The Yardbirds

[KingLouieLouie]

Anyone else here fans of the Yardbirds? If so, what is your favorite era (Clapton, Beck, Page) of the group?

Personally..mine is '65-'66 with Jeff Beck since his "raga-style" rave-ups best suited the band..... He was especially blistering on "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things", "Over Under Sideways Down", and "I'm Not Talking".....

Also, when Beck and Page combined forces on both "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" and "Psycho Daises" (Page on bass) it was very amazing on how they "fed-off" of each other...Would have been intriguing if the Yardbirds had kept that line-up for an extended period of time......

A few years ago I came across a 3/30/68 concert featuring Page on lead..... What is amazing is that Page then was still "relatively unknown", but he defied logic by putting on such a solid clinic that was the catalyst in cementing his name in music lore......

Here's the concert in its entirety and a link to an old artcile that discusses the significance of this perfomance and the impact it had.....

http://www.led-zeppelin.org/multimedia/yardbirds.html

The Train Kept A-Rollin'

You're A Better Man Than I

I'm Confused

My Baby

Over Under Sideways Down

Drinking Muddy Wate

Shapes Of Things

White Summer

I'm A Man

The audio quality may be not the greatest, however, you could still sense how initially the crowd didn't have an idea on much of an innovative guitarist Page was to the end in which everyone was "lying at his wake"....Just listen to his scintillating solo on "Shapes of Things" along with how he was setting the foundation for Led Zeppelin by "I'm Confused" (which was later recorded as "Dazed and Confused" yes I know neither of those are the original version) and then "White Summer" exhibited some of the styling he incorparated more
exclusively on "Zeppelin III" and on their ensuing albums.....

You must be registered for see images

Yardbirds w/Page......

 

[O]

Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, all played with the Yardbirds.
What a history, what a legacy, what a band!!!

Excuse me if I have told this story before;
The first cncert I ever attended was headlined by the Yardbirds with Jeff Beck. I think it was 1967, their hit at the time was "Heart Full of Soul", I think I was in the seventh grade. I know I'm an old guy.
I was amazed. I had never heard sounds like that from a guitar or even imagined a guitar could be manipulated in that way. I was in awe.
I have to say that night had a profound effect on my life. In a weird sort of way, I won't go into detail because it is too convoluted, my career path was forned that night.

IMHO, Jeff Beck is the most influential guitar player in R&R history.
Yeah, you can bring up, Clapton, Page, Van Halen, Yngvie, Satrini, etc, etc. They all owe a nod to Jeff Beck.
Who was an influence on all of them including Jeff Beck?
Listen to Buddy Guy.

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, all played with the Yardbirds.
What a history, what a legacy, what a band!!!

Excuse me if I have told this story before;
The first cncert I ever attended was headlined by the Yardbirds with Jeff Beck. I think it was 1967, their hit at the time was "Heart Full of Soul", I think I was in the seventh grade. I know I'm an old guy.
I was amazed. I had never heard sounds like that from a guitar or even imagined a guitar could be manipulated in that way. I was in awe.
I have to say that night had a profound effect on my life. In a weird sort of way, I won't go into detail because it is too convoluted, my career path was forned that night.

IMHO, Jeff Beck is the most influential guitar player in R&R history.
Yeah, you can bring up, Clapton, Page, Van Halen, Yngvie, Satrini, etc, etc. They all owe a nod to Jeff Beck.
Who was an influence on all of them including Jeff Beck?
Listen to Buddy Guy.

Always feel welcomed to share your stories......I wish I was around during all of that...what other concerts did you attend during that era?

Yeah... Beck was definitely underrated since Clapton, Hendrix, Page, Townshend, etc got most of the attention/recognition in the early stages of his career...then of course "Satch", Vai, Vaughan, etc have pretty much overshadowed him during the latter stages.... Beck can still rock even in his 60s... ever check-out his past 2 recordings? It's amazing.....

If people havent... you must check-out 1968's "Truth" from when he teamed-up w/Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, and Mick Waller..... That in essence was the first "Heavy Metal" album ever recorded.... In fact.... there's a lot of comparisons between that and "Zeppelin I" since it appears Page took some of Beck's ideas as his own......

In regards to Page.... that concert contained in the 1st post was just pure brilliance..... I still can't over the middle-section of "I'm A Man" (which was the perfect climax) when Page took a bow to his guitar (probably one of the first times he attempted this on stage) and Relf improvised some rather interesting lyrics.......

The Yardbirds (as well as Beck) got overshadowed..which is just a shame since they were one of the most innovative bands to come out in the 60s....

