Review Summary: Nothing but a grand old time.
The only thing remotely blue about blues rock guitarist Eric Clapton’s 20th album
Old Sock is the imagery of clear skies and an ocean view from the beach. Only featuring two original songs out of its twelve tracks,
Old Sock is mostly comprised of covers of personal favorite songs of Clapton’s.
Despite the cover of Gary Moore’s “Still Got the Blues” appearing here and making claims that would argue otherwise,
Old Sock is predominantly a very sunshiny album that concentrates on reggae and island music styles. It’s music where Clapton seems very relaxed, as if he’s laid back on a vacation in an exotic locale, and is just having a really fun time with some friends by casually playing covers of songs that come very naturally to him. These are all songs he obviously knows by heart, and Clapton’s radiant personality here makes it all the more enjoyable to listen along.
It’s really a record made out of personal enjoyment, and thus, it really doesn’t feel like he’s striving for anything here, or that there’s a sense of effort involved, and it does come off as less engaging than his previous albums because of this, but those who are not willing to let this album slide them by will quickly find themselves in a very chipper mood from listening.
Even if the music feels free of work,
Old Sock is a case of an album that’s very fitting for a lazy day, and therein lies the true joy of it. It's more organic and more aired-out than he's ever been, and the funky and chilled-out reggae-blues that supports it makes
Old Sock a great album that listeners can put their feet up to for easy listening. Even though he’s not retired, Clapton sure seems like he’s in paradise, and listening to
Old Sock has the ability to put you right there with him.
