Pilgrim is the thirteenth solo studio album by the British rock musician Eric Clapton, released on 10 March 1998 for Reprise Records.

Although most of the critics responded negatively to the 1998 studio effort, it was one of Clapton's most commercially successful albums, reaching the Top 10 in twenty-two countries.

However, Clapton ultimately commissioned Japanese artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, best known for his work on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Neon Genesis Evangelion, to expand upon his concept and produce the final version of the album cover and packaging artwork.

[5][6] In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton noted that he asked his drummer, Steve Gadd, how he would feel about making the saddest record of all time.

Pilgrim brings, so the music website says, a slick, smooth, detached, laid-back, mellow, refined, reflective, stylish, sentimental and reserved mood with it.

[9] Rolling Stone calls the album's material a "loosely themed soul-song cycle in the tradition of Marvin Gaye [with] effective modern contexts".

[11] "Broken Hearted", a song Clapton wrote with Greg Phillinganes, features synthesizers;[10] it was performed as a live acoustic version during the Montserrat charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997.

Although the track was not released on either compact disc, digital, cassette or grammophone record formats, it was made available in April 1998 for radio stations as an airplay single.

[25] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine awards the release two out of five possible stars, noting the album "tries to reach a middle ground between the two extremes 'Tears in Heaven' and 'Change the World', balancing tortured lyrics with smooth sonic surfaces".

Comparing the album to the hit releases Journeyman, From the Cradle and Unplugged, Erlewine finishes his review for AllMusic, calling the 1998 studio effort full of "blandness" and "disappointing".

[9] Rolling Stone journalist David Wild recalls: "Pilgrim will not thrill those looking for From the Cradle II – most of this state-of-the-charts album sounds absolutely nothing like any record Muddy Waters ever made.

[10] Natalie Nichols from the Los Angeles Times rates Pilgrim with two out of four possible stars, reviewing it with the predicate "fair" and thinks the majority of tracks on the release were not that thought through, however, two songs were: "'My Father's Eyes', Clapton's rumination on maturity, hold their own against the wall of sound.

While his guitar playing is kept on its usual leash here, he lets loose occasional bursts of staccato blues licks, as on the funky 'She's Gone', which musters up some sass to offset all the heartbreak".

[8] Critics from the music website Sputnikmusic awarded the release with only two points, rating it "poor" by saying: "Pilgrim is a massive chore to listen to.

[29] Music journalists from the People magazine think the album occasionally offers "moments of surpassing beauty", but note "at 75 minutes, Pilgrim is one long, slow slog, interrupted by only two or three uptempo tunes.

[27] The New York Times' critic Stephen Holden notes: "The best songs on this bleakly eloquent album of orchestrated blues meditations express a choked-up grief and despair that slices to the bone.