It's a testament to how powerful a band is when they can release one album, with a title track based solely on Eric Clapton's unrequited love (at the time), for his best friend's wife, and still be commercially successful. Derek and the Dominos released their one and only album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in 1970, but the album didn't truly pick up steam until early 1972 when the aforementioned title track, "Layla", broke into the mainstream.

Arguably one of the most recognizable opening riffs ever put to tape, the fact that "Layla", along with a few other tracks on the album featured both Eric Clapton and the late, great, Duane Allman on guitar, at the same time guaranteed this particular song's iconic status, and cemented the album as a masterpiece. In fact, Allman's doubling of Clapton's lead lines and his slide guitar solos on "Layla" remains as visceral now to listeners as they did some 40 odd years ago. And make no mistake; this wasn't a one hit wonder. Tracks like the groovy "Keep On Growing" and melancholy "Bell Bottom Blues" feature equally as prominent parts of the album. It is "Layla", however, and in particular the Clapton/Allman guitar interplay that make Derek and the Dominos very arguably one of the best bands of the decade. Many other guitarists of the era could only weep when they heard that riff for the first time.