The Yardbirds

This, very, stripped down version of The Yardbirds, captured live in 1967 and recorded for Popgaster I Stockholm on 7th April 1967, is still powerful and captures the ear brilliantly.
The band consisted of Keith Relf on vocals and harmonica, Chris Dreja on bass, Jim Mcarty on drums and Jimmy Page on guitar.

The set includes some of the Yradbirds biggest hits – ‘Shapes Of Things’, ‘Heart Full Of Soul’, ‘Over Under Sideways Down’, alongside versions of Dylan’s ’Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)’ and Muddy Waters ‘I’m A Man’.
The band sound tight and play with plenty of gusto, Relf’s harmonica on ‘I’m A Man’ is excellent and leads into a Jimmy Page solo that prefaces what was to come with Led Zeppelin.

The performance is essentially a run through of their best known numbers to an audience who are almost reverential in their polite applause. Relf clearly announces the numbers as they come up in a very stiff and polite manner and you don’t really hear any link between artist and audience but the hyper-clean recording allows the listener to really hear the band. Many other recordings from the time are badly distorted but this one is amazingly good.

It is a fine artefact, a great snapshot of The Yardbirds, and well worth taking a punt on.