Five Live Yardbirds (Bonus Track Version)

Five Live Yardbirds (Bonus Track Version)

The Yardbirds were one of Britain’s most important groups in the ‘60s and this live album of the band’s early line-up, with Eric Clapton on lead guitar, goes a good way towards explaining why. Their mastery of the blues and Chuck Berry was rivaled only by the Rolling Stones, but even the Stones at this point couldn’t boast a lead guitarist with Clapton’s skills — or a harmonica player like singer Keith Relf. These tracks are dense and exciting, primarily recorded at the Marquee Club with a few additional tracks from the same 1964 era taken from the Crawdaddy Club. The group exudes the raw power of a garage band with the finesse of consummate professionals. Bo Diddley’s “You Can’t Judge a Book By Looking At the Cover” is manic. “Let It Rock” is a steamroller. “I Wish You Would” crashes through with the entire band playing with pure abandon. This album finishes out with a number of studio tracks from the era – “I Ain’t Got You,” “A Certain Girl” and “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” (also here in a live version).

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