T
here is, of course, a reason why The
Yardbirds, who 60s-chart-wise occupied
a place somewhere between The Pretty
Things and the Rolling Stones, have been
regularly compiled and religiously
anthologised: namely, the presence in their
line-up at various times of the Big Three 1970s
guitar legends. The fact that Eric Clapton, Jeff
Beck and Jimmy Page were in three (or four)
versions of the Yardbirds means that their every
note will always be collected. And when those
notes can be found handily in the music of one
band it makes life even easier.
But there was always a lot more to The
Yardbirds than just those three guitarists, who
sometimes sit like cuckoos in the sound of an
already inventive, bluesy and commercial
band. In the band’s shortish career, Keith Relf,
Jim McCarty, Paul Samwell-Smith and Chris
Dreja wrote and covered and recorded music
that went from fast, Stonesy blues to dreamy
60s pop to amphetamine psychedelia to bad
chart hopeful pop to bone-crushing rock- and nearly all of it was great.
Which is why this four-CD, one-
DVD collection of live material (and
the odd single and Keith Relf track),
despite odd dips in sound quality, is
so good. There is a great deal of
repetition of material, but – unlike
those endless boxed sets laden
down with apparently identical Take
78s and Take 79s of drab out-takes- there’s a point to it, because the
Yardbirds were a constantly
evolving band, with each new
guitarist adding something different
to each old song.
The Yardbirds went through
many stages in the 1960s, and at
each stage they were superb. When
Merseybeat still held the charts by the throat,
they were a superb blues band. When blues
became dull, they were a pop group so
experimental that Eric Clapton ran away. And
when pop was old hat, they became the only
guitar band who could compete with The
Who. At the end, there was nowhere else to
go, and they were reluctantly forced to
become Led Zeppelin, which is where we
leave them, with a superb Relf-led Dazed And
Confused, a song both a million miles away and
a millimetre from their earliest, most blues-
wailing incarnation.
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David Quantickbonus tracks: a full-band Spoke
In The Wheel and an acoustic
version of Black Pearl.
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Rich DavenportTraffic
The Studio Albums
1967-1974 UNIVERSAL
Cosmic gumbo: career-
spanning box set from Brum’s
psych-funk trailblazers,
complete with reproduction
promo posters.
As hip as
Hendrix, as
rhythmically
creative as
Cream and as
lyrically whimsical as Syd’s
Floyd, Traffic were a match for
any of their contemporaries in
the Class Of ’67.
However, for all their
commercial success – they
notched up four US Top 10
albums – the band’s
combustible chemistry ensured
that they never quite reached
the stratospheric peaks of
their peers.
This six-vinyl box-set – their
first ever – is an overdue
reminder of their talents.
Originally released in
December 1967, debut Mr
Fantasy is a patchouli-scentedclassic of its time, Dave Mason’s
bubblegum pop tunes (notably
No.2 hit Hole In My Shoe)
complemented by Winwood’s
rootsy R&B holler, Jim Capaldi’s
funky drumming and Chris
Wood’s otherworldy splashes of
flute and saxophone.
Recorded in 10 days after
a temporary reconciliation
between the warring Winwood
and Mason, 1968 follow-up
Traffic trades lysergic
immediacy for spiritual
vibrancy, Wood’s immersion in
everything from Japanese
classical music and American
jazz icon Roland Kirk lighting up
stone-cold classics such as
Forty Thousand Headmen and
Feelin’ Alright?.
If 1970’s John Barleycorn Must
Die – recorded after the restless
Winwood’s defection to form
Blind Faith – has dated less well,
its instrumental passages
edging them towards the toe-
tapping blandness of
Winwood’s solo career, 1971’s
The Low Spark Of High Heeled
Boys remains timeless, its
complex mix of latin rhythms,
R&B grooves and Capaldi’s
soulful lyrics paving the way
for the US success of superbly
named 1973 follow-up Shoot
Out At The Fantasy Factory and1974’s more earthbound
swansong, When The Eagle Flies.
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Paul MoodyJohn Lennon
Imagine (Raw Studio
Mixes) APPLE/UMG INTERNATIONAL
Lennon tries to declutter, but
the key word is ‘how?’
Spurred into
action by
George
Harrison’s All
Things Must
Pass John Lennon went for broke
on his second solo album,
recorded at home in Ascot, not
an area one associates with
having no possessions.
This Record Store Day
visitation to early mix Imagine
without strings, reverb and no
sign whatsoever of producer Phil
Spector can’t have the impact of
the original (besides we’ve
already heard it all on The
Ultimate Collection) but does
have merit. The infamous title
track is given a dispassionate
vocal treatment that doesn’t
diminish its hymnal quality.
Crippled Inside allows Harrison’s
Dobro more space, and Jealous
Guy, arguably Lennon’s closest
attempt at a standard, features
accomplice Nicky Hopkins’spiano shamelessly ripping off
Mike D’Abo’s Handbags and
Gladrags. Overall this album was
always hit and miss: It’s So Hard is
very slight while Oh Yoko! is
sweet enough but not short
enough. Nasty John pops up on
Crippled Inside, the self-indulgent
dirty laundry How Do You Sleep?
and the relentlessly vitriolic
Gimme Some Truth, the song that
persuaded the FBI that Lennon
was a menace to society. If you
missed out on Record Store Day,
someone on eBay will surely help
you add it to your collection.
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Max BellVe nom
In Nomina Satanas BMG
Remastered black-metal
anthology proves the devil has
the loudest tunes.
Second only to
Motörhead as
pioneers of
punk-metal
crossover,
Newcastle’s Venom proved
remarkably influential with their
bludgeoning gravel-voiced
primitivism, helping to spawn
entire metal subgenres that
continue to resonate today. This
remastered vinyl box set collects
together the group’s first fouralbums, plus a 1985 live set
and two discs of previously
unreleased recordings.
Gristly and grubby, Venom’s
1981 debut, Welcome To Hell,
sounds like it was recorded in
an abattoir. It remains thrillingly
primal, but more significant to
rock history was its 1982 sequel
Black Metal, which coined a new
genre with its title track, its
Satanically slanted lyrics and its
adrenalised speedgrowl style.
Two years later came the more
sonically ambitious At War With
Satan, which opens with an epic
mini-symphony before rewriting
the rules again on breakneck
proto-thrash belters like Rip Ride.
The extra archive discs include
lo-fi rehearsal room recordings
from 1979, basic cassette
sketches with an agreeably
clangy, ragged punk texture that
soon loses its novelty allure.
More interesting are the 1980
demos that lend crisp, gnarly,
garage-band muscle to early
tracks, in some cases surpassing
their official versions. Besides
a few bumpy and dated cuts, this
handsome expanded package
confirms Venom’s significance as
none-more-black midwives to
metal’s post-punk rebirth.
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Stephen DaltonThe Yardbirds
Live And Rare REPERTOIRE
A collection that shows how each of their three
great guitarists helped the band constantly evolve.GET
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