Bobby Whitlock (at piano) and Eric Clapton perform Derek and the Dominos' "Bell Bottom Blues" in 2000.
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Bobby Whitlock (at piano) and Eric Clapton perform Derek and the Dominos' "Bell Bottom Blues" in 2000.
In 1971, hot on the heels of their successful debut album, 1970's Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Derek and the Dominos returned to the studio to begin recording their followup disc. Sadly, those sessions fell apart—and the short-lived band's second album never materialized.
According to Eric Clapton, the 1971 sessions "broke down halfway through because of the paranoia and tension, and the band just...dissolved." Of course, the unexpected late-1971 death of part-time Domino guitarist Duane Allman certainly didn't help matters.
One particularly strong track from the doomed 1971 sessions, the rollicking, Clapton-penned "Got to Get Better in a Little While," was performed by the band during their 1970 tour and wound up on their live album, In Concert.
The studio version of the song also was released—along with several other orphaned 1971 Dominos recordings—on Clapton's 1988 career-spanning box set, Crossroads. However, the track was annoyingly incomplete. Most (if not all) of Clapton's parts were there, from the vocals to the emotive, wah-drenched guitar; it was, however, missing a good deal of input from Bobby Whitlock, the band's keyboardist and co-lead vocalist. I mean, full verses were missing, as well as the all-important chorus. It was so incomplete, it was considered a "jam." You can hear it here:
And now for the interesting part: In 2010—just in time for the deluxe, 40th-anniversary edition of Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs—Whitlock was asked to finally complete "Got to Get Better in a Little While" so it could be included on the expanded album.
So that's exactly what Whitlock did—and the results are incredible. Best of all, despite the