THE CLASSIC ALBUMS THAT NO ONE SAW COMING

You can make a case that Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs is Eric Clapton’s greatest post-Cream achievement. A double-album of musical grit and emotional tenderness featuring the heavenly glissando of guitarist Duane Allman, it reshaped blues rock into a new soft-rock genre. And the title track is about as iconic as a song can get. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2000 and it figures in just about any ‘Greatest Albums Of All-Time’ chart you care to name.

But it was an almighty flop at the time of its release in complaining of “pretty atrocious vocal work” and songs that induced “complete boredom”.