The Bobby Whitlock - Derek And The Dominos Thread*

I've just bought the new May 2011 issue of Record Collector magazine - out today here in the UK. There's a 5 page interview with Bobby in it. Haven't had time to read yet but obviously worth keeping an eye out for.

 

I just had a read of this. Very intresting.

A bit of back and forth between Bobby and the interviewer as to whether Duane Allman was actually "a Domino." Bobby suggests not and that the album would've been great regardless of Duane's involvement and that The Domino's were Eric, Bobby, Carl and Jim only. Duane was asked to join but said he would only if he could bring his brother Greg. Also some discussion about the composition of the songs by Eric and Bobby. Well worth a read.

 

So this morning I'm reading the latest issue of Hittin' The Note, and there's Part 1 of an interview with Bobby, and immediately starting the write up is a mention of The Steve Hoffman Forums, and how the two year-old question of " who was the girl in the Layla gatefold ? " started it all...

 

Just picking up on this - I read that interview and I may be out of step with general opinion, but I did feel as though Bobby appeared to be a little harsh on Duane here.

I daresay that Bobby is thinking about the touring band (and they played a LOT of gigs in their short lifespan), which covered much more of the band's time together, but I certainly picked up the impression that he didn't feel that Duane did a lot for the greatness of the album too.

There ARE some great tracks without him (as we know, the first three songs don't have Duane on them) but it's Duane's intro on Anyday, his trading licks with EC on Key To The Highway, his emotional solo on ittle wing, his riff on Layla for goodness sake!

Am I reading the interview wrong?

 

It would have been a very different record without Duane Allman, but still a great one, I believe. Those first three songs (without Duane) hold up as well as anything else, and I especially love "Keep on Growin'". There are about half a dozen smoking guitar tracks on that song. It's sounds like a fiendish rock & roll guitar orchestra, and they're all Eric Clapton.

That said, it's hard to imagine the album without Allman's contributions. "Layla" and "Little Wing" have Allman's stamp all over them. They would have been very different songs without him.

 

IIRC (I was looking at the tracking sheets the other day), there are 4 guitars. Rhythm (center) and 3 lead (left, center, right).

 

Like I said, "about" half a dozen.

 

Duane's slide playing on I Am Yours is beautiful. His playing on Why Does Love have To Be So Sad is ferocious. He came up with the Layla intro lick. There's just too much to list. The album would have been great without him but with him it is a guitar players dream having him and Clapton together at the top of their game.

 

I just finished Bobby's book on my Kindle. It was wonderful, Bobby! And the book answered my question from the quote above in great detail, too. Thanks very much! What an on-fire performance that was......

 

I read that he was negitive towards Duane sitting in saying he couldn't keep up or something.

 

I don't think Eric is really involved with what Universal does with archival releases.

 

Hi guys,

It has been said before but it needs to be said again: What an incredible thread this is. Astonishing!

As for myself, I was born in 65 and am from Sweden so I have no connection at all to this scene apart from being a musician myself during the 80s, and naturally am way to young for having been there anyway. But I have always been interested in the 60s and 70s music scene in both USA and England.

Now, because of the long development of the thread I have not read all of it - that would take me weeks - but I just want to go back for a minute to the issue that once started the thread, namely the issue about the girl on the picture in the insert of the Layla album, sitting with her head leaned in the hand. Thanks to CoCo and Bobby Whitlock for establishing that this was Kay Poorboy. Until I found this thread I had no idea who she was either and that beautifyl girl on the picture has haunted me from day one since I bought the album on a record's fair during the early 80s.


I have no idea what's been said more about her on these vast number of pages, so if any of the below has been mentio0ned already I apologize.
There is some further info about Kay on a couple of other sites - http://www.hollywoodhangover.com/ and http://www.tulsatoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2469:remembering-buddy-jones&catid=54:tulsa-speaks&Itemid=147 (Remebering Buddy Jones).

