Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page
| Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by the Yardbirds | ||||
| Released | 25 August 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 30 March 1968 | |||
| Venue | Anderson Theatre, New York City | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 44:48 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| The Yardbirds' Epic chronology | ||||
| ||||
Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page is a live album by English rock group the Yardbirds. It captures their performance at the Anderson Theatre in New York City on 30 March 1968. At the time, the Yardbirds had been performing as a quartet with Jimmy Page on lead guitar since October 1966.[1] Although the group objected to a release of the recordings, after Page became famous with Led Zeppelin, Epic Records issued the album in 1971.
Live Yardbirds includes several familiar Yardbird songs, but often extended with longer instrumental solos.[2] "I'm Confused," based on Jake Holmes' "Dazed and Confused", is a highlight of the album.[3] Using some different lyrics, Page re-recorded it with Led Zeppelin for their debut album later in 1968.
Recording and releases
Although a live album, Epic Records overdubbed crowd noises from bullfights and other sound effects onto the original tracks against the band's wishes, in part because the live recordings were considered lacking in sound quality. This was a result of the general inexperience of the engineers in recording live rock music. For example, only single microphone was deployed for the drums, hung above the kit. This resulted in the loss of much of the lower-range percussion in the recording.[4][5]
The Yardbirds rejected the album as a candidate for release upon its original completion in mid-1968, but Epic released it in 1971 in response to Led Zeppelin's success in the marketplace.[2] Jimmy Page threatened legal action against the label for releasing Live Yardbirds without authorization and Epic quickly withdrew it.[2] Epic parent CBS' Columbia Special Products (CSP) label subsequently reissued the album in 1976, but this was again legally challenged by Page, and the album again quickly withdrawn. Yardbirds' chronicler Gregg Russo notes that
Jimmy Page had Epic Records destroy the masters, parts and lacquers on February 15, 1977. All of the tapes from this concert were "returned to client" (Jimmy Page) in the early '80s.[2]
Authentic Epic and CSP copies of Live Yardbirds are thus quite rare, and the album has often been counterfeited (sometimes in black-and-white covers claimed to be promotional copies) as a result. The album's cover art was designed by James Grashow, a woodcut artist who had earlier created the artwork for Jethro Tull's 1969 album Stand Up.
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Bruce Eder gave the album four and a half out of five stars and notes the dominant role of Page's guitar playing.[3] Although Eder feels "The performance also reveals just how far out in front of the psychedelic pack the Yardbirds were by the spring of 1968", he adds:
Ironically, this album isn't quite as strong as the contemporary Truth album by Jeff Beck, mostly because the Yardbirds were still juggling three sounds: the group's progressive pop/rock past, the psychedelia of 1968, and a harder, more advanced blues-based sound.[3]
Track listing
Original album
Songwriters and track running times are taken from the original Epic LP.[6] Other releases may have different listings.
| Side one | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "The Train Kept A-Rollin'" | Tiny Bradshaw, Lois Mann, and Howard Kay | 3:10 |
| 2. | "You're a Better Man Than I[7]" | Mike Hugg, Brian Hugg | 6:50 |
| 3. | "I'm Confused" | none listed | 6:47 |
| 4. | "My Baby" | Mort Shuman, Jerry Ragavoy | 5:01 |
| Side two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "Over Under Sideways Down" | Chris Dreja,[8]Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith, Jim McCarty, Jeff Beck | 2:39 |
| 2. | "Drinking Muddy Water" | Relf, Jimmy Page, McCarty, Dreja[8] | 3:16 |
| 3. | "Shapes of Things" | Samwell-Smith, Relf, McCarty | 2:48 |
| 4. | "White Summer" | Page | 4:19 |
| 5. | "I'm a Man" | Ellas McDaniel a.k.a. Bo Diddley | 11:59 |
Personnel
The Yardbirds
- Keith Relf – harmonica, lead vocals
- Jimmy Page – guitar
- Chris Dreja – bass guitar
- Jim McCarty – drums, backing vocals
Production
- Don Meehan – engineer
- Buddy Graham – engineer
- Lenny Kaye – liner notes
- James Grashow – cover artist
References
- ↑ Clayson, Alan (2002). The Yardbirds. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. p. 182. ISBN 0-87930-724-2.
- 1 2 3 4 Russo, Greg (1998). Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-Up. Floral Park, New York: Crossfire Publications. pp. 58–60. ISBN 0-9648157-3-7.
- 1 2 3 4 Eder, Bruce. "Live Yardbirds Featuring Jimmy Page – Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ↑ George-Warren, Holly (2001). The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. Fireside. p. 1094. ISBN 0-7432-0120-5.
- ↑ Frank Reddon (10 July 2012). Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin. - Break and Enter. eBookIt.com. pp. 375–. ISBN 978-0-9784446-5-5.
- ↑ Kaye, Lenny (1971). Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page (Album notes). The Yardbirds. New York City: Epic Records. Back cover. E 30615.
- ↑ "You're a Better Man than I" is a medley with "Heart Full of Soul", also written by Gouldman.
- 1 2 Chris Dreja's name is misspelled twice – "Drega" on "Over Under Sideways Down" and "Ereja" on "Drinking Muddy Water". He is listed incorrectly on several other Epic releases.
External links
- Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page at Discogs (list of releases)