19 August 1976

Show

 * Name
 * John Peel Show


 * Station
 * BBC Radio One


 * YYYY-MM-DD
 * 1976-08-19


 * Comments
 * The ninth of ten shows in series of prerecorded retrospectives on major bands broadcast while Peel was on holiday in August 1976.
 * The full programme has been shared, split over three files from two sources. Files (a) and (c) cover everything except the first three tracks, which are on the Retrospective Shows August 1976. Tracks on this mixtape are marked §.

Sessions

 * Yardbirds retrospective

Tracklisting

 * Yardbirds: Too Much Monkey Business (LP – Five Live Yardbirds) Columbia §
 * (JP: “And that tells you that our tonight topic is the Yardbirds and the various members of the Yardbirds. We won’t be doing a lot of Eric Clapton’s stuff because we covered Eric, as it were, in the Cream programme earlier in the week, but you’ll hear a lot of Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck during the next 50 minutes or so. That’s from the Five Live Yardbirds’ LP – I still reckon that’s one of the great LPs of all time, and I’m still tempted to say that’s Eric Clapton’s best recorded work, but I’m sure not many people would agree with that. Anyway, Too Much Monkey Business. And the first record Eric played on, A Certain Girl.”)


 * Yardbirds: A Certain Girl (single – I Wish You Would b-side) Columbia §
 * (JP: “That actually never made the charts, but these two did.”)


 * Yardbirds: Heart Full Of Soul (single) Columbia §
 * Yardbirds: Shapes Of Things (single) Columbia §
 * (JP: “A couple of Yardbirds chart entries there. … And we are well into the Jeff Beck era now – and this is Jeff Beck, well, he sings this one in fact as well as playing some rather fine guitar on it.”)


 * Yardbirds: The Nazz Are Blue (LP - Roger The Engineer) Columbia §
 * (JP: “And most Yardsbirds buffs regard Jeff’s greatest work – in fact, the best guitar solo on any Yardbirds record, I’ve heard it said – being his contribution to ‘You’re A Better Man Than I’.”)


 * Yardbirds: You’re A Better Man Than I (single – Shapes Of Things To Come b-side) EMI Columbia §
 * (JP: “Pretty dire song … but some devastating guitar playing on that. And this next record, by the Jeff Beck Group, was actually a hit twice – got to #14 in 1967 and to #17 in 1972. I hope you got all of that down.”)


 * Jeff Beck: Hi, Ho, Silver Lining (single) EMI Columbia
 * (JP: “Never fails in discos even today… I recently spent a lot of money on buying a 3-LP set of Beck, Bogert & Appice live in Japan and rather wish I hadn’t actually, because the vocals are quite appalling. But from the LP that they made in the studio, this is ‘Why Should I Care’.”)


 * Beck, Bogert & Appice: Why Should I Care (LP – Beck, Bogert & Appice) Epic
 * (JP: "The song was written by R. Kennedy, and he can score goals [reference to Liverpool midfielder Ray Kennedy]… And to follow Jeff Beck into 1976, from his current LP…”)


 * Jeff Beck: Led Boots (LP – Wire) Epic
 * (JP: “And here’s a bit of a curiosity item really for you. The other two lead guitarists from the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, getting together on a brief thing called ‘Choker’.”)


 * Eric Clapton & Jimmy Page: Choker (LP – Blues Anytime Vol. 2, An Anthology Of British Blues) Immediate §
 * (JP: “And we get back to 1966 vintage Yardbirds.”)


 * Yardbirds: Over Under Sideways Down (single) EMI Columbia §
 * (JP: “There’s more cultism surrounding the Yardbirds of the Jimmy Page era than almost any other rock band. There’s a live LP recorded and almost immediately withdrawn, which is incredibly rare and valuable, and also an obscure single released only in Holland I think, and I’ve got an appalling version of ‘Ha Ha Said The Clown’ about which I know nothing at all except it’s got Yardbirds on the label. And from that era, this is ‘Drinking Muddy Water’.”)


 * Yardbirds: Drinking Muddy Water (LP - Little Games) Epic §
 * (JP: “And around this time the Yardbirds did a session for Top Gear for the BBC, and illegal tapes of that session apparently fetch a small fortune in America. One of the numbers they did was this Jimmy Page feature.”)


 * Yardbirds: White Summer (session) §
 * (JP: “And after the band broke up, Keith Relf went off and formed Renaissance.”)


 * Renaissance –Wanderer (LP – Renaissance) Island
 * (JP: “And that’s from their first LP, when Keith Relf was the leader of the band, as it were… And then Keith went on to play with and to produce Medicine Head, and in fact he produced their chart biggie, or their biggest chart entry.”)


 * Medicine Head: (And The) Pictures In The Sky (single) Dandelion
 * (JP: “And when Led Zeppelin first started – in fact, I think the first time I saw them, although I may be wrong about that – they were still called the New Yardbirds.”)


 * Led Zeppelin: Communication Breakdown (LP – Led Zeppelin Atlantic
 * (JP: “And while that was going on I discovered Pictures In The Sky wasn’t Medicine Head’s biggest single – in fact, ‘One And One Is One’ did better and so did ‘Rising Sun’. [NB: Pictures In The Sky, however, was the band’s biggest single on Dandelion, giving Peel’s label its first UK chart hit.] But no matter, let’s press on with Led Zeppelin again.”)


 * Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love (LP – Led Zeppelin II) Atlantic
 * (JP: “An abbreviated version of that got to #4 in the American charts but of course no singles in Britain. And from the current LP by Led Zeppelin, or at least their most recent, Presence, this is ‘Candy Store Rock’.”)


 * Led Zeppelin: Candy Store Rock (LP – Presence Swan Song
 * (JP: "And one has heard, hasn’t one, that there’s a new LP in the not too distant future for us from Led Zeppelin, and if by now Robert Plant’s foot is back in working order then perhaps the band will be gigging about again. I haven’t seen them play live for many years actually. I would like to do that. Tomorrow sees the last of the prerecorded holiday programmes, and not surprisingly we’ll be dealing with the work of the Beatles and individual Beatles themselves. On Monday I shall be back live, bronzed, lithe and attractive, or more attractive than ever, and I hope you’ll listen to that. And I have no idea what sort of things we’ll be playing. It depends what has been collecting while I’m away, but thanks very much for listening to tonight’s programme, which of course dealt with the Yardbirds. And good night to you.")

File

 * Name
 * John Peel 1976.08.19 Yardbirds start
 * Retrospective Shows August 1976
 * John Peel 1976.08.19 Yardbirds
 * Length
 * 0.48.72
 * 1.05.37 (29.09 to 56.20)
 * 49.03
 * Other
 * Many thanks to Jim!
 * Many thanks to Colin and Eddie!
 * Many thanks to Jim!
 * Available
 * 
 * Retrospective Shows August 1976
 *