Customer Reviews

Crossroads

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This four disc set from 1988 was really one of the first collections to really cover the evolution of a major artist over an immense body of work. "Crossroads" presents Eric Clapton in all his myriad incarnations and truly gives you a sense of his musical career up to that point in time, which is why a second edition was necessary. Rather than blather on about the man's talents, let me just riff on what you get with this set. Disc 1 goes from "For Your Love" with the Yardbirds to "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love." Disc 2 offers the retrospectively ironic "Badge" co-written with George Harrison, "Presence of the Lord" with Blind Faith, "Comin' Home" with Delaney and Bonnie, "Let it Rain" from his first solo effort, and "Layla" with Derek and the Dominos. By Disc 3 Clapton is well into his solo career, with "Let it Grow" and "I Shot the Sheriff." Disc 4 has "Wonderful Tonight," "Miss You" and ends with the version of "After Midnight" he recorded for that beer commercial. That last track really sums up Clapton's career for me. You listen to the original on Disc 2 and compare it to the remake and I think you really get a sense for the roads the man has crossed. If you like your rock and roll with a touch of blues or the other way around, this is the man and "Crossroads" is what you want in your collection.

Eric Clapton has risen to the prominance of one of the greatest rock artists of all time with his musical roots in Blues and even dabbling with reggae, pop-rock, and soft rock since his golden age in the mid 1970's. Crossroads is the ultimate introduction to Eric Clapton and his entire career from his years with the Yardbirds to the latter days of his solo career in the late 80's as well as a crucial addition to any collection. Crossroads is quite simply the best of his entire career from his beginnings in 1963 up to the boxset's release in 1988.

The first disc contains a staggering 23 songs ranging from his start with the Yardbirds and spans into the mid-sixties through his glory days with Cream. The disc has several hits like the universal tunes "Boom Boom" from 1963 and "Sunshine of Your Love" with Cream in the mid-to-late 60's. Also present are the crucial years in between with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and duets with only Clapton and John Mayall.

Disc two has perhaps the most hits on a single disc, from his closing days with Cream and through his legendary period with Derek & the Dominoes up through the early 70's. It starts with the delightful, almost mystical "Anyone For Tennis," with Cream and contains classic dongs like "White Room," a live rendition of "Crossroads," "Badge," "Blues Power," and "Layla" make this disc an unquestionable favorite. The second disc also boasts "After Midnight" from his stint with Delaney & Bonnie and a duet with the late Duane Allman as well as a few hits from his time with Blind Faith.

The third disc is truly a gem and my personal favorite, kicking off with five previously unreleased tracks by Derek & the Dominoes as well as a few from his solo career which the disc touches the glory days of. Among these are songs like "Snake Lake Blues," with Derek & the Dominoes and "(When Things Go Wrong) It Hurts Me Too". The third disc also has a previously unreleased live version of Bob Marley & the Wailers' "I Shot the Sheriff" from 1974 and a duet with reggae legend Peter Tosh from the following year that was also previously unreleased. For a fantastic finale, the disc closes with Clapton's legendary and beautiful cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Someone Like You".

Finally, disc 4 covers his career from the 1976 "No Reason to Cry" album up through 1987, after his drift from a more Blues style to a soft and pop-rock style. The disc has several hits, three of which are indesputable: "Lay Down Sally," "Cocaine," and "Wonderful Tonight" and the first two tracks "Hello Old Friend," and "Sign Language," are amazing; the second of which pairs Clapton with fellow rock legend Bob Dylan. While the disc does show his more modern pop-rock era, only the best of this period is available here, and no fan will be disappointed. His later years are seen as having less popularity, but you wouldn't think so from this collection, in fact, you may think he's only gotten better. The fourth disc closes with a remake of "After Midnight" from 1987, leaving the listener stunned by the rock legend.

Crossroads is a testament to Eric Clapton's legacy, skill, passion, and brilliance. Any casual fan would find this to be the ultimate introduction while the hardcore listener would undeniably say that this boxset is a piece of music history, crucial to any rock & roll collection, or even, any well-rounded music collection. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed by Eric Clapton's legendary masterpiece.

I am a casual Clapton fan; more fond of his adventures into Blues than his more popular material, but I'd be hard pressed to complain about this one. Spanning his career from The Yardbirds to his 80's solo material, there is definitely something here for everyone and it's easy to appreciate the legend that Clapton has become when you look at the scope and breadth of his work. Box sets are a nice way to get a true picture of an artist and one with as many side projects as Clapton it becomes a neccessity if you want to get a true picture of the man's talent.
A worthy collection of his material for any fan of rock.

