The popularity of the compact disc has prompted a rush to reissue material that appeals to the baby-boom rock fans who are the medium`s primary pop consumers. For the record industry, the recycling of older material is akin to found money, in that the original production cost has long ago been amortized, and the remastering of an analog tape for a single compact disc costs a scant $5,000.
”Crossroads,” an exhaustive compilation (five LPs or cassettes, four CDs) chronicling the career of Eric Clapton, keynotes a related trend toward lavish reissues that cover the giants of rock and roll.
The package also shows how, in the process of assembling such retrospectives, the astute programmer can shed revealing light on an artist`s creative development. In the case of Clapton, who for a quarter-century has been considered the pre-eminent blues-rock guitarist, the set`s title says it all.
”Crossroads” is a Robert Johnson blues song of great myth and mystery. It was at the crossroads, one blues legend goes, that Johnson traded his soul to the devil for the power to write songs that would make angels cry. Clapton is a virtuoso guitarist (and average singer) forever caught at a fork that separates the purity of the blues and the siren call of rock-star adulation. For him, the crossroads were a spot where there was always a 50-50 chance that he would choose the wrong path.
Clapton performs ”Crossroads” twice in the set. The first rendition, culled from Cream`s 1968 concert LP ”Wheels of Fire,” is a scorching performance that found Clapton vesting his guitar with full-throttle rock power. The second version, drawn from a 1970 concert by Derek and the Dominos, is a more leisurely jam sparked by nimble guitar leads that don`t roar so much as cry. Considered together, the two takes illustrate the artistic conflicts that have forever framed Clapton`s music.
A bit of history (duly recounted in a booklet that accompanies the release) is required to understand the scope of ”Crossroads.” Clapton first surfaced as the lead guitarist of the Yardbirds, an influential British group that began as blues hounds but evolved into a rockier ensemble defined by its lethal use of the guitar.
In what would become a recurring scenario, Clapton left the group upon the release of its first significant pop success, ”For Your Love.” After Clapton`s departure to pursue a purer form of the blues, the Yardbirds`
subsequent guitarists, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, solidified the group`s reputation for the inventive use of the lead guitar.
Already a hero in London, where for a time a favorite graffito was
”Clapton is God,” the guitarist joined John Mayall`s Bluesbreakers to record a hard-boiled album, ”Bluesbreakers” with Eric Clapton, that was the first to truly bear his riveting instrumental stamp. ”Crossroads” includes a trio of that album`s high points-the Otis Rush and Willie Dixon composition
”All Your Love,” framed here by Clapton`s reverberating lead riffs; a note-perfect rendition of Freddie King`s instrumental ”Hideaway,” and Clapton`s first recorded vocal, a relaxed reading of Robert Johnson`s
”Ramblin` On My Mind.” (The set also includes a live Mayall track, ”Have You Ever Loved a Woman,” that Clapton would reprise on 1970`s ”Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.”)
Clapton became an international star with his next group, Cream, an instrumental trio that included Jack Bruce on bass and Ginger Baker on drums. In Cream, Clapton took a more adventurous approach to blues-based rock guitar, drenching the identifying riff of ”Sunshine of Your Love” in fuzz-tone and wielding the wah-wah pedal on songs like ”Tales of Brave Ulysses” and
”White Room” with an expertise topped only by Jimi Hendrix.
Cream`s dubious contribution to rock was its in-concert habit of stretching a blueslike ”Spoonful” into a 20-minute jam session. (The
”Spoonful” included on ”Crossroads” is a briefer studio rendition.) The group`s extended jams set a blues-rock standard that wouldn`t be matched until the Allman Brothers Band, but it also inspired scores of lesser groups to crank up their amplifiers, stretch out and get boring.
After Cream, Clapton could no longer pretend to be a pure bluesman. When he formed Blind Faith with Baker, singer-keyboardist Steve Winwood and bassist Rick Grech, they were quickly touted as rock`s first (but certainly not last) supergroup. For all the hype and hoopla, Blind Faith barely finished one album. (”Crossroads” includes Winwood`s lovely ”Can`t Find My Way Home,”
Clapton`s ”Presence of the Lord,” best remembered for its galvanizing wah-wah guitar solo, and an unreleased blues song called ”Sleeping in the Ground.”)
Clapton then tried to give the spotlight the flip as a sideman for Delaney and Bonnie, and when Delaney fired the core of the group, Clapton found himself with a new band: Derek and the Dominos.
The phony name-Derek in lieu of Eric-reflects Clapton`s ambivalence towards his own celebrity. The group recorded its debut double-album,
”Layla,” with the invaluable help of an emerging American guitar hero, Duane Allman. Recorded at a time when Clapton was both drifting into a heroin addiction and falling in love with his friend George Harrison`s wife,
”Layla” is the work of a rock bluesman burning in his own personal hell.
Born of trouble, Derek and the Dominos died after one American tour and an aborted stab at recording a second album that was never completed (five tracks of which are included here). These final sessions, which come just after the halfway point of ”Crossroads,” show for the first time how Clapton`s last tenure as a rock hero found him simultaneously discovering a new purity in his blues.
Few disagree that Clapton`s position in rock history is rooted in his work up to and including ”Layla.” After a few years of early-`70s seclusion, Clapton returned without the hell-hound of heroin and approached his work with more heart than heat. The second half of ”Crossroads” culls the cream from a bountious crop of solo releases and includes such highlights as a live version of his No. 1 hit version of Bob Marley`s ”I Shot the Sheriff,” a cover of J.J. Cale`s ”Cocaine” that essentially defines Clapton`s crunchy latter-day rhythm style and a stunning live take of the Otis Rush blues ”Double Trouble.”
This 73-song Clapton package necessarily serves two masters. For young fans, it offers a comprehensive ”greatest hits” look at a career that spans the era of modern rock. To attract the already devoted, the package also includes dozens of unreleased tracks spanning a quarter-century.
Cynically speaking, most ”unreleased tracks” have earned their obscurity. To his credit, Crossroad`s producer Bill Levenson has made astute choices from the songs left off various albums, plus including the tracks from Derek and the Dominos` unfinished second studio album.
”Crossroads” is a formidable investment, and some might prefer to purchase complete discs such as ”Bluesbreakers,” Cream`s ”Disraeli Gears” and Derek and the Dominos` ”Layla.” Still, the package offers a unique perspective on the steep climb and languorous life of Clapton`s career.
