Slowhand by Eric Clapton

Slowhand, Eric Clapton's fifth solo studio album, came out on 25 November 1977 and takes its title from his own nickname. By then he'd been through the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos, and here he sounds content to settle into a groove and let the songs do the talking.

Glyn Johns produced it at Olympic Studios, and he keeps things warm, roomy and unhurried. There's a country lilt all over it, a pop-rock ease that lets the guitar breathe instead of show off. "Lay Down Sally" shuffles along on a front-porch groove, "Cocaine" struts in on a sly, slinky riff, and "The Core" stretches out into something heavier and longer-limbed. Then there's "Wonderful Tonight", a slow dance of a ballad so gentle it barely raises its voice.

"Lay Down Sally" and "Wonderful Tonight" were the two hit singles, the album turned up on charts around the world and picked up a shelf of awards and certifications, and it stands among the most successful records, commercially and critically, that Clapton ever made in the studio. A deluxe edition followed in 2012 to mark its 35th anniversary.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.