YARDBIRDS Part Two 1966-1968 |  

As a DJ at the Nelson Imperial Ballroom in Lancashire in 1966, I got to see Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page together, it was magical.

The Yardbirds are truly an innovative, influential and significant band. You covered their career beautifully. Any band that can claim Page, Beck and Clapton have to be appreciated.

What a shame alot of people don't realize how much the YARDBIRDS influenced so many bands and great guitarists. Kudos to YBs books and documentaries like ( please "like") Pop Goes the 60s.

Happenings Ten Years Time Ago was recorded with John Paul Jones on bass as Chris Dreja didn't consider himself ready yet. I love these little bits of information, especially when they lead to other things

I am a great fan of the Yardbirds. They were one of the early psychedelic rock bands. I still enjoy listening to their music 50 years later.

I feel like if the Yardbirds weren’t even a thing from the 60’s, we probably wouldn’t even have Jeff Beck being in his successful solo career or having Led Zeppelin as a rock band throughout the decades

I tried to learn every Yardbird riff when I started playing guitar..glad I did!

Worth noting in Jan. '67 they toured NZ 4 piece with Walker Bros and Roy Orbison. I quit school aged 15 as my mum knew the promoter Harry M Miller's mum and I landed a job with him. An amazing year touring with Eric Burdon Animals, DDDBMT, The Who, Small Faces, Pitney, Bassey etc. Great memories!

I vividly remember being stunned and stilled when I first heard Becks Bolero in 1969. Still enthralling today imo

Thanks Matt! R.I.P.Jeff Beck Evansville, Indiana

Roger The Engineer is in my top 5 favorite albums of all time. You may not like it, but I think it's a masterpiece.

Great overview of truly how influential this band was, as far as the future of rock music.

The Roger The Engineer album proves that Jeff Beck was playing the E7#9 "Hendrix Chord" before Hendrix had arrived. ;-)

I'm glad Page finally released "Yardbirds '68" which is the finally released cleaned-up legal release of the infamous Anderson Theatre....well worth owning and it rocks.

Big Yardbirds fan since the 70's. Always love Matt Williamson's deep dive-backstory-history. Matt, keep up the fantastic work!

Not forgetting of course that the Yardbirds also created Renaissance, one of Britain's best Prog Rock bands that lasted until the 80's.

The Yardbirds Greatest Hits was one of my most played albums in the 60s - all wheat, no chaff.

Really enjoyed this. But have to disagree re Roger the Engineer. It was their first real album and by far their best, with some fine songs and a variety of styles. I'm thankful that between Nov. 1968 and July 1969 I saw all three of the Yardbirds great guitarists. Clapton with Cream and Blind Faith; Beck 2x with Jeff Beck group with Rod the Mod; Page with Zep. Thanks for this post.

Glimpses is a HUGE fan favorite for Jim McCarty’s New Yardbirds

I really enjoyed the 2 yardbirds vids. They have been a fave band of mine from the 60s. You provided some music sources for me to check out.

Great two-parter on a fascinating, seminal, frustrating band. Lots of interesting stuff, especially those Jeff-driven singles. Of course, Relf & McCarty also formed the band, Renaissance. However, after two albums, they left then the band got popular with a whole new line-up. Bad luck followed them, I guess. Thanks for helping to tell the story and share samples.

Not only did the Yardbirds lead to Led Zeppelin, but also Renaissance was created by Keith Relf and his sister Jane. They eventually were also known as Illusion, after Keith passed away while Michael Dunsford and Annie Haslam continued with the Renaissance name. An incredible harvest from an excellent band.

Great Band 👍👍😎

I was fortunate enough to see page, Beck, and Clapton on stage at the same time at the arms benefit concert. Jimmy was coming out of his darkest time and Eric Clapton was well Eric Clapton. Jeff Beck stole the show, he was absolutely on fire

Black Rose, love that one as with all of the post Clapton era, yet i love that era As well No words for their Influence

What another great series Matt, love the Yardbirds🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤘🇬🇧

'Happenings Ten Years Time Ago' / 'Psycho Daisies' might just be my second favourite UK single of 1966.

I am so happy that I found your channel. Sharing it with all of my friends. You Rock!!

The guitar solo in 'Think About It' definitely had the seeds of the solo Page ended up doing on Zeppelin's 'Dazed And Confused'. And there's a live version of the Yarbirds doing 'Train Kept A Rollin' on a TV show in 68 that starts with the chords Page used at the end of the solo of 'Dazed And Confused', where he does the E D-A E G thing. Just some observations. :)

Thanks for sharing this. I have an appreciation for the latter day Yardbirds. It's nice to see how Led Zeppelin was formed. Cheers! ✌️

Phenomenal job!! Matt is the best on RU-vid!! Killer job!!

For anyone interested there is a great Yardbirds version of Dazed and Confused from French television on RU-vid.

I went to see the Yardbirds in 1966 at the Carousel Ballroom (later Fillmore West). At the time the SF bay area was rife with bands. Jeff Beck was the current guitar hero. Yardbirds songs had become a staple of local cover bands. SF's Harbinger Complex open for the Yardbirds. Both bands played on the dance floor rather than on the stage (?) Every guitar player in the Bay Area was there to hear Beck. Then it was announced that Beck was in the hospital with acute insomnia and would not appear! Immediately there was a mob run on the box office! People wanted their money back! I would have joined them but I wasn't quick enough! It was announced that the bass player named Jimmy Page would fill in for Jeff Beck. Chris Dreja played bass. None of us in Northern California had heard of Page in 1966.

I'm sure Eddie Phillips of The Creation was Page's inspiration for using a violin bow.

