Plugging Clapton

“The Grammy Tip Sheet” (Jan. 3), Paul Grein’s annual forecast, does a good job of summing up the competition (or lack thereof) in each of the categories. I realize he is not selecting albums that he deems worthy of Grammys (rather likely winners), but we longtime fans of Eric Clapton know full well that “Unplugged” is one of his lesser efforts.

Perhaps Grein just inadvertently chose the wrong label to hang on that best-selling album, but his description of the live “Unplugged” as a “career retrospective” is also inaccurate. Of its 14 songs, only the slow version of “Layla” could be called identifiable with Clapton by a casual fan, and the original recording was not done by Clapton as a solo artist. Ten of the remaining songs are classic blues numbers that had never appeared on an official Clapton album before.

I don’t begrudge the great Clapton any awards, but Grammy voters ought to take into account that “Unplugged” is little more than a well-marketed soundtrack to an MTV telecast and by no stretch a landmark album. Forget unit sales when it comes to voting and just listen to the music.

STEVE ROESER

Los Angeles