Another Ticket
Has Its Fine Moments - This album I only discovered retrospectively. And I can imagine it was a disappointment after 1978 s Backless but it is still well worth a listen. The opener Something Special is efforlessly infectious. A good start. Black Rose is rather incongrouous and Another Ticket is a ballad which is rather too anonymous to be memorable. It is second drawer basically. One can imagine Elton John making a slightly better job of it. Slighly. I Can t Stand It rolls along nicely...but is pretty forgettable. Hold Me Lord is a catchy opener to Side 2 (vinyl) and is rather enjoyable. Nice guitar. Floating Bridge is OK but interminably slow. Not great. Which brings us to best cut on the album Catch Me If You Can which is just great. The band is positively cooking on this track. And then we have the last two tracks which are boring and forgettable.So not Eric s finest album. But on several tracks he still produces the goods. And so if you like Eric late 70s period this album will have something for you. Perhaps better to check out Slowhand or preferably Backless before you try this one. But better than most Clapton offerings post 1983 for sure so bear this one in mind.
It has its moments - There may not be any lasting classics on Another Ticket, but it is actually not half bad. There is nothing bad on here - there just aren t too many really great songs either.The cover songs are generally the best, especially Muddy Waters Blow Wind Blow, which rocks pretty well, and Black Rose (which isn t really a cover version, since it was actually written Eric for Clapton).Sleepy John Estes legendary country blues classic Floating Bridge works as well, even if it is played v-e-r-y slow. It is actually quite funky, with some nice organ playing and electric guitar fills. Besides, John Estes songs are almost impossible to mess up completely.Of Clapton s own compositions, Hold Me, Lord is the best, followed closely by I Can t Stand It. I love the slide dobro fills on Hold Me, Lord.Another Ticket may not match Clapton s best solo albums, but if you like his mid-seventies to mid-eighties efforts, you ll probably like Black Rose as well. There are some really forgettable songs here, sure, but more than half the album is good and the rest is merely a bit dull, not terrible by any means, so that isn t too bad, I suppose.