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. Bob Dylan's Biograph was successful two years before the release of Crossroads, but Clapton's set was a bona fide blockbuster. And it's easy to see why. 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). 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. No other Clapton album accurately explains why the guitarist was so influential, or demonstrates exactly what he accomplished.
This 42-minute, eight-song live album, cut at Croydon late in 1969, is not only the peak of Delaney & Bonnie's output, but also the nexus in the recording and performing careers of Eric Clapton and George Harrison. On Tour features Clapton performing the same blend of country, blues, and gospel that would characterize his own early solo ventures in 1970. He rises to the occasion with dazzling displays of virtuosity throughout, highlighted by a dizzying solo on "I Don't Want to Discuss," a long, languid part on "Only You Know and I Know," and searing, soulful lead on the beautifully harmonized "Coming Home." Vocally, Delaney & Bonnie were never better than they come off on this live set, and the 11-piece band sounds tighter musically than a lot of quartets that were working at the time, whether they're playing extended blues or ripping through a medley of Little Richard songs.
Clapton Chronicles ignores Eric Clapton's 1983 Reprise debut, Money and Cigarettes (which sounded more like an RSO album, anyway), starting with the pair of Phil Collins-produced mid-'80s albums, Behind the Sun and August. Though these had a pop sheen, they were album rock holdovers. Clapton didn't get the balance between hard rock and commercial gloss right until 1989's Journeyman, whose featured songs – "Before You Accuse Me," "Bad Love," and "Pretending" – form the heart of this compilation. Journeyman was overshadowed by the phenomenal success of "Tears in Heaven" and 1992's Unplugged. Not only did Unplugged go platinum ten times, it established a new public image – classy, stylish, and substantial. That's the image that prevails on Clapton Chronicles. His triple-platinum blues album From the Cradle is written out of the picture, with songs from movie soundtracks taking its place.
The History of Eric Clapton is a compilation double LP, released in 1972 by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom, and Atco Records in the United States. It features Eric Clapton performing in various bands between 1964 and 1970, including The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos. The compilation is notable for helping Clapton's career when he was battling heroin addiction and making the song "Layla" famous. It is also notable for being perhaps the first compilation in rock music to collect music of a single rock musician that spans time, bands, music styles and record labels. The album cover picture was taken at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh while Clapton was playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on a Gibson Byrdland hollow-body guitar.
The only three-time Rock `n' Roll Hall Of Fame inductee (The Yardbirds, Cream & as a solo artist), Eric Clapton is one of the very few artists whose enormous popularity is equaled by the respect given him by critics and peers alike. And rightly so, as demonstrated by these two new collections. The single ICON focuses on Clapton's career from the landmark Derek & The Dominos recordings through the remarkable hits that established "Slowhand" as the important solo artist he continues to be. The double CD ICON expands upon that vision to include key tracks from Cream and Blind Faith, while digging further into his massively successful career from Derek & The Dominos onward.
Sizzling tracks from across his career: his performances on All Your Love John Mayall's Bluesbreakers; Rockin' Daddy Howlin' Wolf; Rollin' and Tumblin' Cream; Crossroads (live) Derek and the Dominos; Mean Old World Eric Clapton and Duane Allman and more!
20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Eric Clapton is a compilation album by the British rock musician Eric Clapton. It was released on 15 June 2004, by Polydor Records and is part of Universal's 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection series. The compilation album has eleven tracks that Clapton recorded in the 1970s both as a solo artist and with Derek and the Dominos. Glyn Johns produced the album in association with Tom Dowd. Although the release sold 1,366,610 copies in the United States, it has not been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.