Having stayed out of the recording studio for four years prior to making his comeback album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, Eric Clapton returned to recording only a few months later to make its follow-up, There's One in Every Crowd. Perhaps be hadn't had time to write or gather sufficient material to make a similarly effective album, since the result is ...

Having stayed out of the recording studio for four years prior to making his comeback album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, Eric Clapton returned to recording only a few months later to make its follow-up, There's One in Every Crowd. Perhaps be hadn't had time to write or gather sufficient material to make a similarly effective album, since the result is a scatter-shot mixture of styles, leading off with two gospel tunes, one a reggae version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Clapton and his second guitarist, George Terry, had written a sequel to "I Shot The Sheriff," "Don't Blame Me," which Clapton sang in his best impersonation of Bob Marley's voice. The other originals included "Opposites," whose lyrics were just that -- day, night, life, death, etc. The album's best track, naturally, was the blues cover, Clapton's take on Elmore James's "The Sky Is Crying." But There's One in Every Crowd was a disappointing follow-up to 461 Ocean Boulevard, and fans let Clapton know it: While the former album had topped the charts and gone gold, the latter didn't even make the Top 10. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi