Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: 1964-1966

Yardbirds

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 29, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 1986
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino Records
• ASIN: B001BAWKJC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,746 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
While the Yardbirds graduated three of the greatest guitarists in rock history--Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page--during their 1963-68 existence, the group's best work came during Beck's '65-'66 tenure, which produced nearly all their hit singles and virtually everything found here. (Notable exception: their debut hit, "For Your Love," which Clapton was barely audible on anyway.) From the cat scratch fever of "I'm A Man" to the guitar-as-weapon solo in "Mister, You're a Better Man Than I," Beck rewrote the lead guitar textbook, and on one of the few songs recorded when he and Page were in the band together--"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"--they foreshadowed the sound of '70s rock. --Billy Altman

Product Description
Though short-lived, The Yardbirds legend and influence loom large, and
rightfully so- the band was the starting point for three ultimate British guitar
heroes: Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. Clapton departed the
group first (to join John Mayall' s Bluesbreakers), while Beck later went on to
form the Jeff Beck Group and Page would regroup with The New
Yardbirds an outfit soon renamed Led
Zeppelin. As The Yardbirds, though, they
delivered a series of groundbreaking LPs and
scorching blues-rock singles that are classic
cornerstones of rock n roll. This powerful
compilation features eighteen of their most
important early tracks, including the hits
For Your Love, Heart Full Of Soul,
The Train Kept A-Rollin , I' m A Man, and
other guitar-intense tours de force.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guitar Trilogy: Clapton-Beck-Page, February 22, 2000

By	Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: "The Yardbirds - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: 1964-1966" (Audio CD)

This collection kicks of with "For Your Love," the Yardbirds' highest charting U.S. single (No. 6) and the song that led to the resignation of lead guitarist Eric Clapton. Despite Clapton's early exit from the band (March 1965), he appears on nine of the eighteen tracks. He especially shines on the final three tracks taken from Five Live Yardbirds. Listen especially to Clapton's guitar and Keith Relf's harmonica interplay on the nearly six-minute version of Smokestack Lightning!

Clapton's replacement wasn't too shabby either. Listen to Jeff Beck on their rave-up of Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man" where Beck and Relf do a guitar and harmonica call-and-response.

For a time the Yarbirds boasted the twin-guitar attack of Beck and Jimmy Page (although Page is not featured on this collection). All told, this is amazing music. My only complaint is that it doesn't include "Over, Under, Sideways, Down"--one of only six singles the band had in the U.S. [For that matter, this set also omits the Yardbirds' last top 40 hit, "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago." To get these two songs, buy the equally amazing Yardbirds' album Roger the Engineer.] ESSENTIAL

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, April 25, 2008

By	El Lagarto (Ambler, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: "The Yardbirds - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: 1964-1966" (Audio CD)

In 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni released a highly controversial movie called Blow Up. Set in London, the film starred David Hemmings, Sarah Miles, and a young, and exquisitely beautiful, Vanessa Redgrave. Thomas, (Hemmings), lives a fast, ultra-hip existence and at one point finds himself in a wild, psychedelic nightclub. It's loud, it's cookin', and on the bandstand Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and the other birds are rippin' up a version of The Train Kept A Rollin' which had been slightly altered for copyright reasons. The live energy is absolutely explosive; high voltage, raw electric blues like that was simply unknown back then.

This CD chronicles the most important years in the short, but sparkling, career of a hugely exciting and influential band. When you consider that this music was recorded over 40 years ago it's easy to understand that, at the time, it was as revolutionary as the arrival of Hendrix. More remarkable still, the music sounds as great today as when it was released, full of edge, authority, and bite. Sure, there are clunkers that probably sounded dated even when they were released, You're A Better Man Than I finds the Yardbirds adopting a pious, and highly inappropriate, idealism while Still I'm Sad would have been better left to the Moody Blues or some other clinically depressed outfit. Putty (In Your Hands) is cute - a word that damns it - just too close to early Beatles for comfort.

Pretty much everything else is fast out of the gate and hot as Georgia asphalt in August. I'm Not Talking is a perennial favorite of mine, as are The Train Kept A Rollin', Smokestack Lightning, Evil Hearted You, Heart Full Of Soul, I Ain't Done Wrong. The Yardbirds definitely had their limitations, Keith Reif is a mediocre vocalist - compare him with what the Beck/Stewart match up on Truth sounds like. And this whole "guitar academy" factor everybody likes to cite - Clapton, Beck, Page - actually stood in the way of The Yardbirds ever coalescing as a group. However, they did manage to keep it together for a while, and in doing so, accomplished something artists rarely achieve, they produced music that was genuinely new and good enough to stand the test of time.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mother Lode for Second British Invasion, February 15, 2006

By	B. Marold (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: "The Yardbirds - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1: 1964-1966" (Audio CD)

The Yardbirds were one of those great 'first British Invasion' groups whose primary claim to later fame is the fact that they provided the breeding ground for the stars of the 'second British invasion' lead by Cream, Traffic, and others. The thing which is so easy to forget is that groups like the Yardbirds, the Spenser Davis Group, Manfred Mann, Them, and the Graham Bond Organization were such fertile breeding grounds because their stuff was darn good itself.

I love it when I see contemporary commercials come up with songs from these great early bands, and listening to this album shows us just how important the Yardbirds were in their own right, not just as the launching pad for the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Paige.

This is an essential album for any survey of rock roots!