According to her friend Nancy Deedrick on the Great Hollywood Hangover page, Kay (born in 1944) lived in a closet (!) upstairs in Leon Russell's house during the time the Layla album was conceived and kept a sleeping bag on the floor, a clock, a radio, and clothes in her "room". Most of Leon's house had been turned into a recording studio so there was not much room otherwise besides a kitchen.
Kay had during 1967 been one of the topless dancers on the very fancy strip club The Classic Cat (visited by all the big Hollywood stars) together with her other friend Francine Brockey, who - like Kay and also Leon Russell - was from Tulsa.

I can really recommend Nancy's site "The Great Hollywood Hangover" - it is a real treasure vault, although some links don't work and some picture links are broken, and at times it can be messy to find your way around it. But it still appears to be active.
There are a number of great stories about the people alongside Sunset Strip in those days - a funny one especially about Kay, who apparently hated jim Morrison and one time at the Whiskey had a loud row with Morrison and beat the crap out of him.
"The Great Hollywood Hangover" also displays a couple of shots of Kay in full nude done for a magazine, probably Classic Cat's own mag (but in respect of Kay you'll have to find those youself on that site).

Unfortunately Kay, in spite of her angel-like looks, appears to have been somewhat of a wild child, doing a lot of drugs and stuff, and many of the girls were looked after by the ten years older Leon Russell (whom they idolized), so that they didn't get into too much trouble. Cudos to him for that.

I am surprised to learn that Kay was so in love with Carl Radle for so many years, to the degree that she killed herself because of his death, beacuse she actually married Buddy Jones in the turn of the 70s-80s (and thereafter was called Kay Poorboy-Jones) and was still married to him when she died. Kay had a daughter called Moon, whom Buddy adopted (this can be read on the Remember Buddy Jones page) and who became a problematic young woman herself like her mum but later got hold of her life and married.

Being a big fan of Joe Cocker and apparently known for having a fine voice herself, she alongside a couple of her female friends from the Sunset Strip became a part of Cocker's backing band during the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1971.

As has been said before on these pages, Kay committed suicide by shooting herself in the heart in 1983 a short time after Carl Radle's drug overdose. She was 39 years old. God bless her and rest her soul.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank CoCo Chanel and Bobby Whitlock for displaying such interest in this thread and for their enormous generosity. It is certainly not everyday that living music legends discuss with their fans this openly and devotes all that time. You both deserves the warmest of hugs.
The Internet is fantastic, and what on earth would we do without Google.
Sorry for the long post, all. I just hope if was to of use to somebody. In any info here should be totally wrong, don't shoot the messenger, I only forward second-hand info here.

All the best
/Glenn A
Sweden

Attached pictures:

Top: Kay Poorboy during the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1971.

Second row: Kay crusing down the Sunset Strip in a car together with friends. Kay is the one in center in jeans jacket. Courtesy of The Hollywood Hangover.

Third row, left: Kay to the far right as one of the "Kittens" at the Classic Cat. Courtesy of The Hollywood Hangover.

Third row right: Kay Poorboy-Jones' resting place. Courtesy of The Hollywood Hangover.

 

Edit (since the time ran out for editing in the post above):

The last picture at the bottom is the one that was initially discussed here, from the insert of Derek and the Dominos' Layla album.

Let me also apologize for being clumsy and calling CoCo Carmel for "Chanel".

/Glenn A
Sweden

 

Thanks (and welcome) electric swede for bringing even more color to a great thread.

 

As for Clapton's activites during 1969-70, I have always been confused over when he did what; he appears to have had a full schedule during this very creative period. Especially when you look at his changing apparence under this short time.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I got it right he joined Delaney and Bonnie right after Blind Faith,
then went to England to record his debut album with D&B:s backing band, where Derek and the Dominos were formed (while Whitlock was also working on George Harrion's All Things Must Pass album) and then Layla album was recorded in Florida in 69.

