Blind Faith

Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English singer and musician whose genres include progressive rock, blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, pop rock, and jazz. Though primarily a vocalist and keyboardist, Winwood also plays the Hammond organ, bass guitar, drums, acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, violin, and other strings.

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.

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.