It’s the guitar riff backwards.

My understanding is that Layla was Clapton’s last album on non-alcohol drugs, then he developed a drinking problem. He went to rehab for that twice in the ’80s and stayed clean after the second time, before Journeyman. If I have all of that straight then he was clean when his son died.

I think that 461 Ocean Boulevard is pretty good. Of the post-Layla ’70s mainstream stuff that’s the best one. The cover of I Shot the Sheriff pales in comparison to the original but is enjoyable on its own terms, and since it helped popularize reggae it was probably the last Clapton album that was actually important to the development of popular music.

Cocaine is off of Slow Hand, which has Lay Down Sally and Wonderful Tonight on it. I think that album sold more than 461.

Not too long ago I read someone online saying, unironically (as far as I could tell) “He was already a legend before he recoded Unplugged.”

As far as which of the three bands is most tragic, if it’s the Dominoes it’s only because Jim Gordon’s fate was particularly grim. It’s hard to think of anything worse than that.