#4: Derek and the Dominos — “Layla” (1970)
A roaring, Eric Clapton and Duane Allman dual-guitar blues-rock workout that abruptly shifts halfway through into a serene, seven-minute piano-led orchestral coda. The transition fundamentally splits the song into two completely different tonal universes without ever returning to the opening theme. That radical structural pivot turned a fierce rock track into an agonizingly beautiful, multi-part epic.
