Having read Greg Kot’s review of Eric Clapton’s “Pilgrim” (Arts & Entertainment, March 8) and reader Carol J. Schatz’s response (March 29), I felt I had to add my own view. Eric Clapton has just been coasting for over 20 years, now. Maybe he’s burned out, bored with rock, or just too old, but he sounds like he’s half asleep in his performances, both studio and live. He strikes me as being a hypocrite: he once left the Yardbirds because they were too “pop” and not bluesy enough any longer, yet he now performs middle-of-the-road, banal “pop,” stuff that sounds like soft rock. He was once was one of my favorite performers, now he nauseates me.
We aren’t living in the past by referring to “Layla,” we are just saying he’s capable of doing much more than the slop he’s been up to lately.
