Money and Cigarettes is an Eric Clapton album, released in 1983. It is his eighth studio album. The cover depicts Clapton, cigarette in hand, standing next to a melting Fender Stratocaster guitar. Clapton chose the name of the album "because, that's all I saw myself having left," after his (first) rehabilitation from alcoholism. The single "I've Got a Rock 'n' Roll Heart" became a hit in the U.S., peaking at #18, but was relatively unsuccessful in the UK, where it did not reach the Top 50.
"I've still got something left to say," Clapton sings on "Ain't Going Down", and you don't have to take his word for it: The work of an A-list blues band (that's Ry Cooder doubling on guitar), <i>Money and Cigarettes</i> finds Slowhand returning from a stint in rehab as charged as ever. On "The Shape You're In", he and Cooder get so excited that they barely wait for each other to finish, laying overlapping solos as the track rolls to a close.