Eric Clapton: E.C. Was Here

ALTHOUGH ULTIMATELY hopeful, Eric Clapton's greatest records – the towering Layla and the intimate 461 Ocean Boulevard – are liberally laced with sorrow and pain. But this transparent artist has had a much harder time extrapolating riveting music from the more tranquil periods of his life. This year's There's One in Every Crowd is superficially the twin of 461 Ocean Boulevard, its immediate predecessor; but in their dramatic payloads, the two records are polar opposites, the more recent album positively flaccid in comparison to the low-keyed but terribly intense 461.