Following the demise of Blind Faith, after one album and a single tour, guitarist Eric Clapton, trying to escape the hype that surrounded Cream and Blind Faith, landed a “low-key” gig with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. It was here Clapton met the future Dominos. Delaney & Bonnie and Friends backed Clapton on his self-title solo album and they all contributed to George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” triple album. As this was going on, Clapton became obsessed with Harrison’s wife, Pattie (née’ Boyd) who was flattered by Clapton’s attention. When it came time to name the band, they settled on Derek & The Dominos. There was no ‘Derek’ per se, rather it was a nickname Clapton had acquired. Derek & The Dominos made its debut at a London benefit concert for Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Civil Liberties Defense Fund at the Lyceum Ballroom. The line-up was Clapton, Bobby Whitlock (piano, organ, vocals); Carl Radle (bass); Jim Gordon (drums). Ex-Traffic guitarist Dave Mason also appeared but he didn’t stay in the group. Shortly after the show, Clapton and his fellow Dominos headed for Miami to record. The sessions progressed slowly. Taking a break, Clapton went to see a promising emerging guitarist. Duane Allman’s playing so impressed Clapton that he asked Allman to take a break (ten days) from the Allman Brothers Band to work on the “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” album – the title inspired by the classic love poem, “The Story of Layla and Majnun.” Allman accepted. Clapton called Allman the “catalyst” for the “Layla” album. It was a perfect pairing. Allman was a guitarist on the rise with something to prove, trading licks with a living legend and not about to give ground. Allman turned out to be one of Clapton’s best musical choices. At the center of the album was “Layla,” with a fiery dual guitar opening (played by Clapton and Allman) and driven by Clapton’s unbridled vocal passion as an ode to his beloved Pattie. Everyone was expecting great things. Layla But “Layla” only made it to #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 which was way below expectations. “Layla’s” failure and the tepid sales of the ’70 release “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” accelerated Clapton’s spiral into drug addiction and depression leading him to disband Derek & The Dominos. “We were a make-believe band,” Clapton reflected over a dozen years later. “We were all hiding inside it. Derek and the Dominos – the whole thing. So it couldn’t last. I had to come out and admit that I was being me. I mean, being Derek was a cover for the fact that I was trying to steal someone else’s wife. That was one of the reasons for doing it, so that I could write the song, and even use another name for Pattie. So Derek and Layla – it wasn’t real at all.” Pattie divorced Harrison in ’77 and married Clapton two years later, in a ceremony Harrison attended. The marriage lasted a decade. The album should have done better, in addition to “Layla, the set contained a magical version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” which became a Clapton concert favorite, the Blues standards “Key To The Highway” and “Nobody Knows When You’re Down and Out” and the Clapton/Whitlock’s songs “Bell Bottom Blues,” another ode to Pattie, and good time Rocker, “Tell The Truth.” Bell Bottom Blues Little Wing The original version appeared on Hendrix’s sophomore album, “Axis.” In hindsight, the dissolution seemed a bit hasty since “Layla” has become a Rock classic rivaling “Stairway To Heaven” and “Hotel California.” It’s often regarded as Clapton’s greatest musical achievement. Furthermore, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” has been hailed as a masterpiece. In 2000, the gold album (500,000 units moved) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  ### The post Derek & The Dominos appeared first on RockinTown.