Eric Clapton - Turn Up Down -1980- - Unreleased... Today

A click. The tape ran silent for three seconds. Then, the sound of a glass being set down heavily on a wooden table. A long, slow exhale.

Then the drums kicked in. Not his usual laid-back, behind-the-beat shuffle. This was a pummeling, almost punkish slam from a drummer who sounded like he was trying to break through his own kit. The bass followed, not melodic, but a thick, distorted root-note pulse. Eric Clapton - Turn Up Down -1980- - Unreleased...

Some doors, she thought, are closed for a reason. And some songs are never meant to be turned up—or down. A click

It was a direct, almost ugly swipe at his own mythology. The “Slowhand” persona. The “legend.” The song was a suicide note written to his own ego. A long, slow exhale

The tape was marked only in faded black ink: Eric Clapton – “Turn Up Down” – 1980 – Unreleased.