Golden Eggs

Golden Eggs
Compilation album (bootleg) by The Yardbirds
Released 1975
Recorded 1964–1967
Genre Rock, Rhythm and Blues
Label Trademark of Quality
Producer Mickie Most
Giorgio Gomelsky
Paul Samwell-Smith[1]
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]

Golden Eggs is a bootleg recording of the English rock group The Yardbirds, released by Trademark of Quality.[3] Although it was actually a pirate recording, as it consisted entirely of previously released material, much of that material was hard to find at the time of release in 1975 as it had been deleted. Consequently, the bootleg was successful, and inspired a sequel, More Golden Eggs.[4] Both albums featured cover artwork by William Stout.

Background

The Yardbirds are probably best known for launching the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, the latter of whom briefly used the group's name when forming Led Zeppelin. By 1975, all three ex-members had achieved superstar status, and consequently there was a strong interest in their former group's recorded output, much of which had only been issued on long-deleted singles and B-sides, and was hard to obtain. The bootleg manufacturer Trademark of Quality (TMQ) noticed this, and decided that an unofficial re-release of this material would be commercially viable.[4]

The bootleg was something of a first, as up until that point, rock bootlegs had been the domain of only the most successful acts, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan. Golden Eggs was the first big selling bootleg that dealt with a disbanded group who had had reasonable, but not superb, chart success. At a time where reissues of old material were not commonplace, the bootleg became a success.[2]

As well as covering deleted recordings by the group, the album also contained two sides of a solo single by lead singer Keith Relf. The album was also notable for containing "Stroll On", featured in the 1966 film Blowup, which is one of the few recordings to feature both Beck and Page on dual lead guitars.

Cover

The cover artwork was drawn by William Stout, who had already designed several TMQ album covers at that point. Stout was particularly keen to do the cover, as he was a fan of the group himself, and gave thanks to them on the back cover for "inspiration". He also designed the back cover as a family tree, showing the careers of the various ex-members of the group up until that point.[1]

The weasel on the cover is, according to Stout, killing off the goose that laid the golden egg, and supposed to represent the producer Mickie Most. According to Stout, he felt that Most steered the group away from their rhythm and blues origins towards recording pop material, which, in Stout's opinion, was detrimental towards their career and did not illustrate their full potential.[4]

Track listing

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Steeled Blues"   2:37
2. "Putty in Your Hands"   2:17
3. "Mr. Zero"   2:45
4. "No Excess Baggage"   2:29
5. "Think About It"   3:47
6. "Stroll On"   2:43
7. "The Nazz Are Blue"   3:00
8. "Knowing"   1:53
9. "Little Soldier Boy"   2:33
Side two
No. Title Length
10. "Puzzles"   2:01
11. "Stealing Stealing"   2:21
12. "Sweet Music"   2:28
13. "Ha Ha Said The Clown"   2:23
14. "Rack My Mind"   3:10
15. "Ten Little Indians"   2:13
16. "Goodnight Sweet Josephine"   2:44
17. "Glimpses"   4:22

Personnel

Tracks 3 and 8 are two sides of a Keith Relf solo single, featuring Relf backed with session musicians.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Golden Eggs (back cover)". Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Unterberger, Richie. "Golden Eggs". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  3. ↑ Freeman, Garry. The bootleg guide: classic bootlegs of the 1960s and 1970s, an annotated discography. Scarecrow Press. p. 686. ISBN 9780810845824.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Heylin, Clinton (2004). Bootleg: The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording History. Music Sales Group. p. 76. ISBN 9781844491513.

External links