Bobby Whitlock / Bobby Whitlock (US, ABC/Dunhill Records, DSX 50121) <March 1972>

Bobby Whitlock / Bobby Whitlock (US, ABC/Dunhill Records, DSX 50121) <March 1972>
(Side 1) DSX 50121-A-3-1
(Side 2) DSX 50121-B-3

Bobby Whitlockのデビュー作。Allmusicで★4.5の高評価です。

Derek and the Dominosが最後に集まったのがいつだったのか、また解散が決まったのがいつだったのか、いずれも明確ではありませんが1971年3－4月頃と言われています。このアルバムのレコーディングが始まったのは1971年3月と言われていますから、Laylaオタクの僕としては非常に興味深い作品です。

もともと発売当時からDerek & The Dominosのメンバーが参加していると宣伝されていましたが、オリジナル・ジャケには参加メンバーは一切クレジットされておらず、長らく詳細不明でした。近年2010年のWhitlockの自伝や2013年のリイシュー盤の解説などでようやく判明したことですが、この作品には確かにEric Clapton, Carl Radle, Jim GordonなどDerek & The Dominosの全メンバーが参加しているそうです。ただし、同時に演奏したわけでは無かったとのこと。ほか、George Harrison, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Klaus Voormann, Bobby Keys, Jim Priceなどの超豪華メンバーが参加しているそうです（どの曲に参加しているのか細かいクレジットは知りません）。

なんにしても、解散直前のバンドのメンバー全員が参加したことから、少なくともBobby Whitlockはいい奴で、解散の原因では無いって事ですね！

The album was produced by Whitlock and Andy Johns,apart from the song "I'd Rather Live the Straight Life", which Whitlock produced with Joe Zagarino. The sessions took place at Olympic Studios in London,beginning in March 1971, according to a press release accompanying the album's 2013 reissue. The album's creation coincided with the final months of Derek and the Dominos' brief career, which ended during the Johns-produced sessions for their proposed second studio album in April–May that year.Dominos biographer Jan Reid describes the relationships among the band members as "dicey" and writes that while making Bobby Whitlock, in what Reid gives as January 1971, Whitlock worked with Gordon on a basic track before Clapton or Radle would add their parts separately.

On the original release, musician credits did not appear, although the record company's press release listed some of the album's main contributors When discussing the sessions in his 2010 autobiography, Whitlock lists Delaney Bramlett, rather than Voormann, as the bass player on some tracks. Harrison played guitar on some songs, out of gratitude for Whitlock's participation on All Things Must Pass.

The opening song, "Where There's a Will", was a collaboration with Bonnie Bramlett that also featured the former Delaney & Bonnie horn section, Bobby Keys and Jim Price. Whitlock recalls writing "A Game Called Life" and "The Scenery Has Slowly Changed" at Clapton's house Hurtwood Edge, shortly after he and Clapton had quit working with Delaney & Bonnie. "Song for Paula" was written for the sister of Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd; the gatefold album cover also featured a photo of Paula Boyd. According to Whitlock, "Back in My Life Again" came about towards the end of a session when Harrison suggested he "just make something up"; Whitlock then discussed a tempo with drummer Jim Gordon, told the other musicians the key was B minor, and said to Andy Johns, "Hit record."Whitlock praises Gordon's drumming on the album as "astounding" and says of Clapton's performance on "The Scenery Has Slowly Changed": "This is the most beautiful guitar work that I have ever heard Eric play. What he played was for me, I'm sure, because he was playing how I felt."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhp-mbniZLw