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What if someone released an impassioned twin-guitar genius record and nobody cared? That’s basically what happened \u2013 at least initially \u2013 with the only album from Derek and the Dominos<\/a>. Issued on Nov. 9, 1970, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs<\/a><\/em> wouldn’t earn gold-selling certification for almost 10 months. The LP wouldn’t chart for decades in the U.K.<\/p>\n In time, however, a one-off group that included both Eric Clapton<\/a> and Duane Allman<\/a> found its audience, as the album returned to the U.S. charts in 1972 then again in 1974 and 1977. Their signature single “Layla” stalled at a mind-boggling No. 51 in 1971, only to roar into the Top 10 the following year.<\/p>\n Listeners \u2013 eventually \u2013 discovered a searing blues-rock masterpiece, born out of jam sessions around George Harrison<\/a>‘s All Things Must Pass<\/a><\/em> and powered by Clapton’s unrequited love for Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. Though he ended up on 11 songs, Allman was a late arrival. The core of the band \u2013 and the record \u2013 was drummer Jim Gordon, bassist Carl Radle and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, who’d recently anchored a guest-packed Delaney and Bonnie tour that also included turns by Clapton, Harrison and Allman.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Top 10 Duane Allman Studio Sessions<\/a><\/p>\n The first two Derek and the Dominos studio cuts were completed during sessions for All Things Must Pass<\/em>, after Clapton and Whitlock had written most of the Layla<\/em> album at the guitarist’s Hurtwood Edge estate. They’d already completed three more songs before Allman arrived. Together, they laced in choice covers like “Have You Ever Loved a Woman” “Little Wing” that sounded completely of a piece with the heartbroken centerpiece title track. It was going to be a great record, with or without Allman. He just added another (often lyrical, simply gorgeous) voice to the conversation.<\/p>\n Things came together so quickly that Derek and the Dominos’ debut actually arrived before Harrison’s LP. His sold millions while theirs languished. Eventually, everyone went their separate ways<\/a>. Clapton got the girl (then lost her). What remained was his very best album, as Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs<\/em> was propelled by so much musical camaraderie and sheer emotion that Clapton didn’t have a time to indulge his usual tendency to coast.<\/p>\n Inspired by giants like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and B.B. King, rock artists have put their own spin on the blues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: UCR Staff<\/p>\n<\/div>\n See Eric Clapton\u2019s Guitar Hero Yearbook Picture<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nTop 40 Blues Rock Albums<\/h2>\n