Similar Albums:
- Artist: The Yardbirds
- Rating:
- Release Date: September 28, 1999
- Type: Compilation (best of), Live
- Genre: Rock
Review
Over the years, the Yardbirds' performances for the BBC have been the focus of various bootlegs. But BBC Sessions is no bootleg. Assembled by Warner Bros. in 1997, this rewarding CD is a very legal collection of BBC material that spans 1965-1968. When the Yardbirds performed for various BBC radio programs, they did not have the luxury of stretching out as much as they could on stage -- they had to be succinct, and that meant that they couldn't get into extended blues-rock jams. Nonetheless, their creativity flowed; if they only had two or three minutes to perform, they would squeeze a lot of energy into those two or three minutes. Most of the material on this 75-minute CD falls into two main categories: tough, gutsy blues-rock and hauntingly melodic, quasi-Gregorian hits like "Heart Full of Soul," "For Your Love," "You're a Better Man Than I," and "Evil Hearted You." The Chess Records school of Chicago blues was a major influence on the Yardbirds, who put their uniquely British spin on "The Train Kept A Rollin'," "Dust My Broom," Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning," and other blues standards. When the Yardbirds played the blues, they were far from a carbon copy of Chicago bluesmen -- and that made for some very fresh-sounding blues-rock. Never let it be said that the Yardbirds were not versatile; they could be quasi-Gregorian one minute and unapologetically gritty the next. But one thing they weren't great at was '60s garage rock, and their performance of the McCoys' "Hang on Sloopy" falls short of the excellence that characterizes 90 percent of BBC Sessions. Most of the time, however, this collection is an exciting document of the Yardbirds' BBC appearances of the '60s. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I Ain't Got You | Clarence Carter | The Yardbirds | (1:58) |
| Keith Relf Talks About the Band's Background | The Yardbirds | (:58) | |
| For Your Love | Graham Gouldman | The Yardbirds | (2:17) |
| I'm Not Talking | Mose Allison | The Yardbirds | (1:48) |
| I Wish You Would | Billy Boy Arnold | The Yardbirds | (2:34) |
| Keith Relf Talks About U.S.A.Tour | The Yardbirds | (:56) | |
| Heart Full of Soul | Graham Gouldman | The Yardbirds | (2:18) |
| I Ain't Done Wrong | Keith Relf | The Yardbirds | (2:29) |
| Too Much Monkey Business | Chuck Berry | The Yardbirds | (2:27) |
| Love Me Like I Love You | Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith | The Yardbirds | (2:49) |
| I'm a Man | Bo Diddley | The Yardbirds | (2:26) |
| Evil Hearted You | Graham Gouldman | The Yardbirds | (2:25) |
| Interview About the "Still I'm Sad" Single | The Yardbirds | (:50) | |
| Still I'm Sad | Jim McCarty, Paul Samwell-Smith | The Yardbirds | (2:52) |
| Hang on Sloopy | The Yardbirds | (3:22) | |
| Smokestack Lightning | Howlin' Wolf | The Yardbirds | (3:30) |
| The Yardbirds Give Their New Year's Resolutions | The Yardbirds | (:46) | |
| You're a Better Man Than I | Mike Hugg, |
The Yardbirds | (3:08) |
| The Train Kept A Rollin' | Tiny Bradshaw, |
The Yardbirds | (2:41) |
| Shapes of Things | Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith, |
The Yardbirds | (2:23) |
| Dust My Broom | Elmore James | The Yardbirds | (2:31) |
| Baby, Scratch My Back | The Yardbirds | (3:13) | |
| Keith Relf Talks About His Solo Single | The Yardbirds | (:47) | |
| Over, Under, Sideways, Down | Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith | The Yardbirds | (2:09) |
| The Sun Is Shining | Elmore James | The Yardbirds | (2:42) |
| Shapes of Things [Version 2] | Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith | The Yardbirds | (2:19) |
| Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) | Bob Dylan | The Yardbirds | (2:47) |
| Little Games | The Yardbirds | (2:20) | |
| Drinking Muddy Water | Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf | The Yardbirds | (2:41) |
| Think About It | Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf | The Yardbirds | (3:07) |
| Interview With Jimmy Page | The Yardbirds | (1:47) | |
| Goodnight Sweet Josephine | Tony Hazzard | The Yardbirds | (2:30) |
| My Baby | Mort Shuman, Jerry Ragovoy | The Yardbirds | (2:49) |
