Review of Eric Clapton's 'Pilgrim'

Pilgrim is miles away from Eric Clapton's roots in heavy blues and flaming guitar. When listening to this album it's very hard not to wish that he could have looked to the past and sought inspiration from his early days when he was playing with pioneer group Cream and writing songs like "Layla." In those days he was stunning audiences with his amazing guitar playing and really personified the image of the hard rocker with all the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll you could manage.

There is a good reason why he has shifted from this path. For a start he has mellowed over the years and no longer feels the same aggression. But most importantly he suffered through the tragic death of his little son Conor in 1991, which was clearly a life-changing incident. Pilgrim is his first really serious (that is, original) effort since that tragedy and most of the album is devoted to sharing his immeasurable sorrow and explaining how he has coped and how he feels.

The raw emotion of this album is its great triumph. The opening number, "My Father's Eyes," sees Clapton lamenting his loss and "Praying for the healing rain/To restore my soul again." He offered an explanation for the song that also captures the mood of the album as a whole. "I had a kind of revelation about my son. It's a very personal matter but I never met my father and I realised that the closest I ever came to looking into my father's eyes was when I looked into my son's eyes. So I wrote this song about that. It's a strange kind of cycle thing that occurred to me and another thing I felt I would like to share."

"River of Tears" is just as heartfelt: "Since you've been gone/I feel like I'm drowning in a river/Drowning in a river of tears." This is followed by the title track, which is certainly the saddest point on the album. It is almost excruciating to hear Clapton sing of his son, "I was a pilgrim for your love."

Pilgrim also contains a number of love songs and, not surprisingly, they are sad affairs themselves, dealing as they do with loss and unrequited love. The mood of the album should be pretty obvious by now - extremely sorrowful and emotional. Such feelings can often make for exceptional music as artists like John Lennon have shown, but they can also be somewhat tiring and, unfortunately, that is the reality of Pilgrim.

Of course this is not to deny that Clapton's intense feelings don't impress the listener,

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