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Lord... I think http://www.youtube.com is one of the most amazing sites ever...

Case in point.. .you must check-out this following Yarbirds performance on there:

http://youtube.com/w/Yardbirds-Live-Featuring-Jimmy-Page?v=FlCK3H__FUY&search=yardbirds

It was filmed in 1967 when Jimmy Page officially took over as their featured lead guitarist and Chris Dreja had converted over from rhythm to bass guitar...

The highlight was the stellar performance of "Dazed And Confused".... Of course Robert Plant later on was striking on vocals compared to Keith Relf, but this was when Page began to perfect his bow technique.....

One thing you'll notice is the hysterical antics of the French announcer.. they have him sitting in a chair jamming along ..especially to the lead guitar part in "Dazed and Confused".....He even resembles Chevy Chase!

You dont necessarily have to be a Yardbirds or a Jimmy Page fan to enjoy this.. but... wow.. its just brilliant as our Guinness friends exclaim......

 

[devilalum]

What about "For Your Love?"

 

[KingLouieLouie]

What about "For Your Love?"

For some reason why that song has never struck me as so much as the others Ive mentioned.... They were trying to sound so commercial on that track.. which is infact the main reason why Clapton decided to leave when he did.. they just were breaking too far away from their hardcore Blues roots then, but Jeff Beck really elevated them to another level when he combined his Eastern influence (Ragga style) guitar sound along with their Blues/Psychedelic offerings.....

Its interesting to consider... When Relf/Deja decided to depart and Page started to begin the "New Yardbirds" he originally wanted their original drummer to remain (Jim McCarty)... He was a decent drummer in his own right, however, we would have never heard of Jim Bonham... just imagine that... I certainly cant.... and of course there were those rumors of Jon Entwistle and Keith Moon both teaming-up with Page to form their own band..... That was definitely an intriguing period in music history......

 

[O]

Another good find Lou.
I really think, in fact I'm sure, that is Bonham playig on that video and it sure looks like John Paul Jones too,

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Another good find Lou.
I really think, in fact I'm sure, that is Bonham playig on that video and it sure looks like John Paul Jones too,

It's McCarthy and Dreja.. in fact.. you can hear the announcer include their names in the introduction... but regardless... it proves how vastly underrated McCarty was and that Deja did a good job replacing Samwell-Smith on bass on such short notice.....

 

[O]

On second listen, you're right.
The drum licks are pretty much identical to the Zeppelin version. I just gained some respect for McCarthy.

 

[KingLouieLouie]

On second listen, you're right.
The drum licks are pretty much identical to the Zeppelin version. I just gained some respect for McCarthy.

Yeah... I think McCarty's talent was constrained all throughout his Yardbirds career because they were mainly focused on remaining true to their Blues roots or of course putting greater emphasis on their stellar lead-guitarist...

I just came across an interesting read at this very subject:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/jimmypage.html

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]

The Yardbirds' live take on "Dazed and Confused" certainly outshines Led Zeppelin's studio and live versions. Jim McCarty's drumming is much more fluid than John Bonham's, propelling the song along at breakneck speed. Further, Keith Relf's frantic harmonica playing on the tune is not replicated by Robert Plant's absurd wailing. In the hands of the Yardbirds, the song is a psychedelic masterpiece, not the metal monstrosity that Led Zeppelin performed.

[/FONT]

IIRC...McCarty was the original choice to be Led Zeppelins drummer (other than those Moon rumors that once circulated), but he declined because I believe he wanted a break away from music or didnt want to remain in a band w/out Keith Relf (who both later on went onto form the band Renaissance......

Edit: I think the one Yardbirds song that really showcased McCarty at his best was "Over, Under, Sideways, Down".... He really maintain a steady muscular rhythm that helped punctuate Beck's frantic guitar playing..... Come to think of it... just listen to "Roger The Engineer" and his drumming stood out on several of the other tracks.... "Lost Woman" (the first track) immediately comes to mind.....

Here's "Lost Woman" for your listening pleasure:
http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2JHG4JQUS6WZK22SUX8A7UIF3N

​

 

[KingLouieLouie]

Here's a 3-part documentary I just came across of the Yardbirds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1dI08-Iv_k&search=yardbirds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuYaXqMPcuM&search=yardbirds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcYYcWstwfk&search=yardbirds

 

[Southpaw]

Rave Up with the Yardbirds was the first Rock album I ever bought.

I recently downloaded

Heart Full of Soul
The TRain Kept a Rollin'
For Your Love
Shape of Things