"Crossroads" - Cream or Robert Johnson's Original version?

Two great, and quite different versions of "Crossroads".... Though I'm sure that many more are familiar with the Cream cover.

"Crossrosd Blues" - Robert Johnson

"Crossroads" - Cream

 

I'd go with the original...

What about you?


I'd go with the original...

 

Original all the way.

 

Cream all the way. One of my alltime fave Clapton/Cream songs. Everything sounds great on the track. The guitar, the bass, the drums, the vocals. The perfect live track. Essential.

 

Ultimatley Robert Johnson the original creator for the sense of history of the time period + his arrangement of his song. Not to keen on EC vocals, his lead guitar playing is something else, beautifully played on the Cream recording. To think Rolling Stone once said all his licks were cliches...I think they were wrong about his fiery spirited blues guitar playing ....this track is evidence of that.

 

Cream please..

 

Original. RJ's guitar playing, dare I say it, is better than EC's, and RJ's voice has much more emotion that EC's. Wasn't it Keith Richards who thought that there were 2 guitar players on RJ's recordings -- and he was dumbstruck when he learned RJ was doing it all himself on one guitar?

 

and thats not taking anything away from RJ's original..(But I really struggle to listen to, and enjoy, these early versions, and they are in my collection.) However, I don't think Clapton every played a better solo than the live version

 

RJ original yes Creams is propably better known but the guitar playing on teh original so subtle.

 

!. Recording techniques
2. danceability Johnsons is sweet but ya caint dance to it(however it is good drinking music)

I go to Cream first

 

Cream is great. If just for Clapton solo.

But I voted for the original. Just no comparison.

 

RJ's version by a country mile on Rt. 61.

Cream's version was edited together. I'd love to hear the full version but I don't think it exists.

 

Original, but I do like the remake.

 

I think this is a myth. I believe Steve himself pointed this out in a thread a few months ago.

Not 100% sure though. I say this because I always though it was an edited version too and this was discussed. I'll see if I can find the thread.

 

Robert Johnson gets my vote. I love the eeriness of the vocals, I can almost feel the deal going down.

...the stuff of legends.

 

I prefer the live version I heard Rush do a few years ago. I'm sure I'm the only one here with that opinion.

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd did a great live version of this on "One More For The Road" Deluxe Edition.

 

Absurd:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=161655

 

sure, and i bet there are those who would denigrate howlin' wolf and muddy waters for merely imitating the older "real" blues musicians with electric instruments and bigger groups. doesn't make the actual music itself any less powerful. would the poll be any less absurd if we set up howlin' wolf's "spoonful" against charley patton's?

if you're a strict blues purist, then technically the jug stompers' "minglewood blues" should be much better than robert johnson's "if i had possession over judgment day" and absolutely destructive of "rollin' and tumblin'."

 

Cream - Crossroads

The original is solid, but never one of my favorite RJ recordings. And this is one of those rare times where a bluesy remake really works well.

 

Am I the only one who doesn't like the Clapton solo on "Crossroads"? This version of the song has never done anything for me. Robert Johnson's version (by default) is my pick.

 

These two choices really seperates the purists from the rock fans for the most part. They are so radically different I can see how one would have to pick one or the other depending on your taste.

I'll be contrary and pick Ry Cooder's version from the OST of Crossroads. I love the rhythm of that song. It totally changes it from the Cream version everyone grew up on and the vocals are sublime. It may not be Ry's best solo but the arrangement of the song is what I like the most.

 

The Robert Johnson original...

 

I think that is the best thing Cream ever did, and I never get tired of hearing it (unlike other Cream tracks).