

It's impossible to imagine rock guitar, or even rock music, without Clapton. No other Clapton album accurately explains why the guitarist was so influential, or demonstrates exactly what he accomplished.Albhy Galuten^Carl Radle^Delaney Bramlett^Derek & the Dominos^Eric Clapton^Felix Pappalardi^Giorgio Gomelsky^Glyn Johns^Jim Harris^Jimmy Miller^Jon Astley^Mike Vernon^Phil Collins^Phil Spector^Rob Fraboni^The Yardbirds^Tom Dowd Although not all of his greatest performances are included on the set - none of his work as a session musician or guest artist is included, for instance - every truly essential item he recorded is present on these four discs. Crossroads manages to sum up Clapton's career succinctly and thoroughly, touching upon all of his hits and adding a bevy of first-rate unreleased material (most notably selections from the scrapped second Derek and the Dominos album).

Bob Dylan's Biograph was successful two years before the release of Crossroads, but Clapton's set was a bona fide blockbuster. A four-disc box set spanning Eric Clapton's entire career - running from the Yardbirds to his '80s solo recordings - Crossroads not only revitalized Clapton's commercial standing, but it established the rock & roll multi-disc box set retrospective as a commercially viable proposition.
