The Yardbirds: The Band That Launched Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page [Paperback]

Alan Clayson (Author), Eric Clapton (Author), Jeff Beck (Author), Jimmy Page (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

Although together for only five years, The Yardbirds exerted tremendous influence on the music and style of the '60s and for decades beyond. Their impact has been felt throughout the rock genre, from psychedelia to blues-rock, heavy metal, and the music of today's jam bands. The Yardbirds came from middle-class England, embraced the soulful music of the African-American South, and helped re-import it back into the States as the embryo of heavy metal music. In the process, the band produced three guitar greats: Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Every fan of The Yardbirds, or of '60s-derived music in general, will revel in this book (which includes more than 50 photos from the group's heyday, plus a detailed diary of every gig, recording and broadcast they did) and enjoy reading the stories - old and new - as much as Clayson enjoys telling them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Clayson is a professional musician, composer, performer, and writer. He is the author of numerous books on music, including the best-selling Backbeat, on which a major film about The Beatles was based. Clayson has also written for The Times, The Guardian, Record Collector, and several other music magazines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat Books (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879307242
• ISBN-13: 978-0879307240
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,200,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beat Merchant, September 9, 2002

By 

"donnelly117" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yardbirds: The Band That Launched Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page (Paperback)

High class bio of the Most Blueswailins, immaculately designed with dozens of rare photos (though precious little of the LITTLE GAMES era band). Author Alan Clayson makes it clear his book is a stylized, highly-personal take on the band, so it came as no surprise the pages were filled with empurpled hipster prose. Yet Clayson succeeds in eliciting trenchant quotes (both archival and new) from each member of the group, and captures the band's seat-of-the-pants creativity with eloquence and humor. On the downside, Clayson can't maintain a narrative and wastes too much ink on irrelevent details about other artists---especially aesthetic peewees like Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich and the Downliners Sect, both of whom make the Seeds look like the Beatles. There are also a number of factual errors (though only a pedant would care that Keith Relf didn't write "Shapes In My Mind") and a puny chronology almost entirely cribbed from Greg Russo's superior (though more workmanlike) ULTIMATE RAVE UP. The biggest problem with the book is Clayson's unwillingess to allow the band's story to unfold on its own. Virtually every paragraph is crammed to the gills with snoozy hyperbole that says more about the writer's fascination with his prose than it does about the subject. Nevetheless, it's a worthy pick up for fans of the Yardbirds, who have waited eons for the kind of journalistic respect accorded to the Who, Cream, Beatles, Stones and their other rivals. Where before we had to trawl through [the webites] to hunt down a battered copy of John Platt's 1983 book and pay [good money], now we have two quality reads---and despite his pretentions, Clayson's love for the band that gave us "For Your Love" and "Shapes of Things" shines through brightly. I can't knock him for that.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too Much Monkey Business, May 1, 2003

By 

Colin Hansford (Rochester, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Yardbirds: The Band That Launched Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page (Paperback)

I didn't really learn anything new about the Yardbirds after reading this. Considering they were one of the most exciting and important bands in rock history, I would have expected more 'meat'. I felt Alan Clayson's writing style got in the way at times, distracting somewhat. However, the photos are really outstanding, particularly the cover shot showing them at Studio 51 in London (I think). What a classic moment frozen in time. Glad I read it. Any Yardbird book is better than no Yardbird book, however, there are better ones.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull, August 13, 2003

By 

Sara Youngman (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yardbirds: The Band That Launched Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page (Paperback)

Conveyed new information, so was worth the read for an avid fan, but it dragged on and on.