Linear notes by Tom Dowd
Fate dealt me a Spade, Ace High Royal Flush one day during the month of July, 1970. I was working with the Allman Brothers Band putting the finishing touches on their Idlewild South album for Atlantic Records. Normally, during recording sessions, I refuse to take telephone calls unless it is an extreme emergency. Because this was an overseas phone call from Robert Stigwood, I thought I'd better accept it rather than try to track him down later. The session stopped while I held a conversation with Mr. Stigwood. He indicated that Eric Clapton had expressed a desire to record with me. This was the first time that I had any communication from Eric since the "Cream" days. When I finished the call, I apologized to Duane and the band about the interruption and mentioned Eric's name. Duane was all over me in about 10 seconds. He ended up asking if I thought it would be OK for him to come by the studio while we were recording so that he could watch and possibly meet Eric. Knowing Eric and Duane, my reply was that I thought it would be OK, but "let me check with Eric when he gets here."
Several weeks later, Eric and The Dominos arrived in the Miami area and we went into the studio to start the recording process. Eric, Bobby Whitlock and Carl Radle indicated to me that they had several songs in the "almost ready to record" mode and that they had ideas for some others that they would like to run by me. In order to be able to commu¬nicate better with the band, I had tapes rolling whenever they presented a new song. In this way I could play back a portion that I thought was good and let them hear them¬selves at the same time. During this schedule I took yet another phone call, this one from Duane, asking if he could come by the studio. The Allman Brothers were going to play an outdoor concert at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Saturday evening and he would like to drop by the studio after the show. When I finished that phone call, I
described to Eric that Duane would like to meet him and Eric promptly looked at me and said, "you mean the chap who played on the end of Wilson Pickett's recording of Hey Jude?" Without having ever met these two artists were deeply aware of the other's talent!
Derek And The Dominos worked all of that Saturday afternoon and then took a break to go to the Allman's concert. Later that evening both bands came back to the studio and started playing the blues. Duane and Eric watched and talked to each other from time to time during the jams, they even switched guitars! It was obvious that the two of them were perfect for each other. Duane had one or two more dates to do but wanted to come back and play on the album. In 15 days time the entire Layla album was recorded and overdubbed including all vocals and guitar solos! Needless to say, the intensity was high. There were no egos involved, it was just that everybody wanted to play and fit as best he could. All of the individuals involved per¬petually encouraged each other. Eric's road manager went to a local store and picked up 6 Kodak Instamatic cameras and handed them to members of the band one day. Yet another stroke of genius, you see that was what made up the art work that went on the inside of the album!
One of the most important things that contributed to the sound of the Layla album was the equipment that the artists used. When I was recording the group Cream, both Jack Bruce and Eric were using double stacks of Marshall amps and Ginger Baker was using a double set of kick drums. When The Dominos came to the studio in Miami, Eric had switched to playing on either a Fender Champ or a Fender Twin. Carl Radle was playing on a smaller bass rig and Jim Gordon was a control drummer. This meant that they could all play in the same room without having to isolate the instuments or use the earphones. When Duane joined in on the sessions, he too played on a smaller amplifier so that they could all hear and react to each other's playing just as if they were an informal round table discussion. Some of the vocals were done live on the studio floor while the band was playing! The leakage among the different microphones contributed to the overall sound of the album. I took a few days off, listened to some rough mixes and then decided I was well enough prepared to remix the entire album. It may have taken me as many as three or four days to complete the mixes and send copies to New York and the UK. The entire project took about 21 days.
Two weeks later Derek And The Dominos showed up in Miami to play a concert and sit down with me to redo/repair several parts on two or three songs. They had done their homework well indeed, a vocal touch-up here and there, a guitar fill or a solo switch. You see they remembered what they had played and wanted to make certain that I had chosen the parts that I had used, with good reason. At this sitting they then played for me the piano part that was to placed at the end of Layla. This meant that we had to recreate the same sound in the studio as we had during the original sessions, and then add this new, yet-to-played-part! Remember, there was no such thing as automation or computers available at that time. Thank goodness for the wonderful records kept by the engineers on the equipment used and the settings involved. We came close to the "mixed" sound of Layla, played it into the studio and added the now-famous piano ending. The record was released and did absolutely nothing for one year. But, because the group was touring and Atlantic and RSO Records had faith in the product plus the intensity, artistry and sincerity of all of the musicians involved, the record buying public took the album to their hearts. It is worthy of noting that in 1993 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded a Grammy to Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon for the song Layla, twenty-three years after the album was recorded. You see, there was no category for "Rock and Roll" in the early days ...
May 5,1993