‘Chameleon’ Clapton has proved difficult to pin down

Music/biography: Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton, By Philip Norman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, €30

In March 1965, Eric Clapton quit the Yardbirds because he thought their music was becoming too commercial. They proved his point almost immediately by scoring a number one single with For Your Love. Clapton sounded thoroughly dejected in his first major press interview around this time, which was headlined ‘The Yardbird Who Got Left Behind’.

“I don’t ...