Money And Cigarettes
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''Money and Cigarettes'' is the eighth solo studio album by
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
, recorded after his first rehabilitation from alcoholism. Produced by Clapton and Tom Dowd with, apart from
Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...
, a new backing band of veteran session musicians including Donald "Duck" Dunn, Roger Hawkins, and Ry Cooder. The album was moderately successful commercially, reaching Top 20 chart positions in several countries. Critical reception was lukewarm.


Background

The cover depicts Clapton, cigarette in hand, standing next to a melting
Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...
guitar. Clapton chose the name of the album "because that's all I saw myself having left" after his first rehabilitation from alcoholism. After finishing a North American tour, Clapton and his touring band consisting of Henry Spinetti, Gary Brooker, Chris Stainton and Dave Markee went into the Compass Point Studios in
Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...
, to record tracks for a new studio album. Listening to the new recordings, Clapton recalled, the songs have got a "pub atmosphere" and represent a "continuation of his work with
Ronnie Lane Ronald Frederick Lane (1 April 1946 – 4 June 1997) was an English musician and songwriter who was the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Small Faces (1965–69) and Faces (band), Faces (1969–73). Lane formed Small Faces in 1965 afte ...
". Producer Tom Dowd, however, was not pleased with the recordings and the sound of Clapton's band, asking Eric to change his band, except for
Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...
. Clapton changed his band to the line-up as it is presented on the album's
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
and suffered from multiple collapses during the recording sessions.


Chart performance

The album was commercially quite successful, reaching Top 10 chart positions in two countries, followed by four positions in the album charts Top 20. In
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, ''Money and Cigarettes'' positioned itself on number 22 on the charts compiled by Gfk Entertainment. In the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the album ranked on position 16. In the United Kingdom and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the album peaked at number 13 and 11 on the nations' official music charts. Reaching peak position five on the Sverigetopplistan chart, the album became of one Clapton's highest-charting releases in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. In
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, ''Money and Cigarettes'' peaked at number three, making it the highest position for the release.


Critical reception

In his review for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, William Ruhlmann notes that "''Money and Cigarettes'' marked several important turning points in Eric Clapton's recording career: It was his debut release on his own Duck imprint within Warner Bros.' Reprise Records subsidiary. It was also the first album he made after coming to terms with his drinking problem by giving up alcohol. Newly focused and having written a batch of new songs, he became dissatisfied with his longtime band and fired them, with the exception of second guitarist Albert Lee. In their place, he hired session pros like Stax Records veteran bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and Muscle Shoals drummer Roger Hawkins, also bringing in guest guitarist Ry Cooder." Finishing his analysis, the critic summed the album up, "For all the changes and the high-powered sidemen, though, ''Money and Cigarettes'' ended up being just an average effort from Clapton." ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' critic David Fricke rates the album with 3.5 out of five possible stars and concludes: "Like most of Clapton's recent solo records, ''Money and Cigarettes'' makes no claim to greatness. Still, the simple, unaffected blues power at work here is surprising and refreshing. As the chorus in Clapton's cover of Johnny Otis' 1958 party rocker "Crazy Country Hop" goes: 'Ooh wee oh oh ooh la la/Let's rock & roll.' On ''Money and Cigarettes'', Clapton offers no more and gives no less." Critic
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
rates the album with a "B+."


Track listing


Personnel

* Eric Clapton – lead vocals, electric guitar, slide guitar *
Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...
– acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, backing vocals * Ry Cooder – electric guitar, slide guitar * Peter Solley
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
* Donald Dunn – bass guitar * Roger Hawkins – drums * Chuck Kirkpatrick – backing vocals * John Sambataro – backing vocals


Production

* Producers – Tom Dowd and Eric Clapton * Engineers – Tom Dowd and Michael Carnavale * Assistant Engineer – Dennis Halliburton * Mastered by Mike Fuller at Criteria Studios (Miami, FL). * Art Direction – El & Nel Ink., Graham Hughes * Photography – Graham Hughes * Design – El & Nel Ink., Ian Murray * Model Maker – Laurie Savage * Typography and Design – Ian Murray Acrobat Design


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1983 albums Eric Clapton albums Albums produced by Tom Dowd Warner Records albums