J.J. Cale was in no hurry as he released his composition “After Midnight” in late 1966. After it vanished from sight, he would re-record the tune 6 years after, with even less urgency. The Okie bard unfolded his offhand charms with ease, brass as the key ingredient. Guitar shuffle punctuating a recurring melody, a long crawl made of spare Country and Blues parts. Cale slurred his acquiescent slink as if there was no tomorrow before brief solo reminds us of what he had reserved in his pocket.

His B-Side was “Slow Motion”.

Eric Clapton (a guitar divinity nicknamed “Slowhand”) – lost no time after knowing Cale’s music. His dynamic rendition of “After Midnight” would become his belatedly first solo single in October 1970.

However prolific at the time (“After Midnight” was the 25^th single in which Clapton gently weeped) his approach could not match the innate stubbornness of the silent man from Oklahoma. On the one hand, too reverent. Eric the purist, a lad who delivered “Crossroads” in 1968, approached J.J. as royalty. And, by enhancing the tempo considerably, he attempted another update crossover.

There were 5 decades between Robert Johnson and Cream and barely 5 years between J.J. and “Slowhand”.

The difference that a faster take makes gets more noticeable in “After Midnight”. With a barroom feel endowed by sultry backing vocals and busy piano, Clapton sounded all over the place, trucking through water-thin chords with barbed wired casualness. So, once the track was removed from deep recalcitrance, it goes straight to a rushed-on chorus (beforehand, Cale let an elongated drawl drip over sonic coordinates). Still raw, fraught with premature emissions, sending sparks from different music corner.

In a crossroads of his own career, the solo debut, no false start, no unqualified triumph.

“After Midnight” reached #18 at the Billboard charts. Soon J.J. would find it at the radio.

 

“After midnight

 We’re gonna let it all hang out”

 

 

Then we have the B-Side, a Clapton-penned number, “Easy Now”. At first sight, a George Harrison throughway. However, delight in strong acoustics (eerily prescient of Alice in Chains), amusement in Clapton’s voice, never so sweet in those Bluesbreakers days. The extent of his homage to George would eventually include Patti Boyd’s heart, there was never a shortage of tragic romance in Blues. Here it’s quiet romance.

Did the quiet Beatle notice this romantic madrigal was a secret love letter?

Easier said than done.

 

“Holding you, you holding me,

Everyone could see we were in ecstasy”

 

Tracklist:

 

8.5          After Midnight

8.0          Easy Now

 

Check out Eric Clapton‘s fine debut here: ‘After Midnight‘ / ‘Easy Now‘

 

Carlos Frederico Pereira da Silva Gama