Back Home (Eric Clapton album)

Back Home is the seventeenth solo studio album by Eric Clapton. It was released 29 August 2005 internationally and a day later in the U.S. It is his first album containing new, original material since Reptile (2001), as the previous release Me and Mr. Johnson is an album of song covers of Robert Johnson.

"Say What You Will" is a song that Clapton offered to the Japanese musical group SMAP.

Critical reception
Back Home was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 52 based on 10 reviews.

Track listing

 * 1) "So Tired" (Eric Clapton, Simon Climie) – 4:47
 * 2) "Say What You Will" (Clapton, Climie) – 4:35
 * 3) "I'm Going Left" (Stevie Wonder, Syreeta Wright) – 4:03
 * 4) "Love Don't Love Nobody" (Joseph Jefferson, Charles Simmons) – 7:13
 * 5) "Revolution" (Clapton, Climie) – 5:00
 * 6) "Love Comes to Everyone" (George Harrison) – 4:35
 * 7) "Lost and Found" (Doyle Bramhall II, Jeremy Stacey) – 5:21
 * 8) "Piece of My Heart" (Bramhall, Susannah Melvoin, Mike Elizondo) – 4:22
 * 9) "One Day" (Vince Gill, Beverly Darnall) – 5:20
 * 10) "One Track Mind" (Clapton, Climie) – 5:04
 * 11) "Run Home to Me" (Clapton, Climie) – 6:18
 * 12) "Back Home" (Clapton) – 3:33

DualDisc version
The special edition DualDisc format of the album features the whole album in surround sound, an interview with Clapton, and five selections from the album played live in the studio. This special package also featured four exclusive guitar picks which display "Back Home" and Clapton's signature on them. The picks came in violet, blue, red and grey.

Personnel

 * Eric Clapton – lead vocals, guitar
 * Doyle Bramhall II – guitar
 * Andy Fairweather-Low – baritone guitar
 * Vince Gill – guitar
 * John Mayer – guitar
 * Robert Randolph – pedal steel guitar
 * Simon Climie – keyboards, programming
 * Toby Baker – keyboards
 * Billy Preston – keyboards, acoustic piano, Hammond organ
 * Chris Stainton – keyboards
 * Steve Winwood – keyboards
 * Nathan East – bass guitar
 * Paul Fakhourie – bass guitar
 * Pino Palladino – bass guitar
 * Steve Gadd – drums
 * Abe Laboriel Jr. – drums
 * Nicky Shaw – programming, percussion
 * Kick Horns – brass
 * Gavyn Wright – violin
 * Isobel Griffiths – strings
 * Nick Ingman – strings
 * Michelle John – backing vocals
 * Sharon White – backing vocals
 * Lawrence Johnson – backing vocals

Production

 * Eric Clapton – producer, cover design concept, liner notes
 * Simon Climie – producer, Pro Tools engineer
 * Alan Douglas – recording engineer
 * Bea Henkel – second assistant engineer
 * George Renwick – assistant engineer
 * Phillippe Rose – assistant engineer
 * Mick Guzauski – mix engineer
 * Tom Bender – mix assistant
 * Joel Evendeen – assistant Pro Tools
 * Jonathan Shakhovskoy – assistant Pro Tools
 * Bob Ludwig – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME).
 * Lee Dickson – guitar technician
 * Debbie Johnson – session coordinator (Los Angeles).
 * Bushbranch – management
 * Catherine Roylance – art direction and design
 * Paul Higgens – illustration
 * Chris Sykes – main photography
 * Allan Titmuss – photography
 * Jill Furmanovsky – photography
 * Dunlop Management, Inc. – pick pack concept

Awards
Alan Douglas and Mick Guzauski (engineer) won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for the album.

George Harrison tribute
Back Home was Clapton's first studio album released after the death of his close friend George Harrison in November 2001. Clapton covered Harrison's song "Love Comes to Everyone" from his 1979 self-titled album as tribute. Clapton had played the guitar introduction on the original version. In Japan during the tour of George Harrison with Eric Clapton and his band, the song was played but only once, the first night (1 December 1991, Yokohama Arena).