The Yardbirds Making Tracks

“In the whole of pop, he’s the only man I can think of that has unnatural powers, who really knows what will hit and what won’t. He hardly misses. Under pressure, he wins out every time.” Nick Cohn

The release of the 4-CD box set CROSSROADS is the perfect package to commemorate Eric Clapton's first 25 years of making music. Starting out as a blues purist with the like-minded Yardbirds, Clapton left after the band moved in a decidedly more pop direction. He began an apprenticeship under John Mayall. Encouraged to indulge in his love for the songs of Freddie King ("Hideaway") and Robert Johnson ("Ramblin' On My Mind") among others, Clapton metamorphosed into a guitar god after forming Cream with two of Mayall's sidemen, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

Slade may have never truly caught on with American audiences (often narrow-mindedly deemed "too British-sounding"), but the group became a sensation in their homeland with their anthemic brand of glam rock in the early '70s, as they scored a staggering 11 Top Five hits in a four-year span from 1971 to 1974 (five of which topped the charts)…

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.

Wig Out! Freak Out!, the latest compilation from Two-Piers, dives into the world of Freakbeat, Psych and Mod from 1964-1969. Pulling the cream of tracks from the UK and United States Freakbeat and Garage scenes of the time. Featuring tracks from The Sonics, The Kinks, The Action, Chocolate Watch Band, The Haunted, The Standells, Paul Revere and The Raiders, The Shadows of Knight, The Yardbirds, The Seeds and more Wig Out! Freak Out! is packed full of Freakbeat and Mod classics as well as rare sought after nuggets.