History
part 3
Yardbirds 1966-1968
Yardbirds #4 June 1966-October 1966
Keith Relf: Vocals, harmonica
Jeff Beck: Lead guitar, backing vocals
Jimmy Page: Lead guitar
Chris Dreja: Bass
Jim McCarty: Drums, backing vocals
When the album was released in the end of June, another important change had taken place. Bass player Paul Samwell-Smith had left the band. He was tired of touring and wanted to produce records instead. Once again the band asked Jimmy Page if he wanted to join the band and this time he accepted. He started as a bass player in the band but after some time Chris Dreja took over on bass and Jimmy Page switched to play guitar. Now Yardbirds had two excellent lead guitarists. Of course, it was just to good to be true and unfortunately it only lasted six months.
There are only three songs recorded with this line-up. Two of them are on a single which was released in October 1966. The a-side "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" is one of Yardbirds most advanced and exciting songs. A heavy, powerful song describing a deja-vu-feeling loaded with effects like guitars sounding like police sirens and explosions. The middle section is spoken by Jeff Beck, saying something like: "Pop group are ya’, got that long ’air". This song was without doubt too advanced for it’s time and hadn’t any success in the charts. A forgotten masterpiece which could have been a hit if it had been recorded two years later when the heavy rock had been established. The B-side "Psycho Daisies" is a rockier song with excellent guitar and song by Jeff Beck. The third song with the beck-Page line-up is "Stroll On" which is an edited heavy rock version of the old classic "Train Kept A-Rollin’". It was released on the soundtrack to the cult and turkey-movie "Blow-Up" where Yardbirds have a minor part. They are playing the song in what is supposed to be a typical London rock club. For copyright reasons, Yardbirds couldn’t play "Train Kept A-Rollin’" in the movie so they had to rewrite it as "Stroll On". There is also a live version of "Smokestack Lightning" from the Beck-Page line-up available at the records "Yardbirds On Air" and "….Where The Action Is". Jimmy Page plays bass on this one.
Yardbirds September 1966. From left to right: Chris Dreja, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf, Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty
In the late summer of 1966 the band toured the US again. The tour was a bit of an adventure. They traveled in an old airplane whose pilots used to drink a lot during the band’s gigs. The band members had to use oxygen and orange juice to get the pilots on their feet again. Then the band went back to the UK again for a tour with Rolling Stones and Ike&Tina Turner. The Stones was supposed to be the main attraction but the Yardbirds got a lot of attention. They played louder and heavier than before and the two guitar heroes Beck and Page made the band the most exciting act ever in rock history. But there were problems behind the surface. Jeff Beck was suffering from psychical problems and a strange rivalry was growing between him and Jimmy Page. The crisis come to a head during the next US tour. The tour was a total disaster for the Yardbirds, tanks to the total incompetence of the manager Simon Napier-Bell. The tour was badly planned and the band was playing on the wrong places, to the wrong audience and together with the wrong support acts. At that point, Jeff Beck had enough. He smashed his guitar in the dressing-room after a gig and left the band there and then. The other members decided to carry on as a four-piece.
Yardbirds #5 October 1966-May 1968
Keith Relf : Vocals, harmonica
Jimmy Page: Lead guitar
Chris Dreja: Bass
Jim McCarty: Drums, backing vocals
Back in the UK after the tour they fired Simon Napier-Bell. The new manager was Peter Grant and now the band finally had a clever and creative manager who could deal with the bands economy. Now the band members were properly paid and the arrangements around the band was working. But the band was in a downward spiral. With Paul Samwell-Smith and Jeff Beck the band had lost it’s most creative members and there were also certain disputes among the band members about the musical direction for the band. That was clearly showing on the next album "Little Games" which was recorded in the spring of 1967 and was released in July the same year. It is a rather weak album with just three or four good songs. Most of the materiel is too leight-weighted and almost embarrassing. The album was produced by the pop-hit producer Mickie Most and he tried to force the band to be more hit-single oriented and play more pop stuff which really didn’t suit the band. The album "Little Games" was released only in the US and a few other countries and didn’t sell very much. A single, "Little Games" was released in march 1967 but it didn’t make any impact on the charts despite the fact that it became one of the albums better tracks. Two other singles was released in the US in the coming months, without any success. One of them, a cover version of the Manfred Mann hit "Ha, Ha Said The Clown" is without doubt the low point in the bands career.
As a live act, Yardbirds were still an excellent band and in the spring of 1968 their gig at Anderson Theatre in New York was recorded by Epic Records. But neither the band nor the record company was pleased with the result and the album was not released during the time the band still existed. In 1971 Epic tried to release the album but Jimmy Page, who had the rights to the recordings suspected that it was an attempt of the record company to make money on his name (Led Zeppelin was conquering the world at that time) slapped an injunction on it. The album is only available as a bootleg on various vinyl’s and CD’s. In fact, this album is better than it’s reputation and Yardbirds clearly shows that they still were an excellent live band, despite the conflicts and problems in the band at that time. One of the songs on the album is the original version of "Dazed And Confused" which was one of Yardbirds best songs during the Jimmy Page era. Yardbirds never recorded a studio version of this song. Instead it showed up on Led Zeppelin’s first album.
In the spring of 1968 it was obvious that the band wasn’t going to exist much longer. Keith Relf and Jim McCarty had got tired of the whole thing and wanted to quit while Jimmy Page wanted to continue as he saw a future for the heavy oriented rock that Yardbirds played. In 1967, heavy rock had became very popular thanks to bands like Yardbirds, Cream (with Eric Clapton) and Jimi Hendrix Experience. But the differences and conflicts within the Yardbirds couldn’t be solved. In March 1968 the band recorded what would be it’s last single. The A-side "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" is a rather mediocre song with lyrics about a prostitute (which made some controversy in different places of the world). The B-side "Think About It" is just excellent, a heavy rock song with excellent guitar by Jimmy Page. The bands best song during the Page era and a hint to the future with Led Zeppelin.
After a gig at Luton Technical College 7 July 1968, Keith Relf and Jim McCarty quit. A tour to Sweden and Denmark was planned and Jimmy Page wanted to fulfil the contract. He put together a new band, with singer Robert Plant, bass player John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. Chris Dreja was also a part of the project from the beginning but he changed his mind and left soon. The new line-up toured in Sweden and Denmark under the name "The New Yardbirds". But when they returned to the UK they decided to change their name to Led Zeppelin and the rest is rock history.
That was the end of the Yardbirds. It’s a grim irony that the band who really were the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal disbanded at the moment this music really started to grow and be very popular. But the story of the Yardbirds didn’t end in 1968. The band members have continued with rock music, some of them with great success.
'
Yardbirds 1967. From left to right: Chris Dreja, Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf
