The British Rock Explosion: What the Yardbirds did for music.
Part 3
‘Five Live Yardbirds’ was British Rhythm & Blues at its frantic, energetic best, with Clapton riffing his way through the set a la Chuck Berry. The emphasis seemed to be more on crowd response rather than serious playing, with the group extending every track in order to generate something close to audience frenzy. But while things were coming together on stage, it was in the studio that cracks began to show in Yardbird relationships.
Taking ‘The Rolling Stones’ as a template for success, the group decided that it was irrelevant how many clubs they sold out and packed out; the real money was in hit records. Five tracks were recorded under both EMI and German CBS over 6 month period (late ‘63 to Feb ’64) and this helped to establish the Yardbirds studio sound. They eventually released two singles, ‘I Wish You Would’ and ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’ (which reached the British Top 50). However, as polished as they were, in single format, they were merely watered down manufactured versions of their live performances. Their soul and spontaneity was lost to the decks of the recording studio.
It was Eric who first became unsettled by the direction in which the Yardbirds were heading. It would appear that manager Giorgio Gomelsky along with Paul Samwell-Smith were intent on turning the Yardbirds into a pop band. Although there was a fan base for their heavily blues-influenced sound (as sell-out shows had shown), their current sound was never really going to truly break into the pop music scene. It was the release of the third single, which brought a clash of creative interest to the group. Eric, keen to stick to the bands roots and his own ideologies, wanted to cover an Otis Redding number, but this wasn’t seen as commercially viable by the rest of the Yardbirds. Samwell-Smith wanted to record a track written by Graham Gouldman (who would later write for 10CC) called ‘For Your Love’. The decision to record this track over the Otis Redding material left Eric disappointed and disillusioned.
Gomelsky backed Samwell-Smith to record ‘For Your Love’, even though it was he and Eric who had come up with the idea of recording the Otis Redding number. As a consolation, Gomelsky offered Clapton a blues-based B-side called ‘Got To Worry’. It seemed to be too little, too late. Released in March 1965, ‘For Your Love’ reached number 3 in the British charts and number 10 in the States. The Yardbirds and Eric were on the verge of big things. Super-stardom beckoned until Eric, at one of the band’s regular meetings, dropped a bombshell. He would be leaving the Yardbirds. When Keith Relf announced Eric’s departure to the press, he remarked “He loves the blues so much I suppose he didn’t like it being badly by a white shower like us.”
Within days, Eric had signed with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers who were perhaps the only band in Britain that Eric felt were on the same musical page as him. The Yardbirds, now without their lead guitar, began the search for his replacement. A few names were banded about, including the name of a young session guitarist called Jimmy Page. Page declined at first, citing other work commitments, but could recommend to the Yardbirds an alternative: Jeff Beck.
Dan G.
EMBASSY, WOOLWORTH'S OWN RECORD LABEL
DO YOU REMEMBER THE EMBASSY ROAD SHOWS AT BUTLINS OR PONTINS HOLIDAY CAMPS
Before long the company added a 7 inch (17.5cm) 45 rpm record, which gradually took over from the 78s - with each record containing two hit songs, and long playing 33 rpm 12 inch (30 cm) records with ten to twenty tracks. They were very popular and sold by the million.
The New Bond Street studios were fitted with the very latest 14 way mixers and A.K.G., Neumann and S T & C Microphones. But that counted for nothing if it was a bad song, or a bad version of a good song !
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Copyright© 2011 L. P. Baxter
