There is as yet no thread discussing the Yardbirds

Don't forget Top Topham! Only joking..

Tim OTM re: Puzzles and Think about it. Not much to add to the debate that hasn't been said really - Beck and Page eras both fantastic. I'd say that Beck edges it for the magnificence of the BIG singles - 'Shapes..' and 'Heart Full Of Soul', although some of the blues workouts were a bit dull. I think the reason that the likes of the Yardbirds pretty much disappeared into the ether after the 60's was a combination of factors : a) no canonical album b) reputation of band itself overshadowed by the status of Page/Beck/Clapham c) uncharismatic Relf/Dreja/McCarty d)the big hits were pretty primitive sounding to fit into 70's radio playlists, so got forgotten about. The Stones, even though equally primitive sounding, were allowed in because they were the Stones.

Much of this applies to the Pretty Things too. Personally I rate them a bit higher than the Yardbirds, and 'Talkin About The Good Times'/'Walking Thru My Dreams' is THE BEST pop-psych single of the 60's from either side of the pond. 'Defecting Grey'/'Mr. Evasion' is nearly as good. The early stuff is totally punk and Midnight To Six Man a quite brilliant mod-pop development of that early snot. Great band.

Weird. I think Mr. Evasion > Defecting Grey > Talkin' > Walking but Happenings 10 Years Time Ago, Mr. You're A Better Man Than I, and other Yardbirds tunes trump them all.

I love the way Phil sneers that "day"

No, I was genuinely confused! I've never heard the Outsiders and I thought "But the Pretty Things invented it." was a comment on the Yardbirds.

From the Wikipedia Yardbirds page:

Unfortunately, the Beck-Page lineup recorded little else in the studio, and no live recordings (save a scratchy cover of the Velvet Underground's "Waiting for the Man") of the dual-lead guitar lineup have surfaced.

I'd be pretty interested in hearing that - is it readily available anywhere?

IIRC, it's on one of the "Afterhours" bootleg tapes.

Afterhours: legendary Velvet Underground bootleg tape series.

This is a pretty horrible recording, but cool to hear nonetheless ...

Now that just kills. It also should be said that McCarty is pretty underrated drummer. Great no-frills stuff.

Thanks for the info and thanks for posting the song. Cool stuff! Makes them sound like the MC5.

I love the Yardbirds but when they crap out they really go all out. "Pafff...BUM that's a sound called LUUUV!"

damn that velvets cover rocks

i think there's some story about the Velvets and the Yardbirds playing on the same bill ... Jeff Beck carrying a gun around or something ...

Are we sure that's really the Yardbirds? This seems too good to be true.

Definitely sounds like the Yardbirds right at the end of the song, wouldn't have known otherwise.

Did a search and turned up this bootleg:

(Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 31/05/68)

1. The Train Kept A Rollin'
2. Mr. You're A Better Man Than I
3. Heart Full Of Soul
4. Dazed And Confused
5. Shapes Of Things
6. I'm A Man
7. Smokestack Lightning
8. Beck's Bolero
9. I'm Waiting For The Man
-Bye Bye Bird
-Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
-Drinking Muddy Water
-New York City Blues
10. I Wish You Would
11. Hey Gyp

The Yardbirds Featuring Jimmy Page Live At The Shrine - Another show featuring Jimmy Page with The Yardbirds. This show, a bit more complete has an over exuberant taper in spots however, the sound quality get's pretty good in places. Another nice document of Jimmy Page

yeah, dunno if these links will still work, but that show is over here: http://musictravellerstwo.blogspot.com/2008/12/yardbirds-with-jimmy-page.html

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kTObUFWzaKA/ST_5z5hQo4I/AAAAAAAABs4/w5fcygnxfsc/s1600-h/Fillmore+Poster.jpg

^ I'm liking the look of that gig.

Oops, no picture. The one with Cecil Taylor and It's A Beautiful Day anyhow.

Bumping this for Tom D. The idea of that Velvets is still amazing me. Know anything about it?

oops, should read 'that Velvets cover'

They might have played with them!

Also, Page something of an aficionado of US underground music, yes?

Yeah, I guess he was. Wasn't he a big Spirit fan or something?

And Kaleidoscope, and Buffalo Springfield et al

Not to go all off-topic, but: "Psycho Daisies"!

Kinda like that engineer album. Not too keen on the early blues stuff.

Yeah, Roger the Engineer is great. And Psycho Daisies too! B-side of Happenings Ten Years Time Ago, what an amazing single.

Not a big fan of the Yardbirds, beyond the famous songs

Somewhere I have an old Rolling Stone wherein it says, in the Random Notes section, that The Yardbirds changed their name to Led Zepplin, which in hindsight, is a pretty terrible name for a band.

The hook that follows the chorus of "Heart Full of Soul" always (still) gets me.

Full circle for this thread: the VU book Uptight says the Velvets were originally slated to be the band in Blow-Up, but it went to the Yardbirds instead.

Anyhow, Yardbirds are classic. Clapton never topped his work with them, by my reckoning.

always thought the riff @ 2:35 of this stooges track

sounded like happenings ten years time ago

made me a edit recently. loop madness.
yardbirds-train kepta rollin (ettiem kepta editin)

Eman, Iggy was a big Yardbirds fan, so you are probably onto something.
In some interview he talks about listening to "Heart Full of Soul" and thought to himself "Well, what's my heart full of?" (Napalm, obv)

I guess I mean he IS a big YB fan.
I love their psych shit, some of the early "rave up" stuff is great, too.
Especially "Here Tis"

also "i'm not talking" and "i got a right"

For that matter, the MC5 version of I'm A Man on '66 Breakout owes more to the Yardbirds than to Bo Diddley.

Woah! Never saw the Stooges link before!

The archetypal Freakbeat band. I really need to upgrade from my crappy beat-up Vinyl greatest hits.

Sundazed dropped the news on Facebook today that they'll be putting out the Little Games lp in mono on cd & vinyl in December. Only two bonus tracks tho: "Puzzles" & "I Remember The Night".