I think what's been confusing me is that Derek and the Dominos is supposed to have been the last thing Clapton did before he went into a three year seclusion while Clapton's solo album (where he is fully bearded and much more long-haired) was released in 1970!
But of course, one forgets that the solo album was recorded already in 1969 (and that he apparently cut his hair and shaved when Derek and the Dominos were formed - he must have done that to confuse people deliberately. .

All the best
Glenn A
Sweden

 

Thanks, jacksondownunda. And a fantastic thread it is.

All the best
/Glenn A
Sweden

 

Sorry, the Layla album was of course recorded in 1970, not 69. Just a typo error.

All the best
/Glenn A
Sweden

 

I will definitely get that book as soon as I can. Sounds like a must-have.
Just hope it doesn't go out of print again until then.
I wish Bobby and CC best of luck with it, and so far the enterprise appears to have been worth-while judgning from sales and reviews.
Can't wait to read it.

Is Bobby on facebook? Must try and get him to add me. That man is a legend.

All the best
/Glenn A
Sweden

 

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on Bobby's book and especially Marc Roberty for his hard work. Just to elaborate a bit on Duane , whom Bobby loved. Duane was not thought about when the band was being formed (Bobby's words)...the contract with RSO was Eric, Bobby, Carl and Jim. Duane was brought in as a guest, and although everybody would love to make Duane a member, he was not. Duane was not about to leave the Allman Brothers. There is no doubt that the record would not have been the same without his input. But Duane had also played on many other records as a session musician. Including Aretha Franklin ( Slide on The Weight), Wilson Pickett (Duane did not play slide on Hey Jude), Clarence Carter, LuLu(Dirty Ol' Man), ... Ronnie Hawkins, King Curtis , Herbie Mann,The Soul Survivors (Darkness), Sam the Sham, Otis Rush, Boz Scaggs, John Hammond, and Delaney & Bonnie. It is sad that anything Bobby says about Duane is taken as a slght on the man. Please believe that Bobby regarded Duane as a great player and friend, just telling the truth that Duane was not a band member. CC

 

I have never thought of Duane as a member of any group except ABB. His contributions as noted to Derek and the Dominos were significant as were his contributions as a guest on many other dates.

 

Even though its been on Amazon's top sellers list...the bookstores don't carry it. It is available now on Kindle, the only other way to order at the moment is on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones (U.K). Bobby is holding a domino on the cover of the book, the publisher cropped the photo so you are not seeing the entire shot. Thank you all, CC

 

I'd like to get the book, but thirty five dollars? That's like almost twice the price of most new books, after the usual new-book discount on Amazon. Why so much?

 

CoCo - thanks muchly for chiming in on this. As the first guy on this thread to raise commentary/question on the Record Collector interview, I'm grateful for you responding and providing your additional comment. The printed word can be a harsh reflection on the spoken one, and I'm glad to see the (selected) comments above clarifying Bobby's feelings.

I suspect also that Bobby's recollections (which are "from the inside" and a 1,000% more accurate than any of us can add as fans) actually highlight an interesting difference in perception of the Dominos - Eric & Bobby's 4-piece band toured for several months during 1970 and then later recorded half an album in early 1971, whereas the Dominos that most casual fans think they know is the band that was captured on vinyl during that week or so of sessions in September and October 1970. The Layla record IS the public record of that group, for better or worse, but I can appreciate that it was a very small period of time in the band's lifetime (albeit brief in itself) and that's how Bobby sees it.

 

Re this Duane thing; BW does elaborate in the book and interviews a bit while listening back to a D&TD tape with DA. The gist was that the 4 piece D&TD live were going into some very versatile musical styles and places, whereas DA when guesting was into more linear Coltrane-ish jamming. It's not a slight against DA, just a statement on how the music had developed and grown with the core 4. I think I can wrap my head objectively around that arguement.

 

i just bought the book on amazon.. i had put it off long enough.
look foward to reading!