Rypro 525

I was thinking of getting these
"The Cream of Clapton" which has most of his songs with his other bands
Clapton Chronicles: Best of 1981-1999 which has his solo stuff
and
unplugged since the Clapton chonicles doesn't have the live stuff, and I don't have enough room in my room for the Crossroads box.

monkey

I'd say those are good choices. If you like those, I'd really look into some of the studio albums, though. The Cream albums, "Layla," and his solo stuff..."461 Ocean Boulevard, Slowhand, Backless, Journeyman, Pilgrim." I think his last album was subpar, and he seems to be losing the ambition to write albums. It's hard to go wrong with EC, though.

Brain Stew

I think it is very easy to go wrong with Eric.

Compare Layla to Change the World. Wow, what an embarassment. He seems to be losing it by the minute, and I think it all started with the unplugged cover of Tears in Heaven.

mwj

I highly recommend Derek and the Dominos "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs." Clapton is amazing and Duane Allman is not far behind.

monkey

Times change. 1970 and 1996? I think Change the World is a great song, but he's gotten older.

borisdisco

I recommend these four to start, but there are plenty more gems in the Clapton catalog, such as "From The Cradle."

Great record featuring Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech.


Power Trio Clapton, Baker and Jack Bruce



Beautiful Clapton Album



This live album "24 Nights was released shortly before "Unplugged" and then was quickly forgotten. I prefer it over "Unplugged."

Josh H

The Cream of Clapton is an excellent best of collection. It hardly has all his great songs as he has so many, but it is an excellent disc to star with.

I personally have:

Cream of Clapton
Unplugged
From the Cradle
Reptile
Change the World single

There are some more I plan on picking up "24 Nights" being one of them.

Brain Stew

All I am saying is that his work has gotten worse and worse. He did some great stuff, but most of the new stuff is pretty weak.

monkey

Depends on your taste. He's definitely settled more into an adult contemporary mode over the years.

borisdisco

His concerts reflect the adult contemporary mode. One only needs to watch "One More Car, One More Rider" to see the direction Clapton has gone. I like the "new" Clapton but prefer the "old" Clapton.

conscience

Rypro - your choices are good. Go with them.

Brain Stew - WTF? Yes Layla is a classic, but Change the World is an excellent song. And the unplugged version of Tears in Heaven will have a room in tears by the end of the song.

Brain Stew

Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I should like him even more now that he doesn't rock . Gimme a break. Either try to keep rocking or quit.

You can call me a jerk for acting like this, but the Eric Clapton that I like worked his guitar. He didn't create trite ballads.

monkey

Simma down.

borisdisco

Unfortunately I don't think EC is going back to the "Crossroads."

Brain Stew

Unfortunately, indeed .

conscience

So you just abandon an artist or band if they go in a different direction of music? Clapton can still rock. He just turns it towards the blues type of music now which a lot of his older "rockier" music had suggestions of. And I hope he never quits and he keeps bringing us great music.

And another thing, his ballads are some of the most well known songs of all time. Somebody must like him now.

You can call me a jerk for acting like this, but the Eric Clapton that I like still rocks today. He did create great ballads that mix well with his blues/rock type sound.

I am glad he changed his stance. Change is good. Staying the same is boring.

nazz

Compare Helter Skelter to Yesterday or Revolution to In My Life.

Being a great rocker doesn't preclude writing meaningful ballads.
Actually, the greatest talents can do both but unfortunately not all fans have the ability to appreciate both.

BTW...what also began with Tears in Heaven was EC learning to continue after the death of his child. Tears in Heaven is far from
a trite ballad. It's a man's music reflecting the tragedy that life has dealt him and doing it with class.

Rypro 525

question, is the version of "crossroads" on the "cream of clapton" the studio version or the live version?

benedict

A good starting point in most threads is to look at the original title - assuming, of course, that some crazy mod hasn't gone and changed it!

If answering Rypro 525's original question is too much like hard work, maybe someone should start a separate thread to discuss Clapton's perceived ups and downs, where he went "wrong" etc.? Or maybe I should split-off the OT posts with a view to avoiding ill-feeling developing over differences in opinion....

* * *

FWIW I used to have The Cream of Clapton. I later arrived at the view that it was the work with Cream that I really liked so I went and bought the Very Best of Cream already mentioned and pictured above.

Rypro 525

Also, whats the quality of the crossroads box? since that one seems to have all of his hits, but a tad concerned since its from 1990. not that i like my songs sounding over compressed, but they need to be loud enough with decent bass.

Brain Stew

I'm sorry I threw this thread so far off-topic. But, my posts were from July. I have since calmed down over the matter.

johnbook

Since i am a fan of eric's solo stuff i would highly recommend "clapton chronicles: Best of 1981 - 1999" also i recommend picking up these two studio albums, "Behind The Sun" and "Journeyman"...

deadlax

i LOVE clapton, predominantly his 70s solo work. If I had to pick must own albums they would be...

1) Blind Faith (not solo, i know)
2) Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and other Assorted Love Songs (also not solo)
3) Eric Clapton - Slow Hand
4) Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard

Each one of these albums is great, from beginning to end.

The live album I would pick would be one of these:
5) Eric Clapton - E.C. was here
6) Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert
I am not into Cream, or his 80's-90s career.

Rypro 525

got "cream of clapton" to start. my only problem is that this album needs a remastering really bad. everything is too low.

oh and i guess with the release "me and mr johnson" clapton did go back to the crossroads.
i might get the 2 disc cream live/studio album next (has white room and crossroads)

conscience

To take the thread off topic a bit, I saw him in concert a few months ago and he was great.

I grooved, I danced, I cried, I jammed along with my air guitar, I inhaled the mary jane that was being passed around in front of me, I had an all around good time

Well worth the price of the ticket.

I loved Clapton before, but the concert made me admire him even more. I have recently bought the Crossroads Set (can't believe I haven't picked that up already) and I recommend it.