there is an interesting interview with Clapton in a guitar magazine in the UK (I'll try to dig it out) where he talks about recording of "the breeze" and states that John has been not very well this year, which he has not spoke about (bit of for Clapton to spill the beans) and he's doing Yoga and on a strict diet to try to get better, which does tie in with the thinner look he's had at the moment, Eric makes quite a deal out of how unwell he's been, yet he still showed up and did the breeze sessions in a few takes and how much he rates him as a guitar master.

If you look at Johns year, it has been a visibly weird year, and then the stuff that we don't know about, it's been a weird year.