Things I’ve never noticed before: the “harmony” guitar on “Layla”
OMG I’ve been listening to disc one of the Complete Clapton set for like two weeks now. I’m a (n extremely mediocre) singer, so I’m used to listening for the main melody and opposing harmonies in vocals. Today, I noticed for the first time in my left ear this quiet little guitar riff that wasn’t the main riff in the “Layla” chorus.
I will look to my guitar-playing friends for the answer to this: are there secret hidden guitar parts in most quality rock that I’ve just never noticed? I’m not talking about a side man playing a chord progression as rhythm, but real honest-to-goodness riffs that hold up on their own.
Dude. You have no idea. Well, no actually, you do. After getting my new headphones I’m hearing stuff in old recordings I’ve not heard in thirty plus years of listening. Everything being remastered helps, too.
I have to say though you shouldn’t be surprised: every moment of the album has several layers of guitars all doing wonderful things all the time. It’s like a three-dimensional tapestry. I amuse myself trying to figure out which are Clapton and which are Duane.
I’d love to see a thing on Layla like they did on Dark Side of the Moon, where they interview the (surviving) musicians and the producers and engineers to talk about how they made the record. Only I think nobody involved with Layla will remember anything, what with the heroin and all.
Surviving? I didn’t think Sid had anything to do with DSotM.
Anyway, I did listen to it again with my headphones and I was amazed at what I could now hear and “understand” after watching that doco.
