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.

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.

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.

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.

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.