Family Tree - Birds of a Feather

 The Yardbirds remain one of the truly legendary and

influential bands of the sixties. Responsible for hit records

such as Still I’m Sad, Shapes Of Things, Heart full Of Soul

and For Your Love not to mention the classic albums Five

Live Yardbirds and Roger The Engineer the band is also

remembered for the three guitarists who graced the band

between the years 1963 and 1968. Eric Clapton followed

by Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page all recorded and performed

their guitar magic with this band. 

<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]--> Founded

in Surrey in 1963 by Paul Samwell-Smith,Chris Dreja, Keith

Relf, Jim McCarty and Anthony ”Top” Topham the band 

soon moved beyond their early primitive efforts and

Topham was replaced by Eric Clapton Shortly after the

band replaced the Rolling Stones at the famous R’n’B club

the Crawdaddy Club. The band became the backing band

for man visiting blues musicians including Sonny Boy

Williamson with whom they cut their first record. The best

representation of the band at this period was the live album

Five Live Yardbirds released in 1964. Despite the bands

love of R’n’B however they were pressured into a more pop

direction which horrified the purist Clapton. Shortly after

recording the bands first hit single For Your Love in 1965

Clapton left the band to be replaced by Jeff Beck the second

in the triumvirate of great guitarists to play for the band.

Jeff Beck was to stay with the band for less than two years

but in that time he established the reputation on which he

continues to build today and almost single handed changed

the way guitar led rock music was viewed.

Jimmy Page the third of the famous guitarists to grace the

Yardbirds entered the picture when Samwell-Smith left the

band and initially joined as the bands bassist however he

soon swapped duties with Chris Dreja and for a short while

formed a twin guitar line up with Jeff Beck. When Beck left

in 1967 Page became the bands lone guitarist and was to

remain so until the band folded in 1968. Despite the regard

in which the band was held commercial success eluded

them and in 1968 the band split leaving Jimmy Page with

the name and the legend. Page decided to carry on as The

New Yardbirds and he duly formed a band around himself

which shortly after changed name to become Led Zeppelin!

This album features music from the various musicians and

related musicians who played with The Yardbirds over the

years and includes performances from the following artists

Jim McCarty Band, Yardbirds Experience, British Invasion

All-Stars, Pete French, The Ambulators with Dave Walker.

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