I happen to be someone who loves boxed sets, and I have a number of them: (Led Zeppelin (BOTH), George Strait, The Who. ELO, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, George Jones, Billy Joel, Selena, Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard to name a few). I decided to purchase this set, because I like some of Clapton's material, and to be honest, I am not familiar with a lot of his music (Maybe 15-20 songs), and would like to hear some more (And you always find new songs you will like). I always hear complaints that you should buy the original CDs, but to be honest, people cannot afford to be completists of every singer and (Or) group they like (I am a Strait and Zeppelin completist, and even that is expensive). This is a great box, because you can hear the hits (Layla, White Room, Let It Rain etc), and become introduced to more material, and appreciate Clapton even more. Simply put, this is great material.

Eric Clapton has been through several different phases musically. He started off at sixteen or seventeen, singing Chuck Berry's "Roll Over, Beethoven" at a nightclub in London, and according to some accounts he didn't even have a guitar of his own at the time (the tougher, slightly older "in-crowd", which included Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Keith Richards, supposedly called him "Plimsolls" because of his habit of shyly looking down at his shoes while he sang).

Then came the British blooze of John Mayall and the Yardbirds, the fiery power-trio Cream, the short-lived Blind Faith, the phenomenal Derek & The Dominoes, and the many solo albums which quickly came to include as much pop, country, reggae and music hall as they did blues.
And it's all here. Every truely essential song Eric Clapton recorded during the 60s, 70s and 80s is here, along with a few live tracks and rarities. Not many, and not enough to really interest the serious Clapton collector, but this box set wasn't meant to add a new dimension to EC's catalogue, it was meant to present a complete overview of his long and varied career, and it does that perfectly.

"Crossroads" came out two years after Bob Dylan's "Biograph", and helped establish the boxed set as a viable proposition for record companies, and it includes seventy-three of Clapton's and his various bands' best songs.
It leans quite heavily towards his 60s and early 70s output (only about a dozen songs were cut after '74), and draws nine Yardbirds-tracks, six Bluesbreakers-tunes, twelve Cream-tunes, and three Blind Faith-tunes from EC's checkered past, as well as a Delaney & Bonnie-song ("Comin' Home"), and no fewer than ten Derek & The Dominoes-chestnuts (they only ever put out one studio album).
And then there's my favorite track of the whole lot, a supremely catchy, acoustic, slide guitar-driven rendition of T-Bone Walker's "Mean Old World" performed by Clapton and Duane Allman (and mistakenly credited to Little Walter Jacobs).

But there's a lot of other great songs here....in fact, there aren't very many songs here which aren't great.
I don't agree completely with the compliers' choices as far as Clapton's 80s output goes, but most of this set is simply magnificent.
This may not include everything you could ever want to own by Eric Clapton (he has made music since, and he cut some great live records in the 70s and early 80s), but it is a very thorough and well-chosen collection, and if you're a casual fan of bands like Cream and the Yardbirds, this set is pretty much everything by those two combos you'll ever need to own.
"Crossroads" came out over twenty years ago, but is still one of the finest career summaries on the market.
Highly recommended.

This was the 2nd box set I bought, the 1st being Bob Dylan's. It is still the prototype of everything a box set should be: 1. full 12 x 12 size (easiest and best way to assemble a booklet that's not going to fall apart the 5th time you open it), 2. a true overview of an artist's entire career, including unreleased and live/alternate takes, 3. lots of information and 4. great sound (just listen to Layla on this collection).

Many years have passed since this collection and certainly Clapton went on to even greater popularity after this was released, so this certainly won't include all essential Clapton. Actually, you could also pick a bone about there being no example of Clapton's prolific "sideman" career. There's his stellar work with George Harrison, Delany and Bonnie, Leon Russell, Howling Wolf and others that's not represented here. Actually, it'd probably be hell getting licensing rights, but that would make a great compilation all its own.

Anyway, Clapton's one of the true greats and this box is essential for the newcomer or old fan.

This box set celebrates the long career of the original guitar god, Eric Clapton. It traces his history back to the days of The Yardbirds, his time with John Mayall, Cream and Blind Faith, and his solo career. Over eighty cuts on four albums provide a great sampling of Slow Hand's evolution of sound and playing. This is still one of the best box sets that I've found, covering all of his greatest hits. Of course, Clapton has so many great hits, that it requires a second box set to cover them all.