1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #74. The Yardbirds - The Yardbirds (a.k.a. Roger The Engineer) (1966)

The Yardbirds - The Yardbirds (a.k.a. Roger The Engineer) (1966)

Label – Columbia
Producer – Paul Samwell-Smith, Simon Napier-Bell
Art Direction – Chris Dreja
Nationality - UK
Running Time – 33:10

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Lost Woman
2. Over, Under, Sideways, Down
3. The 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 Dasies

This was – oddly – the first Yardbirds album. Up until tis point they had been a singles band. In America, this was their THIRD record. As the Amercian companies gathered all the singles, B sides and some session tracks and made their own ‘albums’. But this is the first the record the group recorded with a long play record release in mind. Gone was guitar god Eric Clapton, and in his place stepped Jeff Beck, and immediately the Yardbirds began to change their sound. Expanding their blues-rock sound into wild sonic psychedelic, Indian music, and avant-garde white noise. Unfortunately, the record isn’t as great as that sounds. “The Yardbirds” featured all original material, and despite a handful of brilliant moments, it falls short of expectations. I’m not sure if it’s because they were reluctant to totally leave their blues roots behind or simply because they couldn’t write a full records worth of original material. It’s not that it is a bad record – but it’s great moments ("Lost Woman," "Over, Under Sideways, Down," "Jeff’s Boogie” ) make the rest really pale in comparison. The result is an unfocused record that shifts wildly between great and merely adequate.
The album is officially titled “The Yardbirds”. In the US and France they chose to call it “Over Under Sideways Down” because of the single riding the charts. Over the years it was called “Roger The Engineer”, a title based on the drawing on its front cover, a cartoon of the record's engineer Roger Cameron by band member Chris Dreja. The name has stuck and it is semi-officially now titled “The Yardbirds – aka –Roger The Engineer”
In 2003, the album was ranked number 349 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Jeff Beck's experimentation with guitar distortion (the ‘birth’ of heavy metal?) and the few standout tracks make the record recommended.


You can purchase the CD here.

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MARCH 4
Chris Squire from Yes is 61; Chris Rea is 58; Jason Newsted, formerly with Metallica, is 46; Evan Dando from the Lemonheads is 42;

ON THIS DATE
1966 John lennon made his remark to a reporter about how “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We’re more popular than Jesus right now.”
1970 Janis Joplin is fined $200 for swesaring onstage at a concert in Tampa
1971 The Rolling Stones annonce that they will be moving to France due to too much tax in Great Britain.
1973 Pink Floyd begin their U.S. tour supporting their latest album Dark Side Of The Moon
1986 Richard Manuel from The Band hangs himself in a hotel room in Winter Park, Florida. He was 42.
2006 Aerosmith has to cancel several concerts as Steven Tyler has strained his vocal chords

CONCERT NEWS
Thursday, March 5 SOUL ASYLUM Gibson Guitar Town Orlando
Thursday, March 5 ELTON JOHN/BILLY JOEL St. Pete's Times Forum Tampa
Friday, April 17 BLACKFOOT Titusville
Friday, April 24 CANDLEBOX Jannus Landing St. Petersburg
Saturday, May 9 JANE'S ADDICTION & NINE INCH NAILS Ford Ampitheatre Tampa
Saturday, May 30 LITA FORD Club Firestone Orlando
Friday, June 12 BETTER THAN EZRA Jannus Landing St. Petersburg