Track Listing

1. Lost Woman
2. Over, Under, Sideways, Down
3. Nazz Are Blue
4. I Can't Make Your Way
5. Rack My Mind
6. Farewell
7. Hot House of Omagarashid
8. Jeff's Boogie
9. He's Always There
10. Turn Into Earth
11. What Do You Want
12. Ever Since the World Began
13. Psycho Daisies
14. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56758 in Music
• Released on: 1997-10-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD

From Amazon.com
England's Yardbirds were often overlooked in favor of other bands from the heyday of the British Invasion, but their legacy has loomed large decades after their demise. After all, they fostered the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, and bands such as Renaissance, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Blind Faith, and the Jeff Beck Group. After cutting their teeth as faithful, if energetic, blues revivalists on live albums and a handful of singles, they cut this, their first real studio album, in 1966. Taking their cue from previous singles like the Gregorian-influenced "Still I'm Sad" and the future-shocker "Shapes of Things," the 'Birds produced what remains one of blues-rock's most progressive and distinctive albums--and one that, remarkably, was never initially released in the U.S. in its original form. Veering sharply from Beck's classic riffing on the rollicking "Over Under Sideways Down," the band explores broad palettes of style and hue, be it the more traditional blues of "Lost Woman," neomedieval turns ("Ever Since the World Began," "Turn into Earth"), strange psychedelia ("Hot House of Omagarashid"), or showcases for Beck's playful, pioneering fret work ("Jeff's Boogie"). As an added bonus, both sides of the band's sonically apocalyptic single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"/"Psycho Daisies" (with the rare twin-lead guitar lineup of Beck and Jimmy Page) are also included. An album as enjoyable as it is historically influential. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Pretty cool
This is a pretty cool 60's rock album. A forgotten classic. Jeff Beck is one of the finest british rock guitarists of all-time, and on this album, he just shines, especially on "The Nazz Are Blue", on which he has the perfect tone. It's a diverse album, sometimes drifting on pure british blues, sometimes on psychedelia, simple british pop-rock with cool vocal harmonics, or plain hard rock, like "Psycho Daisies" which features Jeff Beck AND Jimmy Page. It's a great classic rock album, for those who have great taste not only in rock, but simply in music.

A 1966 Milestone!
"Over, Under, Sideways, Down" or "The Yardbirds" or "Roger the Engineer" was the Yardbirds' first real album released in 1966. They had released two albums in America in 1965 "For Your Love" and "Having a Rave Up", but they were merely a compilations of singles, EP's , live-recordings or obscure recording which were included to fill up the albums to reach an acceptable playing-time.

For the first time they were given the opportunity to record a real album. The were not given unlimited studio-time; on the contrary; the album was recorded during a very short time-period; I believe it was about 2 weeks. This makes the result even more impressive. It's no exaggeration to call this album one a the greatest of the mid-sixties. Very tight playing by everyone, impressive and innovative guitar-work from Jeff Beck, solid vocals and great songs.

In my opinion there is no doubt that it's Jeff Beck who makes the difference. I love the sounds he can get out of his guitar. It's not difficult to imagine who stunned people would we when listening to his guitar back in 66. The great mixture of traditional blues and the new psychedelic sounds has never been surpassed.

Even classic 12 bar blues tracks like "Lost Woman","Over, Under, Sideways, Down", "The Nazz Are Blue", "Rack My Mind", "Jeff's Boogie" and "What Do You Want" sounded (sounds) new; and these recordings still sound uplifting and full of energy today.

On songs like "Ever Since The World Began", "Turn Into Earth", "Hot House" and "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" showed a purer progressive side of the band. In fact "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" was not originally included on the album, as it was recorded shortly after, at a time when Jimmy Page had also joined the group. "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" was released as a single with "Psycho Daisies" as the b-side. These two songs have been featured on most re-releases of the album, and can almost be considered as originals. The moving "Farewell" is a another favourite; makes you think of the sad destiny of Keith Relf who died electrocuted in 1976 by his own guitar while practising at his home.

Unfortunately this 2 lead-guitarist period would last very short, as Jeff Beck soon left. As far as I know, they only recorded 3 songs; with "Stroll On" from the movie "Blow Up" as the third.

The bonus tracks makes the CD an even better buy. The Keith Relf solo tracks a all solid; in fact they are really the Yardbirds backing singer Relf. "Mr Zero" is not far from later Yardbirds recordings like "Little Soldier Boy".

If you're even the least interested in the music that came out of the 1960's this milestone is a must buy!

Possibly The Greatest Blues/Rock Album Ever Made
The Yardbirds were probably the greatest British blues band that ever lived. Nothing against other greats like The Stones and Cream, but there's just something about The Yardbirds' music that inevitably puts them above BOTH of those bands.
Look at "Turn Into Earth" for instance. It's my favorite Yardbirds song, and there's just something about it that HAUNTS ME TO DEATH. It is the most eerie, mystifying song that I have ever heard. I get feelings that I just can't put into words when I listen to it. It's quite similar to "Still I'm Sad" from a year earlier, but even MORE haunting. It's so dark that it practically sounds like a funeral song. How they managed to write something like this I'll never understand.
And the blues numbers are killer too. The rumbling bass on "Lost Woman" (hats off to Samwell-Smith) is totally fantastic. "Over Under Sideways Down" became a hit for the band, and it isn't hard to see why, with Jeff Beck's piercing guitar line (he also played bass on this one). And speaking of Jeff, he even gets to sing on "The Nazz Are Blue", the only song that he ever sang in his entire career (as far as I know). His voice is nothing to marvel at, but when it comes time for his guitar solo, all I can say is WOW. The guy rips into those blues licks in a way that just leaves you speechless. Slowhand who?
Then there's the ultra-catchy "I Can't Make Your Way", which is about as British as you can get. This one will be stuck in your head for a long, long time, I guarantee it. "Rackin' My Mind" is cool. The verses are really tame and quiet, and then all of a sudden, they change gears and it gets really intense, with some ferocious licks from Beck. This is the stuff that legends are made of, ladies and gentlemen. "Farewell" is a shimmering slice of Heaven. The lyrics may be somewhat depressing, but that glorious piano and Relf's wonderful vocals (and lyrics) make it a masterpiece. And it's only two minutes long! "Hot House Of Omagarashid" is just a throw-away, the only weak song on the album. Jeff Beck gets his own jazz guitar instrumental with "Jeff's Boogie", a swingin' little tune that will get your feet movin' in no time. "He's Always There" and "What Do You Want" are two EXCELLENT rockers, and "Ever Since The World Began" is very unique. I mean, it starts out so evil and devilish, and then, unexpectedly, it turns into a happy, up-tempo boogie. Man, these Yardbirds are clever, aren't they?
And then we have two songs with Jimmy Page AND Jeff Beck on lead guitar. "Psycho Daisies" is simply awesome. AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! The spacey guitars and the pounding drums will put you in rock 'n roll Heaven. And "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" is, to quote Guitar World Magazine, "An awesome psychedelic stew" (they use the word 'awesome' like I do). And that's absolutely right. Young Page delivers a stinging solo here, and he's already gained that classic 'Jimmy Page style' even here, two years before he would go on to form Led Zeppelin.