Yardbirds

The Yardbirds are an English rock band that had a string of hits in the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Over Under Sideways Down" and "Heart Full of Soul". The group is notable for having started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, all of whom were in the top five of Rolling Stone's 100 Top Guitarists list (Clapton at No. 2, Page at No. 3 and Beck at No. 5). A blues-based band that broadened its range into pop and rock, the Yardbirds had a hand in many electric guitar innovations of the mid-1960s, such as feedback, "fuzztone" distortion and improved amplification. Pat Pemberton, writing for Spinner, holds that the Yardbirds were "the most impressive guitar band in rock music". After the Yardbirds broke up in 1968, their lead guitarist Jimmy Page founded what became Led Zeppelin.

Links To Peel
Peel was a fan of the group, particularly the album Five Live Yardbirds, which Peel on his Yardbirds retrospective 19 August 1976 show mentioned as:


 * "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."

On the same show, Peel also mentioned:


 * "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’"

Throughout the decades Peel would often play tracks from the Yardbirds and kept their single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" in his special John Peel's Record Box.

Shows Played
(The list is incomplete. Please add further information if known)

1967 1969 1972 1973 1976 1979 1987 1989 1994 1996 2001 2002 2003 2004 Others
 * 18 July 1967: The Nazz Are Blue (LP - The Yardbirds/AKA Roger The Engineer) UK Columbia
 * 04 October 1969: Louise (LP - Five Live Yardbirds) Columbia
 * 14 January 1972: Psycho Daisies (single - Happenings Ten Years Ago b-side) EMI/Columbia
 * 14 January 1972: You’re A Better Man Than I Am (LP – Having A Rave Up With…) Epic
 * 11 February 1972: Jeff’s Boogie (b-side of single 'Over, Under, Sideways, Down') Columbia
 * 28 April 1972: Louise (LP – Five Live Yardbirds) EMI Columbia
 * 16 June 1972: The Train Kept A Rolling (LP - ) unknown release
 * 24 April 1973: Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (LP - ) unknown release
 * 08 May 1973: Psycho Daisies (single – Happenings Ten Years Ago, 1966) Columbia
 * 12 June 1973: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (LP: Spotlight On...) Charley
 * 26 June 1973: The Train Kept A-Rollin' (LP: Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds) Epic
 * 16 August 1976: 'Louise (LP-Five Live Yardbirds)' (EMI Columbia) (JP: 'If I ever find myself in a group of people discussing Eric's greatest recorded work, I usually advance that, actually, mainly because I like to annoy people by doing that sort of thing, but I do think it is excellent.')
 * 19 August 1976: Many songs
 * Retrospective Shows August 1976: Many songs
 * 21 June 1979: 'Happenings Ten Times Years Ago (7")' (Columbia)
 * 14 August 1979: Louise (LP - Five Live Yardbirds, 1964) Charly reissue
 * 15 August 1979: Too Much Monkey Business (LP - Five Live Yardbirds) Charly reissue
 * 20 August 1979: Pretty Girl (LP – Five Live Yardbirds) Charly reissue
 * August 1987 (Rockradio): The Nazz Are Blue (album - The Yardbirds (Roger The Engineer)) Columbia
 * 24 December 1989 (BBC Radio East Anglia): 'Steeled Blues (7 inch-B side of Heart Full Of Soul)' (Columbia)
 * 16 July 1994: ‘Louise (LP - Five Live Yardbirds )’ Columbia
 * 23 July 1994 (BFBS): Louise (album - Five Live Yardbirds) EMI Columbia
 * 26 May 1996: ‘The Nazz Are Blue (LP – Roger The Engineer )’ EMI
 * 10 January 2001: The Nazz Are Blue (LP: The Yardbirds) Columbia
 * 10 October 2001: Psycho Daisies (7" b-side of 'Happenings Ten Years Time Ago') Columbia
 * 18 September 2002: 'The Nazz are Blue (LP - Roger the Engineer)' (Edsel Records)
 * 09 January 2003: 'Louise (LP: Five Live Yardbirds)' (Columbia)
 * 17 April 2003: 'Over, Under, Sideways, Down (LP: The Yardbirds)' (Columbia)
 * 03 August 2004:
 * Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 4: Smokestack Lightning (LP - Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds) Epic
 * Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 6: Unknown
 * Peeling Back The Years 2 (Transcript): The Nazz Are Blue
 * Radio Radio: The Nazz Are Blue