Customer Reviews

Very Best of the Yardbirds

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If you don't already have a Yardbirds collection, as every fan of great rock/blues should, get this. But be sure to listen to the MP3 samples. The song that is marked as "Stroll On" from the film Blowup, is not that song at all, but what I think might be a David Bowie composition, "Sweet Music." This is a good track in itself, but it is falsely marked, and if you think you're going to get "Stroll On," a top Yardbirds track including both Beck and Page on guitar (as did "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," also not here)you will be disappointed. Otherwise, while incomplete, this gives you a good cross-section of what the band did in its first incarnation with Clapton on lead and in its second with Jeff Beck. It is most complete on Clapton, including early singles and live tracks from 1964, partial on Beck, and almost totally lacking on Jimmy Page, for whose work you will have to go to the "Little Games Sessions." The sound is quite good, considering 1960's technology, and the track "Heart Full of Soul" is strangely marked as a re-recording, even though I can't tell it from my Epic 45 made in 1965. If it is a re-recording, it is of an identical performance. For the complete Five Live Yardbirds concert with Clapton, get the album of that title.

I can't believe I am the first to review this great collection of Yardbirds classics. I am just getting into them and will have to explore them further. Highlights include the blazing, harmonica-laden cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" and the very blusey cover of "Train-Kept a Rollin'" originally written by Tiny Bradshaw and covered famously by Aerosmith.(actually, the first place I heard the song was on rock band, but I appreciate its value as a classic song). I like both versions a lot, but the cover by The Yardbirds has something more special about it, with the vocals sounding more like its earliest incarnation as a jump blues song. It's great starter collection, but it's missing highlights like "Over Under Sideways Down", "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago", and "Dazed and Confused". Anyone who wants to dig deeper is advised should check out the two disc compilation titled "Ultimate!".

For all of you, who missed the 60's generation, and the Yardbirds; this album is for you! Just the trio of guitarists : Clapton / Beck / Page, are well worth having this album, and hearing those legendary guitar solos that shaped : Blues / Rock / Heavy music to this day, gives you the insight of their brilliant style. They sure did "shape the things" to come in music!

No more to say than young talented musicians who all made it big on their own later. They Yardbirds were the launch point for many of the greatest, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page (just to name a few). This is real 'classic rock' from which many different sounds came from.

The Yardbirds were a very good group from the 60's...this CD has most of their hits, but the audio is poor quality overall