The Yardbirds

:For the American chain of home improvement stores see: Yardbirds Home Center

Jeff Beck's Tenure

Beck's tenure in the group, meanwhile, produced a number of memorable recordings, from single hits like "Heart Full of Soul," "I'm A Man," and "Shapes of Things" to the Yardbirds album (known more popularly as Roger the Engineer, and first issued in the U.S. in a bowdlerised version called Over Under Sideways Down), and established him as a top-rank guitarist whose experiments with fuzz tone, feedback, and distortion jolted British rock forward with a bold dropkick. In addition, the Yardbirds began serious experiments with things like adapting Gregorian chant ("Still I'm Sad," "Turn Into Earth," Hot House of Omagarashid," "Farewell," "Ever Since The World Began") and various European folk styles into their blues and rock rooted music, and this gained them a new reputation among the hipster underground even as their commercial appeal had begun already to wane.

Related Topics:
Beck - Roger the Engineer

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It was shortly after the sessions that produced Yardbirds that Paul Samwell-Smith decided to quit the group and move behind the boards as a producer. Jimmy Page re-entered the picture here, agreeing to pinch-hit on bass until rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja could become comfortable with that instrument, and then teaming with Beck for tantalising twin-guitar attacks. Pronounced examples of what the Beck-Page tandem could were the concert dates they played as the opening band for The Rolling Stones, in which they were described by critics as "World War Three," and the single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," a 2:25 psychedelic explosion that was the most experimental pop record that had been recorded to date. "Happenings" featured Beck and Page on twin lead guitar, with John Paul Jones brought in to the recording session to play bass; it was backed with "Psycho Daisies," which featured Beck on lead guitar and Page on bass. The Beck-Page era Yardbirds also recorded "Stroll On," their half-crazed rendition of their standard "The Train Kept A-Rollin'," which they recorded for the Antonioni film Blow-Up; Relf changed the lyrics and title the night before it was recorded because there wasn't enough time to acquire permission from the copyright holder. "Stroll On" features a twin lead-guitar break, so it is likely that the Beck-Page tandem was at work on this recording as well. The Beck-Page lineup made one other recording, a commercial for a milkshake product "Great Shakes" -- a short rehash of "Over Under Sideways Down" on which Page is presumably playing bass. There was one additional recording that Beck and Page made in secret -- "Beck's Bolero," a Jimmy Page rewrite of Ravel's "Bolero." Beck and Page each make competing claims about who played most of the guitar parts; however, the rest of the lineup was John Paul Jones on bass, Keith Moon on drums, and Nicky Hopkins on keyboards. "Beck's Bolero" was first released as the B-side of Beck's first single, "Hi Ho Silver Lining," and was included on his first solo album, "Truth."

Related Topics:
Jimmy Page - The Rolling Stones - Psychedelic - John Paul Jones - Antonioni - Blow-Up - Ravel - Keith Moon - Nicky Hopkins

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