Clapton has said of The Band's "Music from Big Pink" that it "changed my life." "No Reason to Cry" may not be Clapton at his best, but if you like The Band (as I do), then you'll probably enjoy this compact disc.

Many of the songs sound like they could be from The Band, except for Clapton's voice. Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel play backup for Clapton, and members of The Band wrote two of the tracks: "Beautiful Thing" and "All Our Past Times." Danko shares lead vocals with Clapton on "All Our Past Times."

There are two outstanding tracks on this cd: "Hello Old Friend" and "Black Summer Rain." "Black Summer Rain" evokes The Band's "It Makes No Difference" both in sound and lyrics ("...and the sun don't shine anymore, and the rain falls down on my door..."). Listen to the two songs one after another and you'll see what I mean.

This album ain't Clapton's greatest but, to me, it's still good and well worth experiencing.

"No Reason to Cry" is one of Eric Clapton's lesser orginial studio albums. The problem is in the material, which is simply not up to the incredibly high standards of Clapton 1970s masterpieces such as "461 Ocean Blvd." and "Slowhand." That's not to say the album is awful. In fact, there is hardly a bad song in the mix. It just doesn't live up to expectations. For example, the Clapton-Bob Dylan collaboration on the song "Sign Language" is pleasant enough, but is not the masterpiece you would expect from these two music giants.

Overall, "No Reason to Cry" should be primarily of interest to Clapton's ardent fans. Casual listeners should start with one of the two albums listed above or one of his anthology albums instead.

No Reason To Cry finds Eric Clapton playing rustic, down home music in the vein of one his favorite bands, The Band. In fact members of The Band show up on the album as well as their mentor, Bob Dylan. Mr. Dylan plays on the shuffling "Sign Language", but his influence is felt throughout the album. Songs like "Beautiful Thing", "Black Summer Rain" and "Hello Old Friend" have a Dylanesque feel. Mr. Clapton is more like the ringleader on this album. setting the stage and then stepping back for other to step into the arena. His backup singers Marcy Levy & Yvonne Elliman have pronounced roles and sidekick extraordinare Ron Wood plays some vibrant licks. No Reason To Cry is a potpourri of sounds, but a satisfying listen.

Eric Clapton at this time in his career was hanging out with members of the Band, and of course Bob Dylan.
There are several songs of note on this CD.
Sign Language is a duet with Bob Dylan. Over the years Dylan has offered several songs to Clapton. This is the only one they have collaborated on. Sign Language is not a great song, but I find it very interesting to hear Dylan and Clapton sing together.
County Jail Blues is another strong effort and has slide guitar.
At this point in Clapton's career we had not heard much slide guitar. It has a Mississippi Delta blues flavor that I love.
All Our Past Times is another duet with Rick Danko.
Clapton at this time was listening to country music and it shows throughout the album.
Double Trouble is another strong piece that appears on this CD.
Clapton in my mind is at his best with slow blues and this is no exception.
This is not his best, but a solid effort.
If you have never heard Clapton before this would not be a good place to start. This is for people like me who are really into Clapton.

'No Reason To Cry' is, in my opinion, one of Claptons weakest albums next to 'Another Ticket'. The whole thing is a sloppy mess with weak,disjointed playing, no cohesion or direction, and much slurring from Eric on lead vocals. Where are the producers on this album?, I wonder, sounds like they were 'out to lunch' on most of it, or maybe flat on their backs on the floor! However, Marcy Levy wrote and performed well on the track, 'Innocent Times'. Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Bob Dylan, Georgie Fame, and Ron Wood make guest appearances that don't really add much of anything to the entire mess. To be fair, There are a couple of OK tracks such as 'Beautiful Thing', 'Carnival', 'Hello Old Friend', and the Bob Dylan penned, 'Sign Language'. His filler blues cover, 'Double Trouble',and Rick Danko song, 'All Our Past Times'(Both songs are covered much better in Clapton's live 1980 album, 'Just One Night'.) are very good. In 'All Our Past Times', there are the follwing lyrics "All our past times should be forgotten, All our past times should be erased." makes me think so should the master tapes of this 1976 half effort.