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Yardbirds '68
Yardbirds '68 is a compilation album by English rock group the Yardbirds.[1] Recorded in 1968 in New York City when the group was a quartet with guitarist Jimmy Page, it includes live performances and demos.[2] Page produced the album, which was released in November 2017 on his own record label.[3] It was released as a double CD and LP record. Recording and releaseThe tracks were recorded during the Yardbirds' last American tour in 1968;[4] the live recordings are from their performance at the Anderson Theater on 30 March and studio recordings are demos from sessions at Columbia Recording Studio in April.[5] Previously, the ten live tracks appeared on Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page.[2] The album was issued by Epic Records in 1971, but was quickly withdrawn.[5] Most of the eight demos were included on the limited release Cumular Limit in 2000.[4] "Knowing That I'm Losing You" with vocals by Keith Relf, was pulled from Cumular Limit prior to release to avoid a lawsuit,[5] and is officially released for the first time on Yardbirds '68, although as an instrumental. The live performance follows a typical Yardbirds' set list for the period and includes several of their best-known songs, including "The Train Kept A-Rollin'", "I'm a Man", "Shapes of Things", and "Over Under Sideways Down".[6] Ryan Reed of Rolling Stone noted that among the songs are three which carried over to Led Zeppelin: "Dazed and Confused", "White Summer", and "Knowing That I'm Losing You", which was later reworked as "Tangerine".[2] All three surviving members of the 1968 lineup (Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja and Jimmy Page) participated in preparing the album[2] and issued a joint statement: "We thought this might be lost forever, but we’ve rediscovered it, re-mixed it. It’s of great historical importance. We’re delighted to see the release."[3] Critical receptionIn a review for Classic Rock magazine, Ian Fortnam gave the album four out of five stars.[6] While he has favourable comments on some of the demos, he notes "the main attraction here is the live set" that includes Yardbirds' standards and "Dazed and Confused".[6] He adds that the audio has a brighter, cleaner sound than the 1971 Epic album; however, the song introductions and banter (provided by singer Keith Relf) have been unfortunately removed.[6] For the ten year anniversary edition of the Led Zeppelin biography, When Giants Walked the Earth, author Mick Wall commented on Yardbirds '68: "It's not overstating the case to describe this [album] as proto-Led Zeppelin ... it's all right there in New York in March 1968 [with] the sonic templates of 'Train Kept A-Rollin'', 'Dazed and Confused' and 'White Summer'".[7] Track listingWriter credits are from the album liner notes.[8] Running times (not included in the notes) are taken from the AllMusic album overview.[9]
Personnel
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