(Rock) Richard Clapton - Harlequin Nights - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

An elder statesman of the Australian rock music industry, Richard Clapton‘s influence on home- grown songwriters has been a force for some four decades. To usher in his fifth decade in the business, Clapton has released his first album in eight years, Harlequin Nights.
Described as the bookend to the critically acclaimed 1977 album Goodbye Tiger, Harlequin Nights veers between the heady optimism of opening track Sunny Side Up and the poignant autumnal reflection of the beautiful Blue Skies.
Clapton, who famously took his name from heroes Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, and has never had an easy life, divorced during the album but says this helped boost him creatively, as did his songwriting collaboration with guitarist Danny Spencer. The result is a rich soundscape of classic Clapton: a troubadour buffeted by uncertain winds and still searching for answers in songs such as the epic Vapour Trails but pushing on regardless in the folksy Run Like a River.
An up-tempo homage to hard partying, Dancing with the Vampires, is the first single. It’s not as strong melodically as some of the earlier tracks but there’s some nice guitar work and a reference to Charlie Sheen.
Clapton keeps a few nuggets, the jazzy Shady Love and a powerful ballad, Keep Your Blue Eyes Open Wide, to round off the album.
There are no great surprises in Harlequin Nights. Clapton has not tried to reinvent himself or take a detour into some strange musical genre. Rather, it is a solid evolution by one of the nation’s premier artists.