#350 - The Yardbirds - Yardbirds a.k.a Roger the Engineer (1966)

MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:

THE YARDBIRDS BACKGROUND

The Yardbirds formed in the southwest suburbs of London in 1963, with a core lineup of vocalist / harmonica player Keith Reif, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja, and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith. Lead guitar was held at various points by Top Topham initially, and then three guitar legends – Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. The name of the band is a reference to Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road” where it referred to rail yard hobos. After the Rolling Stones left their residency at the Crawdaddy Club, the Yardbirds took over, and that got the ball rolling for them. Like other British R&B inspired bands, they played covers of artists like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Howlin’ Wolf. Giorgio Gomelsky, who ran the Crawdaddy Club, took over as the band’s manager and first record producer, set them up on their first tour as a back-up band for Chicago Blues Great Sonny Boy Williamson, and their first record deal. “Five Live Yardbirds” was their first UK-only release in 1964, followed by For Your Love in July 1965, which was their first US-only release. Having a Rave Up (album #355 discussed just a few weeks ago) was their second US-only release in November 1965. Clapton had left the band early in 1965 due to the musical direction the band was heading in, and Jeff Beck had replaced him by the time they were gearing up to record today’s album, released in 1966.

The band broke up in 1968, with Reif and McCarty forming Renaissance, and Page starting Led Zeppelin. McCarthy and Dreja reformed in the 1990s, but Dreja left in 2012, leaving McCarthy as the only original active member. A major part of their legacy was how well received their live shows were, and maybe weren’t a band that weren’t fully appreciated until much later on.

‘Yardbirds aka Roger the Engineer’ BACKGROUND

This album was originally released in the UK as “Yardbirds” and in the US and other countries as “Over Under Sideways Down”. This is their only UK studio album and third US album. It was released in July on both sides of the pond 3 days apart.

This is the only Yardbirds album that contains Jeff Beck on all tracks and is all original material.

The band, led by Relf and McCarty, eschewed cover material, writing the entire album themselves. They were allotted "a whole week" to record the album, according to Dreja, resulting in a "crammed" albeit eclectic mix of blues, hard rock, monkish chanting ("Turn into Earth", "Ever Since the World Began") and African tribal rhythms ("Hot House of Omagararshid"). Beck's guitar lines were a unifying constant throughout. Over Under Sideways Down and Jeff’s Boogie were recorded earlier in a two-day span in April.

It got the nickname and eventually became the semi-official title “Roger the Engineer” due to the drawing on the album cover done by bassist Chris Dreja of audio engineer Roger Cameron on the UK release. The US release got a boring cover with the band on it with two members shown sideways.

It is the only Yardbirds album to appear in the UK Albums Chart, where it reached number 20. In the US, it reached number 52 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making it the band's highest-charting studio album in the US

The band’s first manager, Georgio Gomelsky had left by these recording sessions and was replaced by Simon Napier-Bell

Besides two tracks being on the UK release (The Nazz Are Blue & Rack My Mind), some tracks are mixed differently between the US and UK versions (differences will be noted in the tracks section)