Eric Clapton - Turn Up Down -1980- - Unreleased... -

“I climbed the mountain just to fall back down, You wore the cross so you could wear the crown. I’ve got a Les Paul and a broken frown, You’ve got a ticket to the other side of town.”

The tape was marked only in faded black ink: Eric Clapton – “Turn Up Down” – 1980 – Unreleased. Eric Clapton - Turn Up Down -1980- - Unreleased...

The middle eight collapsed into a solo. But this wasn't the fluid, lyrical, "Woman Tone" Clapton. This was fractured, jagged, dissonant. He bent notes until they screamed. He used a fuzz pedal like a weapon, not a tool. For forty-five seconds, he played like he was trying to claw the frets off the neck. It was the most honest thing he ever recorded. “I climbed the mountain just to fall back

The archivist sat in the dark of the vault, her heart hammering. She knew why it was unreleased. It wasn't because it was bad. It was because it was true . In 1980, Eric Clapton was trying to be a survivor, a hitmaker, a respectable elder statesman in waiting. This tape was the sound of the man he was trying to kill. But this wasn't the fluid, lyrical, "Woman Tone" Clapton

Then the drums kicked in. Not his usual laid-back, behind-the-beat shuffle. This was a pummeling, almost punkish slam from a drummer who sounded like he was trying to break through his own kit. The bass followed, not melodic, but a thick, distorted root-note pulse.

Then, just as suddenly, it stopped. The drums cut. The bass dropped out. Only Clapton remained, his guitar now feeding back a single, high, lonely harmonic.