This November sees the release of the 50th Anniversary edition of Derek & The Dominos' Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, available as a 4LP vinyl box set via UMe/Polydor. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1970 double album, the original has been given the ‘Half-Speed Mastered’ treatment by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios and is completed with a certificate of authentication.

The 50th anniversary 4LP box set, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, is available exclusively through uDiscover and Sound of Vinyl and can be ordered here.

Layla is often regarded as Eric Clapton’s greatest musical achievement. The album is notably known for its title track, an evergreen rock classic, which had top ten single chart success in the U.K. and features the dual wailing guitars of Clapton and Duane Allman. Alongside this are a further 2LPs of bonus material some of which has not previously been released on vinyl. All the bonus material across all of LP3 and LP4 is mastered normally (so is not half-speed mastered). The LP set also includes a 12×12 book of sleeve notes taken from the 40th-Anniversary Edition.

In 1970, following the break-up of Blind Faith and his departure from Delaney & Bonnie, Derek & The Dominos initially formed in the spring of that year. The group comprised Eric Clapton on guitar and vocals alongside three other former members of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: Bobby Whitlock on keyboards, Carl Radle on bass and Jim Gordon on drums. Derek & The Dominos played their first concert at London’s Lyceum Ballroom on June 14, 1970 as part of a UK summer tour. During late August to early October they recorded Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, with the Allman Brothers’ guitarist Duane Allman sitting in, before returning to a tour of the UK and the US until the end of the year. Shortly thereafter the group disbanded but their short time together offered up one of the rock canon’s most enduring albums of all time.

From his early days as a guitar icon to a songwriter of great sensitivity, as well as an interpreter of everything from blues and jazz to rock and country music, Eric Clapton needs little by way of an introduction. As a renowned solo artist in his own right as well as a member of the Yardbirds, Cream and Derek and the Dominos, he is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and is one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. He has been the recipient of 17 Grammy Awards, 1 Brit Award and 1 Bafta.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (4LP) tracklisting:

LP1/ LP2

Side A
"I Looked Away"
"Bell Bottom Blues"
"Keep On Growing"
"Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out"

Side B
"I Am Yours"
"Anyday"
"Key To The Highway"

Side A
"Tell The Truth"
"Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?"
"Have You Ever Loved A Woman"

Side B
"Little Wing"
"It's Too Late"
"Layla"
"Thorn Tree In The Garden"

LP3 / LP4 - Bonus Material (*denotes previously unreleased on vinyl)

Side A
"Mean Old World" - Layla Session Out-take
"Roll It Over" - Phil Spector Produced Single B-Side
"Tell The Truth" - Phil Spector Produced Single A-Side

Side B
"It's Too Late"* - Live On The Johnny Cash TV Show, November 5, 1970
"Got To Get Better In A Little While"* - Live On The Johnny Cash TV Show, November 5, 1970
"Matchbox" with Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins* - Live On The Johnny Cash TV Show, November 5, 1970
"Blues Power"* - Live On The Johnny Cash TV Show, November 5, 1970

Side A
"Snake Lake Blues"* - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album
"Evil"* - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album
"Mean Old Frisco"* - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album
"One More Chance"* - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album

Side B
"High" - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album
"Got To Get Better In A Little While" Jam* - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album
"Got To Get Better In A Little While"* - From April/May 1971 Sessions For The Dominos' Second Album