Let Us Now Praise The Yardbirds

[dbt]

(L-R)Chris Dreja, Keith Relf, Jim McCarty, Jeff Beck, Paul Samwell-Smith.

"Ho-hum," thought I, upon first hearing "For Your Love." Certainly nothing special there. Boy, was I about to be proved WRONG!

Where in hell did Jeff Beck get that guitar tone on "Heart Full of Soul?!?!?!" First time I head that song on the radio, it stood up the hairs on the back of my teenage neck. Even though albums were like $3.98 (a buck more if you wanted stereo), that was a LOAD of money at the time. Nevertheless, I HAD to have me some Yardbirds, so I got "Having A Rave-Up."

(HERESY ALERT: The live side, featuring Eric Clapton, cannot hold a candle to the side featuring Jeff Beck. In other words, Clapton ain't God, BECK is!)

"I'm A Man," "Evil Hearted You," "Still I'm Sad," "Over, Under, Sideways, Down," "Shapes Of Things," "Little Games." They all rocked my planet as completely as Jefferson Airplane would do a couple of years later.

Then, there was that brief period where Beck and one Jimmy Page shared lead guitar duties. "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" was brilliant!

I can't even be mad at my little sister for making off with my ENTIRE Yardbirds collection all those years ago. There were worse things that she could have been into!

:loveya:
dbt

[madrchsod]

1. yardbirds

"roger the engineer" released in 1966. mono vinyl.
"sonny boy williamson&the yardbirds" the craw-daddy club,london, live performance. mercury records... stereo -sr 61071...... mono-mg-21071. recorded 1963

[flamingyouth]

5. That is one of my all-time favorite records

Roger the Engineer in mono. Brilliant. I am a huge fan of theirs. I like pretty much everything, though I'm not a big fan of stuff like "Ha Ha Said the Clown" on Little Games. ;-)

[Xandor]

2. Hear, hear!

Yep -- far, far ahead of their time. They helped lay the foundation for the use of electronics and instrumental virtuosity in pop music. "Shapes of Things" was my favorite -- the instrumental break, the change of tempo and feedback at the end... whew!

dbt: I too "graduated" to the Airplane, who became The Most Important Group to me for years. Hmmm... maybe the Yardbirds sonic imprint rearranged our musical synapses the same way, or something.

[Norbert]

3. The Yardbirds were a cradle of guitar players

Clapton, Beck and Page. Much of Led Zepplin was part of the Yardbirds near the end of their run if I'm not mistaken.

Actually I heard that Clapton was not a very good guitar player in his stint with the Yardbirds. And then came Cream and it all changed.

My favorite was "Shapes of Things." At the time that song came out I thought it was the greatest psychodelic song ever. I think it still holds up well today.

[retread]

6. Clapton resurfaced with John Mayall after Yardbirds and

before Cream. My favorite Clapton stuff is from that album.

[acmavm]

4. Heart Full of Soul, loved, loved, loved it. I loved the Yardbirds. I don't

think Clapton came into his own until cream, Jeff Beck was the moving force of this band. What I never understood is why Clapton felt that this band wasn't up to his standards. Don't misunderstand me, I LOVE Clapton, but for the times, and for the music they put out, the Yardbirds we incredible. I saw a lot of similarities in what Cream did and what the Yardbirds had been doing.

Whatever, I think my point is that the Yardbirds were one of the moving forces in the British R&B movement.