The Cavern
Rock & Words
THE YARDBIRDS
"To thrill you with delight,
I'd bring you diamonds bright
Double takes I will excite,
to make you dream of me at night"
“C”
Main Decade: 60's
Main Eras:
Rock & Roll II, Early Sixties (1960-1966)
Psychedelia (1966-1969)
Key Members:
Keith Relf, Vocals and Harmonica
Chris Dreja, Rhythm Guitar
Paul Samwell-Smith, Bass
Jim McCarty, Drums
Eric Clapton, Lead Guitar 1963-1965
Jeff Beck, Lead Guitar 1965-1966
Jimmy Page, Lead Guitar 1967-1968
Key Songs:
For Your Love, Heart Full of Soul, Shapes of Things, Over Under Sideways Down, Happenings 10 Years Time Ago, Somekestack Lightning, Too Much Monkey Business, Train Kept-A-Rollin’, Mr. You're A Better Man Than I, Stroll On, Still I’m Sad, I’m Not Talking, Mr. You're A Better Man Than I, Evil Hearted You, Respectable, I Wish Youw Would, I'm A Man, Lost Woman, The Nazz Are Blue, He's Always There, A Certain Girl, Rock My Mind, White Summer.
The Yardbirds are a band everyone has heard of, but very few have actually heard live. You've probably heard wonderful things about this band: that they have great R&B, that they were fantastic live, that they were the greatest breeding ground for Guitar Heroes that ever existed, with Clapton, Beck, and Page, and that their breakup paved the way for three enormous bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Renaissance. The truth is, the fact that such guitarists passed through their lineup is enough to consider them a great and essential band in the history of Rock. And that was also my experience. I knew all this, but I had only heard a handful of the band's songs. And if that's you, I don't think it's your fault: their discography is a mess, and they only have a couple of studio LPs: Roger The Engineer and Little Games. What's more, these two albums and the live material that helped forge their legend are incredibly difficult to find, both in traditional record stores and online. But if you like blues, or better yet, white blues, or even better, British R&B, you're in the right place, because these guys are a real treat. And even if you don't, it's worth it just for the sheer curiosity of hearing what Slowhand was doing before he formed Cream.
The band formed in 1962-1963 as the Metropolitan Blues Quartet near Kingston Art School and served as the backing band for harmonica player Cyril Davies (with whom they also recorded a very good live album). Clapton replaced guitarist Tony "Top" Topham in October 1963, and began incorporating Delta Blues music from artists like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Elmore James. By this time, Keith Relf had already learned from Cyril Davies and had become a skilled harmonica player, far more gifted on the instrument than as the band's vocalist. As a result, the Yardbirds began to make a name for themselves, first in underground traditional jazz and R&B circles, and later in renowned clubs like the Crawdaddy, where they filled in for the Rolling Stones and where impresario Giorgio Gomelsky recognized the group's potential. Gomelsky had discovered the Stones but let the opportunity to become their manager slip away (or rather, Andrew Loog Oldham stole the Stones from him), so he wasn't about to let another golden opportunity pass him by and became the manager and producer of the Yardbirds.
Initially, there was nothing remarkable about this band except that it featured the best of the young British guitarists, Eric Clapton, and a very good harmonica player. They were a decent, fluid, and professional R&B group, with enough skill to drive their audience wild, but never quite reaching the heights of other bands like the Rolling Stones or the Animals. Compared to these "troglodytes," the Yardbirds sounded harmless, clean, polished, and well-mannered. They were the good, pretty side of R&B. It was Clapton, with his tremendous skill, who made them famous, based on his great technique, which neither Richards in the Stones nor Alan Price on keyboards in the Animals could ever match. In a way, they became the first British band to record and release a live album, and also the first band to have a live album as their debut.
Things changed radically when Clapton resigned as lead guitarist after becoming disillusioned with the more commercial sound of singles like "For Your Love," and Jeff Beck took his place. During 1965 and part of 1966, Beck pushed the Yardbirds to unimaginable limits, turning his guitar into a ruthless experimental machine, and virtually every single brought something new. Hard rock with "Train Kept-A-Rollin'," psychedelia with "Shapes of Things," or hints of art rock with "Still I'm Sad"—and suddenly the band found itself with thousands upon thousands of fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Garage-rock bands idolized them, psychedelic rock bands revered them, rhythm and blues bands respected them, and everyone seemed happy with the Yardbirds except the Yardbirds themselves. Even so, during the Beck era, Jeff was arguably the greatest guitarist on the face of the earth, and it wasn't until Clapton created the tremendous machine called Cream and the left-handed Hendrix formed his Experience that the torch was passed. Internal problems began to fracture the band. Jeff Beck jumped ship, and Jimmy Page, who had joined on bass, took over lead guitar, while Chris Dreja, who had been on rhythm guitar, switched to bass, leaving the band as a quartet. Page would still manage to bring some life back to the Yardbirds name, but the original members were increasingly less interested in continuing the project. Somehow Jimmy ended up appropriating the name and when he started looking for elements for his new band, Led Zeppelin, it was originally going to be called “The New Yardbirds”.
Even with all these legendary guitarists, the Yardbirds' discography is intricate and chaotic. Numerous live albums, unused studio takes, unfinished songs, alternate versions, demos, weak, uncharming, and catchy tracks, and barely a dozen truly immortal classics that have served to cement their status. Despite this, we cannot deny the band's weight in history, as it was a phenomenon that gave rise to three of rock's greatest guitarists: Clapton, Beck, and Page. During their time with the band, they revolutionized guitar playing by experimenting with feedback, fuzz, distortion, wah-wah, violin bowing, and incendiary guitar solos. Furthermore, it spawned three other great bands: Cream, the Jeff Beck Group, and Led Zeppelin, as well as Rainassance, the latter an art-rock project by Keith Relf and Jim McCarty, much less well-known than the other groups.
By Corvan
Sep/10/2009
