Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go with this over the first Crossroads !, June 22, 2003
This is the perfect box set for the casual Clapton fan or the serious without a live set. This is a great introduction to Clapton's to most of Clapton's mandatory songs (minus the Cream songs) that were recorded during the 70's at various venues. The sound quality is perfect with no deteriation from the recording at all. There are some amazing rocking versions of songs. This set was taken during his drugged out depression phase when his solos rocked the hardest and his blues were the saddest. Disc One- A great intro for the set with a fun Hand Jive. The highlight of this disc is the great "Cant Find My Way Home" with some of Clapton's cathiest lyrics to date. Disc Two- The best disc of the set and one my single most favorite discs OF ALL TIME- worth the price of the set by itself. The 4 and a half min Layla is the best version of Layla ever hands down. Clapton tears through the riff with an amazing solo that shows of his best skills and his full range. Guaranteed to have you air jamming every time. The I Shot The Sheriff jams like no other. Clapton just gets in a groove with some finger pickin that cant be beat. Badge goes through its usual first half before Clapton just puts on an all out assault on the laws of rockin. The solo flies through many phases and has to be heard to be believed. Follow this up with a 24 min "Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad" with Santana. This is my all time favorite Clapton song and it needs to be heard multiple times before its complexity can be unraveled. The easiest way to describe it would be like a battle between Santana and Clapton where they are playing off of each other in alternate dueling commraderie. Fantastic!! Disc three- the second best disc with multiple winners. The two best are Core with its powerful emotion and the always solid Cocaine. Disc four- my least favorite of the discs but some decents ones hidden away. "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" is another cathy tune that not all casual classic rock fans have heard. Bottom Line: anyone interested in Clapton, classic rock, or kick-... guitar shreddin should go out and get this set.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For serious fans, October 13, 2003
The great, career-spanning "Crossroads" compilation was a box set that appealed to both beginners and hardcore Clapton fanatics.
"Crossroads 2 - Live In The Seventies" mainly appeals to fanatics.
Spanning four discs and consisting almost entirely of live material (there are a handful of studio outtakes), this music will enthrall completists and archivists, who will find a wealth of compelling performances here. But they will also find a fair share of mediocre, uninspired tracks, and four versions of Robert Johnson's "Rambling On My Mind".
No-one needs four versions of "Rambling On My Mind" by the same artist on the same album. And two of them were recorded less than five months apart.
This is almost all slow blues and ballads, and a few more up-tempo songs, and a bit more musical variation, would have made "Crossroads 2" a significantly better set. The band is somewhat static, just a steady thump-thump going behing Clapton and his guitar, and the lenghty instrumental breaks can seem indulgent (or simply dull).
But that's not to say that there isn't anything worth your while here. The serious Clapton fan will certainly enjoy the first version of "Rambling On My Mind" (great slide guitar), as well as a powerful take on the classic "Layla", a nice, piano-driven "Worried Life Blues", the tough blues-rock of "Further On Up The Road", an excellent take on "Crossroads", the smouldering slow blues "Have You Ever Loved A Woman", and the numerous solos and fills, many of which are actually pretty great!
And there are a few surprises here as well, including Don Williams' "We're All The Way", a fine, acoustic "Cryin'" (a studio outtake), and the Four Tops-hit "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever".
Most of these songs can be found on Clapton's other live albums, of course (albeit in different versions), so you don't have to get "Crossroads 2" in order to hear them. And besides, this set is weighed down somewhat by some mediocre performances, and the tempo is sometimes slowed down to a point where the pause between each drumbeat is long enough for the listener to start wondering if the CD has stopped playing.
Still, the good songs do outnumber the less exciting ones, and there is a lot of superb guitar playing on display here. The serious fan will want this set in their collection, but the casual listener may end up being bored by the lack of variation, especially the sterile band. Clapton's playing is excellent, of course, even if his singing isn't always, but the arrangemets are frequently just plain dull.
Pick up the smokin' DVD "Live in Hyde Park", or the classic "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert", if you want to hear how powerful and exiting an Eric Clapton-concert can be!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clapton's last great live material, September 7, 2000
This is a 4 CD set of Clapton live from 1974 through 1978. The sound quality is excellent. The music on the first 3 CD's is fantastic. The forth CD is a let down but not enough to bring down the whole boxset.In the early seventies, Clapton had finished up Derek and the Dominoes and the music circuses, such as Delaney and Bonnie. He became an official solo act, once and for all. Up until 1978, his live music continued in the same vain as Derek and the Dominoes and his other group efforts. The music was fresh and energetic. He played with a big band that really opened up the songs. There is some very exciting music here. Even "I Shot the Sheriff" sounds great with the guitar and keyboard solos at the end. There are some very nice vocals from Marcy Levy and Yvonne Elliman (Mary in Jesus Christ Superstar) that add new dimensions to some of the songs. In Clapton's 1975 tour, Santana was the opening band. In a typical Santana show, Carlos usually brings out whoever is available to jam on the encore. In this case, Santana would join Clapton for the encores. A 30 minute Clapton/Santana encore is included at the end of disc 2. On the first 3 discs, there are only a few low spots. There is no longer any emotion in "Have You Ever Loved A Woman". Clapton had already won Patti Boyd and the song had no meaing for him. He ended up marrying her in Tucson, just before his concert. He brought out Patti on stage and sang "Wonderful Tonight" to her. It's not everyone that gets to see God on his wedding night. In the middle of 1978, Clapton decided he wanted to be a blues singer. He dumped his big band to form a new trio quartet. He couldn't go on doing the same thing forever, and it is good that he wanted to explore different musical styles. But this new direction turned out to be the lowest point in his career. Seeing one of his shows in 1979 was a real shock (especially comparing it to a 1975 show). The show was short and consisted of short songs that featured Clapton's vocals. Except for one or two songs, Clapton never really opened up on guitar. The last CD in this set is from this Blues Singer period. There is only one really good song on the disc. The rest are mostly quick pop tunes. "Wonderful Tonight" is particularly worse than normal. The last three songs are studio outtakes of Clapton blues songs that never made it to an album. Listen and you will know why (but I did actually like one of them). In summary, you get 3 fantastic CD's that demonstrate how Clapton evolved from Derek and the Dominoes to his Slowhand stage. As a bonus, you get a 4th CD that is an interesting artifact and would rate only two or three stars.
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~ Eric Clapton
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by Eric Clapton 
