Эрик Клэптонның «Паломничество» альбомы

Pilgrim is the thirteenth solo studio album by the British rock musician Eric Clapton, released on 10 March 1998 for Reprise Records. The album features all new studio recorded material, the first to do so since Clapton's 1989 hit album Journeyman and was nominated for several music awards. Although most of the critics responded negatively to the 1998 studio effort, it was one of Clapton's most commercially successful albums, reaching the Top 10 in twenty two countries.

The album was recorded during 1997 in both Ocean Way and the Olympic Studios. The release of Pilgrim marked Clapton's first album of all new original studio material since 1989's Journeyman album. The album cover and packaging for Pilgrim was originally conceived by Clapton himself. However, Clapton ultimately commissioned Japanese artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, best known for his work on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Neon Genesis Evangelion, to expand upon his concept and produce the final version of the album cover and packaging artwork. Clapton had become aware of Sadamoto not though his manga and anime work, but his 1993 art book Alpha. In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton noted that he asked his drummer, Steve Gadd, how he would feel about making the saddest record of all time. Gadd said he could work on Clapton's idea and the British recording artist chose to start working on the new project, although Clapton felt it could be a worrying time recording the saddest record that has ever been made. Because "My Father's Eyes" and "Circus" were the only finished tunes Clapton had when going into the studio, he wrote several new songs stating he worked nearly a whole year every day and night to record good songs with perfect detail. Clapton calls Pilgrim one of his favourite albums because he put so much passion and hard work into making it. During that time, Clapton parted with his long time manager Roger Forrester, mainly because Clapton took so long recording the album and paying too much money on the album, renting several studios for nearly a whole year.

According to the music website AllMusic, the 1998 studio release belongs to the musical genres of both pop and rock music, in styles of album rock, contemporary pop and rock as well as adult contemporary music. Pilgrim brings, so the music website says, a slick, smooth, detached, laid back, mellow, refined, reflective, stylish, sentimental and reserved mood with it. as well as "Going Down Slow", a blues standard, written and recorded by St. Louis Jimmy Oden.

The album was released on 10 March 1998 under Reprise Records, a sublabel of Warner Bros. Records for worldwide territories on compact disc, grammophone record and music cassette. The album was also released alongside "Change the World" as a so called extended play on 2 February 1999 for WEA International. On 4 August 2008, Welt & Placket released the 1998 record along with 2001's Reptile as a double album. To help both the album and single sales, Clapton toured the United States and Europe between March and December 1998 on his Pilgrim World Tour, followed by the Japan leg of the tour in November 1999. In Germany, the tour was promoted by Volkswagen.

The first single off the Pilgrim album was "My Father's Eyes", which was released along with the B side of the instrumental of "Inside of Me" as both a compact disc single and maxi compact disc single on 9 February 1998. The second single to be released was the rock title "She's Gone". Although the track was not released on either compact disc, digital, cassette or grammophone record formats, it was made available in April 1998 for radio stations as an airplay single. Two months later and three months after the album's official release, the third single, titled "Circus" was released as a compact disc release. The single was followed by "Born in Time", released on 10 July 1998, also on compact disc format. The album's last single, "Pilgrim", was released in November 1998.

AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine awards the release two out of five possible stars, noting the album "tries to reach a middle ground between the two extremes 'Tears in Heaven' and 'Change the World', balancing tortured lyrics with smooth sonic surfaces". Erlewine goes on in his review, criticising both Eric Clapton's and Simon Climie's production: "The problem lies in the production, which relies entirely on stiff mechanical drumbeats, gauzy synthesizers, and meandering instrumental interludes. These ingredients could result in a good record, as 'Change the World' demonstrated, but not here, due to [the album's] monotonous production". The music critic also notes Clapton's singing and playing is weird on Pilgrim, noting "Clapton doesn't want to shake things up – his singing is startlingly mannered, even on emotionally turbulent numbers like 'My Father's Eyes' or 'Circus'. Even worse, he's content to take a back seat instrumentally, playing slight solos and fills as colorless as the electronic backdrops". Comparing the album to the hit releases Journeyman, From the Cradle and Unplugged, Erlewine finishes his review for AllMusic, calling the 1998 studio effort full of "blandness" and "disappointing". Rolling Stone journalist David Wild recalls: "Pilgrim will not thrill those looking for From the Cradle II – most of this state of the charts album sounds absolutely nothing like any record Muddy Waters ever made. But it's still a blues album in the sense that it captures the sound of a man trying to tame hellhounds from within and without. In the end, Pilgrim is not purely anything, except purely moving". He awarded the release four out of five possible stars. Billboard magazine's Paul Verna thinks, nearly all the material on Pilgrim falls short of what Clapton's fans expect. He goes on in his review, stating Pilgrim sounds like a demo recording, however, Verna also likes some of the album's tracks, but calls Pilgrim a release, which does not live up to Clapton's giant legacy. Critics from the music website Sputnikmusic awarded the release with only two points, rating it "poor" by saying: "Pilgrim is a massive chore to listen to. It's half hearted, boring, it doesn't rock, the lyrics are bad, and both the music and vocals are so professional they're bland". For their review, the critics explained the bad remarks of the album, starting with Clapton's vocals, which are "bad", because "Clapton sings every song in a very smooth, flat manner". Going on in their review, Sputnikmusic notes the lyrics of every song are "horrendous, torturously clichéd, that sound machine generated". By finishing the review, the critics note the material on the album "does not rock in any way whatsoever. In fact, it's more adult contemporary/bad R&B than anything approaching rock". Critics from Entertainment Weekly recall: "It's impossible to fault [Clapton] for any ongoing numbness from his loss. But the truly sad thing about Pilgrim – for Clapton and maybe all of us – is that not even music may have the power to heal certain types of pain". The website rated the release with a "B−".

YearCeremonyAwardResultRef. (References)1998BillboardFastest selling Album of 19981999Best selling Albums of 1998#59EchoBest International Rock/Pop Male Artist & ReleaseGrammy AwardsBest Pop Vocal AlbumBest Pop Vocal Performance Male