BLUES TRAVELER

Almost 30 years after leaving John Mayall's Bluesbreakers for the commercially greener pastures of Cream, Blind Faith, and solo stardom, Eric Clapton has returned to his first love. From The Cradle (Duck/Reprise), the singer- guitarist's new nothin'-but-the-blues album, features flawlessly faithful renditions of such blues staples as Elmore James' ''It Hurts Me Too'' and Willie Dixon's ''Hoochie Coochie Man.'' But while his fidelity to the spirit of these songs will no doubt delight blues purists, Clapton's overly reverent approach to the music he loves soon becomes a stone bore. Rather than interpreting these songs in a fresh way, he ossifies them. Hey, no matter how self- | indulgent Cream's 16-minute take on ''Spoonful'' (from 1968's Wheels of Fire) may have been, it was an extrapolation that demonstrated a spark of inspiration. From The Cradle's rote cloning of familiar material seems a pointless, if well-intentioned, exercise in the sincerest form of flattery. And that's enough to give any listener the blues. B-

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