hours of alternate masters, jams and out-takes from the 20th Anniversary Edition of 1990 (not to mention the tracking sheets included in that box). Album: Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Universal)". According to Dowd, the recording of "Key to the Highway" was unplanned, triggered by the band hearing Sam Samudio performing the song for his album Hard and Heavy in another room at the studio. mix from Mick Guzauski's on the 2004 American SACD for which I for one am grateful as a surround-sound fanatic who's spent 90GBP on the latest reissue), a two vinyl LP version of the Layla album on reproduction Polydor labels, a 48-page hardback book, cover art work print (suitable for framing), a badge (mine only has the Eric is Derek one), a couple of reproduction tickets and album art work sticker all housed in a box with a magnetic lid containing a 3D card insert of the artwork.

AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised Allman's slide guitar work for "push[ing] Clapton to new heights" and stated, "what really makes Layla such a powerful record is that Clapton, ignoring the traditions that occasionally painted him into a corner, simply tears through these songs with burning, intense emotion. In the same year, Rolling Stone ranked it number 117 on its list of " The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".This 40th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition features the original double album, the posthumous In Concert album, singles cuts, a TV show appearance, studio outtakes, projected second album tracks, an audio-only Surround Sound DVD and a vinyl LP – and still doesn't manage to round up all the previously released Dominos material. The two-CD "Deluxe" edition features five previously unreleased tracks, "It's Too Late", " Got to Get Better in a Little While", "Matchbox" (with Carl Perkins) and "Blues Power" (from The Johnny Cash Show) and a jam version of "Got to Get Better in a Little While".

Nor does the new yellow box with stick-on guitar artwork match the black and gold embossed box with reproduction LP artwork on the lid of the 20th Anniversary Edition. This mastering's negative reception motivated at least one attempt to remaster the CD during the 1980s.Nowadays we all know that "Derek is Eric", but back in late 1970 this wasn't as obvious to many, and so the double-album into which Eric Clapton and his new band had invested so much emotion and effort, which he released pseudonymously under the name Derek and The Dominos, failed to achieve the level of commercial success it deserved; Clapton's wish to refrain from the spotlight had proved detrimental. In a rave review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau applauded the contrast of "the high-keyed precision of [Clapton's] guitar" with "the relaxed rocking of Allman/Whitlock/Radle/Gordon". In 2003, television network VH1 named Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs the 89th-greatest album of all time. citation needed] Improvements, however, were not very significant because the original 1970 stereo master tapes could not be found at the time. Since its initial reception, Layla has been acclaimed by critics and regarded as Clapton's greatest overall work.