If this album were a single instead of a double with maybe two songs cut out and all the songs tightened up it would be fantastic. As it is there is too much guitar free play for me and too much jamming going on. The arrangements of the songs are great, but then they go and make it too long winded with way too much free form guitar play. "Layla" is a great example of this to me. It's got the most pop sound of any song on the album and it is a good song, but for the last 3 1/2 minutes of the song it is simply garbage. It's like fusion jazz for blues guitar and it just doesn't work for me.
A good producer could have done wonders for this album and still kept the emotional charge that lives in the performances. No doubt this is blues/rock at its best if only someone had really grabbed onto the recording and tightened it up.
