Crossroads [Box set]

Eric Clapton | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: April 18, 1988
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Polydor / Umgd
• ASIN: B000001FOP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,538 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #60 in Music > Rock > Rock Guitarists > Guitar Gods

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Boom Boom - The Yardbirds

2. Honey In Your Hips - The Yardbirds

3. Baby What's Wrong - The Yardbirds

4. I Wish You Would - The Yardbirds

5. A Certain Girl - The Yardbirds

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Anyone For Tennis - Cream

2. White Room - Cream

3. Crossroads - Cream

4. Badge - Cream

5. Prescence Of The Lord - Blind Faith

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Got To Get Better In A Little While - Derek And The Dominos

2. Evil - Derek And The Dominos

3. One More Chance - Derek And The Dominos

4. Mean Old Frisco - Derek And The Dominos

5. Snake Lake Blues - Derek And The Dominos

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Hello Old Friend - Eric Clapton

2. Sign Language - Eric Clapton

3. Further On Up The Road - Eric Clapton

4. Lay Down Sally - Eric Clapton

5. Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Including both his band work (with the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Blues Breakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie, and Derek and the Dominos) and his long, varied solo career, this four-CD set does a spectacular job in gathering several decades' worth of Clapton's best. There are the requisite classics--"Layla," "Blues Power," "After Midnight," "Further On Up the Road," "Crossroads," and "I Shot the Sheriff," among many others--some of them in previously unreleased live or alternate studio recordings. Released in 1988, when only superstars were granted the box set, Crossroads became the blueprint for what such a retrospective should be. For its scope, this box skims the cream of Clapton's large output. --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great summary of Clapton's Career, November 3, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crossroads (Audio CD)

From his days with The Yardbirds until his somewhat recent (1988) solo projects, these four CDs will show you what a great artist Eric Clapton is. This box-set has all of his greatest hits, lots of rare recordings, and first-rate previously unreleased material. Also here you will find the songs that were to be a part of Derek And The Dominos aborted second album, and they show that they were a band who could have gone a long way. You will also hear different versions of some of his hits, like a live version of I Shot The Sheriff, and two versions of After Midnight, one like the original but with horns, and one with a slower rhythm. Pay special attention to the song Crossroads, one of Eric's favorites, with two live versions of here: Cream's mind-blowing rock performance, with perhaps Eric's best guitar solo, and Derek And The Dominos awesome blues version. An essential item, not just for his fans, with lots of good rock and blues.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific overview up to 1988 of Slowhand's career, March 16, 2007

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crossroads (Audio CD)

Although this set doesn't go past 1988 (the year it was released),"Crossroads" includes some of Clapton's best material with the various bands he was a member of (The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos) and solo. While some of these previously unreleased and rare tracks have since shown up on some other reissues, this is the only place (to date) to find early versions of "Tell the Truth", "Roll It Over" (both produced by Phil Spector and one track featuring George Harrison & Dave Mason on guitar. These were produced during the "All Things Must Pass" sessions)and the tracks from the unfinished second Dominos album.

The sound quality on this set is quite good. The masters aren't as compressed (if at all) compared to the reissues of Clapton's back catalog. As a result the CD doesn't sound quite as "loud" (much of that volume on the remasters is due to the dynamic range being squashed and the masters EQ'd taking much of the musical "punch" out of the music) as the Clapton remasters. Detail is very good on most of these tracks and although with some restoration on the Yardbirds tracks at the beginning because of the fragile nature of the masters they were pulled from. Overall, Bill Levenson and his team did a terrific job here.

This is a terrific set with a nice mix of live material, songs that Clapton performed on ("Comin' Home") and recorded as a solo artist. While his guitar didn't blaze quite as hard on the studio recordings for many ofhis solo recordings, this was a phase in Clapton's development where he was developing and focusing on his singing as much (if not more)than focusing on his guitar playing. That's not to say that he doesn't play well, it just sounds different than his hot, crazed playing for Cream and the tortured blues solos as a member of Derek and the Dominos.

The booklet has notes by Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis (interesting note--Clapton was so devasted by a critical Rolling Stone article about Cream that it helped convince him to break up the band. The article was completely out of line but managed to push Clapton into something that would have happened eventually given the volatile nature of the egos in Cream). Although this remaster is nearly 20 years old, it still sounds extremely good. Unlike many remasters, this was remastered pretty flat without all the compression and goosing that many remasters feature that make things louder but worsen the sound quality.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Retrospective, July 27, 2001

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Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crossroads (Audio CD)

Eric Clapton's Crossroads followed in the wake of the success of Bob Dylan's Biograph as one the first box sets to chronicle the career of an artist. Utilizing the new compact disk format, the set starts off on disk one with "Boom Boom" from his Yardbird days all the way up to the end of disk four with his much maligned remake of "After Midnight". In between you get every song that made Mr. Clapton the revered figure he is. There are so many songs that one can't list them all but "Layla", "White Room", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Cocaine", "I Shot The Sheriff", "Lay Down Sally" and all his hits are here. Also mixed in are some unreleased tracks and lesser known gems like Cream's "Anyone For Tennis". The set also includes a tremendous booklet full of insight and great pictures. Crossroads unfortunately helped set off a boom of box sets where everyone had a box set released, even marginal bands like ELO and Kansas. In spite of that, Crossroads is everything a box set should be and is a worthy retrospective of a legend's career.