Gordon demos with Jim on acoustic guitar and vocals. These tapes were also released by The Eternal Records as Substance Vol.2 but Paddington’s sound is better, being clearer and louder.

Disc five is the sessions that lead up to some of the later versions included here on disc four. These tracks were previously released on The Last Sessions on Reel Records and Substance Vol.2 and are mostly instrumentals. “Devil’s Road” is thirteen minutes, features female vocals and sounds like early Steely Dan. This along with the last two instrumentals has had speculation on whether or not Clapton had any involvement. The solos can be very different from Eric’s usual style. Whoever it is deserves proper credit, as the playing is unbelievable.

The bonus DVD is not from the master but pretty close and is still enjoyable giving us a glimpse of what they looked like live. The band looks a little tentative, understandingly, with people like Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins in their presence. “Got to Get Better” and “Blues Power” were also performed but not aired.

I don’t know whether or not Paddington got lower generations for these sources or just did a better job with the mastering. The packaging is also excellent and includes two inserts, one of which details the recording dates for the original sessions and a story about the book that inspired Clapton’s concept for “Layla”. Get this even if you already own the other titles.  (WGPSEC)