Clapton's cover of "Motherless Children"**** (traditional) sets the bar high with distinctive slide work and lighting riffs against a galloping drum beat. It's an enjoyable reminder of his classic rock opus Layla, but for the rest of the album, the wild abandon of Layla proves to the wrong expectation. Clapton proves to have already slunk into the 'sophisticated' anti-Cream approach of his 70's output, on many songs taking back seat to the backing band and throwing in a couple licks here and there. "Give Me Strength" is quiet gospel, but pleasant enough, and would have been a no-brainer to cover on Unplugged. Being mostly an album written by others (except for "Give Me Strength" and two others) it's a relaxed affair. While "Willie and the Hand Jive" and "Get Ready" aren't really reggae, their arrangements are so sparse more notes are muted than played, and his cover of "I Shot The Sheriff" has absolutely none of the soul of the original. Maybe covering Marley had some cool factor back in the day. And since we know Clapton was covering J.J. Cale, it's an easy comparison to make on "I Can't Hold Out" (actually by Elmore James). "Please Be With Me" is similar to "Give Me Strength" but makes more of an impression with some pretty harmony vocals. "Let It Grow"**** (another Clapton original) was criticized 'for sounding too much like Stairway To Heaven" (John Pareles), which is easy to hear in the chord progression, though the star of the song is a plaintively chiming guitar coda rather than Robert Plant's howling, and owes more to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" than Stairway. Pushed to the end of the album, George Terry's "Mainline Florida"**** is nevertheless a great rocker; at least the riff is memorable, which I can't say for most of the album.
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