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Hasn’t everything about the Beatles, George Harrison and Eric Clapton has been written? Guess again. Kenneth Womack and Jason Kruppa wrote a book entitled All Things Must Pass Away: Harrison, Clapton and Other Love Songs (Chicago Review Press, 2021) about the Harrison-Clapton relationship, and the two albums that defined them.

At first, I thought, this book covers very trodden ground. The Harrison strained relationship with McCartney/Lennon and Clapton’s cold feet every time he joins a band, then bolts. The two men were quite different, but they connected on a frequency that became a close friendship, even through some choppy waters.

Most people know that Clapton was invited in the play lead guitar on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” one of the few outsiders that played on a Beatle recording. And of course, Clapton’s yearning for Patti (“Layla”), Harrison’s wife, and their eventual marriage. This book, thankfully, goes beyond those two events.

The best parts are the detailed chapter on recording All Things Must Pass, from the viewpoints of the musicians and recording engineers who worked on the album. Clapton played extensively on the album, as Harrison surrounded himself with both friends, and musicians that sort of wandered into the project like Gary Wright (“The Dream Weaver”), Dave Mason, Peter Frampton, and even a young Phil Collins.

Harrison and Clapton had toured with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, where they met several musicians that’s would work on All Things Must Pass, and be part of Derek and the Dominos, Clapton’s next project. It was in 1970 that Harrison’s and Clapton’s worlds had very common orbits, and Womack and Kruppa dig deep in telling these related events.

The basic tracks for several songs, that were to appear on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, were recorded while All Things Must Pass. It was recording Harrison’s album that Derek and the Dominos became a tight band. It’s interesting how fluid these projects were, musicians in the Delaney & Bonnie tour went to help Harrison, a few peeled off the form Derek and the Dominos, and others joined Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour and live album.

Clapton and band did a quick tour, whereby fans were confused by the name Derek. Clapton the enigma strikes again. The band settled in at Criteria Studios in Miami to continue on their album, under the watchful eye of veteran producer Tom Dowd, who was the bridge to the Allman Brothers Band, and Duane Allman. The story of the Layla album, Duane Allman and Clapton’s obsession with Patti Harrison is told in detail by Womack and Kruppa.

Layla seemed an easy album to record, compared to months of work and legions of musicians working on Harrison’s project. All Things Must Pass would soar to wild success, while Layla sold disappointedly and received mixed reviews. A late bloomer, Layla would grow into a revered work and cement its place in recording history.

Clapton’s drug addiction would derail his career for a few years, heroin and his unrequited love holding him captive. He would win the girl, lose the girl, overcome another substance abuse hold, while his career, like Layla, would find success and adulation.

Harrison’s musical career would cool, but he would remarry and find happiness. His film business would be successful, before it crashed down from embezzlement, putting his personal wealth at risk. New life for Beatles remasters, along with the Anthology series, would restore his financial resources. Cloud 9 and his work with the Traveling Wilburies resurrected his recording career, but a break-in and stabbing, along with cancer, would prove difficult to overcome.

Harrison and Clapton always remained friends, through the ups and downs of life. Clapton convinced Harrison to tour Japan, using Clapton and his band to back him. Friends to the end.

If you want to really submerge yourself in the 1969-1971 period of activity for Harrison and Clapton, this is your book. It’s well-researched and written, and thankfully lacks the fanboy glow that sometimes comes with writing about rock royalty.

4.5/5