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The
Yardbirds were an English rock band active in the 60s, known for having
in their members at various times three of the most influential British
guitarists of the era (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page).
1965 and 1966 were the years The Yardbirds saw their biggest commercial successes, with a series of five Top 10 UK hit singles - "For Your Love", "Heart Full Of Soul", "Evil Hearted You", "Shapes Of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down". With the exception of "For Your Love", all these singles featured lead guitarist Jeff Beck, who had replaced Eric Clapton in 1965. The last of these, "Over Under Sideways Down", was the most psychedelic sounding song they had put out to date, and when their next album came out two months later (and featuring the single) it followed in this direction.
Originally titled simply Yardbirds in the UK, it was retitled Over Under Sideways Down in the US and Europe, but has since become known as Roger The Engineer due to its album cover, featuring a strange depiction of the record's audio engineer drawn by bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. It featured an experimental blend of blues, rock and psychedelic pop, highlighted throughout by Beck's innovative guitar playing. The album was a success, getting to #20 on the UK chart. However shortly after its release Samwell-Smith left the band to work as a producer. Rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja agreed to move to bass, but until he was experienced enough on the instrument session musician Jimmy Page was brought in to help. Once Dreja was on bass, for a short time the band featured both Beck and Page on dual lead guitars, though it only resulted in one single, the heavy psychedelic number "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" , before Beck too left the band (he was actually fired, and went on to form The Jeff Beck Group), leaving Page as their sole guitarist.
For Your Love (1965) <|> Little Games (1967)
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The Yardbirds were an English rock band active in the 60s, known for having in their members at various times three of the most influential British guitarists of the era (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page).
With Eric Clapton having left the band due to what he saw as a radical move away from their blues roots, Jeff Beck had been brought in as lead guitarist for The Yardbirds in 1965, and he appeared on three songs from the US-only album For Your Love. Clapton was right, the band were moving away from the blues, but this paved the way for a series of fantastic pop singles and commercial success. The first was "Heart Full Of Soul", released in mid 1965, and the first to feature Beck. With its eastern-sounding guitar riff, it was a dark, exotic number, and made it to #2 in the UK (#9 in the US). This was followed by the similarly themed "Evil Hearted You", which was another UK hit at #3. Both songs were written by Graham Gouldman. In the US, an album called Having A Rave Up was released, with the two singles and their b-sides alongside live tracks which originally appeared on Five Live Yardbirds.
A third single, "Shapes Of Things", came out in 1966 and was another massive success (#3). They then released the album Yardbirds, which yielded another hit, "Over Under Sideways Down" (#10).
Later in 1966, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith left the band to work as a producer. Rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja was to switch to bass, but to fill in until he became proficient, session musician Jimmy Page agreed to help. Once Dreja started playing bass, Page shared lead guitar duties with Beck. Two songs resulted from the Beck-Page partnership, the first being the single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago". A daring and experimental number, it wasn't a hit like its predecessors, but was a fantastic psychedelic rock song (with Beck and Page on lead guitars, Dreja on rhythm and guest bassist John Paul Jones). The band also appeared in the movie Blow-Up, performing a heavy rendition of Tiny Bradshaw's "Train Kept A-Rollin'" which they re-titled "Stroll On" (with both Beck and Page). An earlier version (with the original title) had previously appeared on Having A Rave Up.
This compilation covers this fruitful period of the band's career, chronicling their move from blues to pop and psychedelia. It features four of the five singles ("Over Under Sideways Down" can be found on Yardbirds instead), with all their b-sides, plus "Stroll On" and a few other tracks. These include "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and a cover of "I'm A Man" from Having A Rave Up, and a cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" which was a single in the Netherlands and Germany.
By 1967 Beck had been fired (he went on to form The Jeff Beck Group), and Page took over as the band's sole guitarist, with Dreja on bass.
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The Yardbirds were an English rock band active in the 60s, known for having in their members at various times three of the most influential British guitarists of the era (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page).
The Yardbirds' third single proved to be an important milestone for them. "For Your Love", written by Graham Gouldman, became their first big hit - it reached #3 in the UK and #6 in the US. The song signalled a shift from their R&B roots towards pop music... a move that outraged lead guitarist Eric Clapton, who promptly left the band, despite their new found chart success. He was their star member, so how were they to replace him? They found their answer in Jeff Beck. First Clapton had reccomended Jimmy Page to take his place, but he had been reluctant to give up his lucrative studio work, so Page in turn reccomended Beck. Beck proved a brilliant guitarist perfectly able to fill Clapton's shoes, and at the same time his more experimental style suited their new change of direction well.
In America, For Your Love became the band's first studio album, capitalising on the single's success. It wasn't a proper album, but rather a compilation consisting of the first three singles and their b-sides with five other songs, and it wasn't actually released in the UK at all (though three of the extra tracks were put out as an EP, making only two of the songs US-only releases). It was taken from both Clapton-era and Beck-era recording sessions, and so both of them are featured on different tracks.
Despite its pieced-together nature, retrospectively it can actually be seen as one of their best albums, and definately contains some of their best recordings (in both blues and pop styles). In particular, the two pre-"For Your Love" singles and their b-sides show them at their best - "I Wish You Would" / "A Certain Girl" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" / "I Ain't Got You", and feature some of Clapton's best early solos.
Five Live Yardbirds (1964) <|> Yardbirds (1965)
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The Yardbirds were an English rock band active in the 60s, known for having in their members at various times three of the most influential British guitarists of the era (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page).
The Yardbirds were one of the original British Invasion bands - young white working class English boys playing American rhythm and blues, following in the wake of the Beatles. They had taken over residency at The Crawdaddy in London from The Rolling Stones, and then gone on to tour with American blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson II when he visited England, leading to them getting signed to Columbia Records. Their first album was a live one, recorded at London’s Marquee Club. It represents them at the pure blues stage of their career - highly energised and delightfully rough covers of songs by the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker, captured in a sweaty and tightly-packed club atmosphere. The band here consisted of Keith Relf (vocals/harmonica/maracas), Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Chris Dreja (rhythm guitar), Paul Samwell-Smith (bass) and Jim McCarty (drums). Clapton was considered the best blues guitarist in Britain at the time, though there actually seem to be more harmonica solos here than guitar ones. On one song "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" Relf does not sing, the vocals being handled by Clapton and Samwell-Smith together.
|> For Your Love (1965)
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