I had no idea The Yardbirds did, "Ha Ha Said The Clown". I only knew the Manfred Mann version. So much I didn't know about the Yardbirds. Thanks for this overview of their career.

Thanks Matt for this in-depth look at one of my favorite bands. The first time I heard I'm a Man when it was released in the early sixties Beck's guitar spun my head around! It always sounded like he was going off the rails in that tune...I must have played that 45 hundreds of times till it scratched out.

I was in Junior high during the Yardbirds' heyday and a freshman in highschool when they broke up. I loved their hits.

I remember in the late '90's, cruising around on a summer night with my girlfriend (now wife), listening to the Yardbirds. During 'Think About It' I remember she looked over at me and said something to the effect of, "It's really cool to be hanging out with a guy who listens to the Yardbirds. You don't see much of that these days." Needless to say, we are quite a good matchup (and she's a knockout, too, which definitely doesn't hurt). Another Yardbirds-related tidbit: I knew a guy who used to come see our band play; he was about 25 years older than me, and he knew I love the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, etc. He told me he saw the Yardbirds in 1966 with the brief dual-lead attack lineup of Beck/Page, and actually spoke to Jimmy for a few minutes. He also told me he saw them at Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire on a Sunday afternoon in (he believed it was) 1967. He said there was practically no one there. He was a really great guy, and sadly he has since passed away. He had some great stories about seeing the Yardbirds, the Who and Led Zeppelin in the late '60's. Enough to make a guy like me, who was too young to have seen those great bands, more than a little envious!!

Absolutely brilliant and educational!

The story of Yardbirds' possible participation in San Remo Festival is something I didn't know! Also, "Cumular Limit" is another revelation. Thanks for the very comprehensive docs in 2 parts!

Thanks for this. I really enjoyed both parts. Matt, you do a great deal of research for these deep dives and it's greatly appreciated.

Thanks for an excellent review of this awesome band. I guess you could have mentioned their semi-reunion under the name Box of Frogs. But that's another decade.

Love these series!!! Nobody does them better than you do Matt, Now Im going to re-watch this Yardbirds series back to back and enjoy it with a cold one-Cheers Matt 🍺✌

Eric Clapton was a rhythm and blues purist at one time when he was in the Yardbirds . When they wanted to stray away from that with For Your Love he said goodbye to the Yardbirds and Jeff Beck took over as the lead guitarist and Jimmy Paige played bass . Eric went to the John Mayal Blues Breakers band . If I got any of that wrong let me know . I had a motorcycle wreck . Paige switched to guitar with The Yardbirds . Poor Keith Relf got electrocuted when he touched the wrong thing . My favorite number they did was Smokestack Lightning , an old blues number . Rave Up was a great album .

The YBs with Page also recorded "Great Shakes" and Macclenny Toothpaste Jingles. The 1st one is avail on "Little Games Sessions and More" 2CD disc and the 2nd jingle is on a 5 CD set. Plus there were BBC songs. Great documentary!!!

Thank you...LOVE IT!!!!!

Always loved the Yardbirds. Thanks for the info.

Another great video. I'd love to see one for Cream

GREAT JOB!

Loved it as always. I remember my brother was a guitarist and trying to start a band in the late 60s and he swore by and listened only to The Yardbirds and Leo Kotke. Thanks always for the great content, Matt!

Great series. Learned so much, thanks.

Another stellar job! Great review Matt!

Thank you

Thanks Matt. It is tragic that at the height of their creative powers they were throttled by various factors, as you point out in this presentation. Ah, what could have been. As it is, they are one of my favorite bands. Thanks again.

Classy and totally professional as usual. Thank you!

Thank you, I learned a lot!!!

Thank you Matt for filling in the blanks of the later days of the Yardbirds. Jimmy Page did some of his best guitar work in those days. Pages’s use of the violin bow (on “Little Games”) and the flanger (on “Goodnight Sweet Josephine”) were truly unique. A passing moment that went by too quickly. Thanks and my best to you.

Thank you for another great video Matt!

Really nicely done. Enjoyed it. Lots of interesting facts some I didn’t know. Def gonna check out more of your posts.

How very fine indeed! Thank you so much! 🤘🏻🎸🎤💙

Thanks for this video Matt. Learned a lot about the later years of the Yardbirds. Cheers

Love the format of the show. Please keep these biographies coming.

I've really enjoyed these Yardbirds videos, great job.

Thanks Matt! Always look forward to another episode. Great work. Keep Rockn!

My only comment is, I think it is pretty well accepted that the first rock guitar player using a violin bow is Eddie Phillips of The Creation.

Great video. I love how you put their history together.

The photos, vinyl sleeves, and clips really add to the flow of your narrative of the Yardbirds history. I was only 16 and underage to attend when the '68 Yardbirds played a gig at The Purple Haze club in Riverside, CA. I saw what was left of them in 1998 at the Long Beach, CA Blues Fest.

Great series!!! Would love another 5 or 10 minutes to continue with the start of Led Zeppelin and what became of the other members.

Great show. Great production and very informative. Thank you for this😊🌎

What a great view of the yardbirds, love them so much. You did a great job of recognizing them and their fame, ty🎶

Very cool!

Thanks Matt. Super informative, as always. I'm always impressed by your ability to go into detail on things I had heard way back, or things I'd never heard. Rock on!

Well done. Thanks for the video. ✌️😁👍

Great 2-parter on this under-appreciated band. I learned a lot I didn't know. Thanks Matt!

Great to hear all this info, and especially with the little tastes of the tracks you talk about, you’ve given me some good stuff to explore further.

Great job (as usual)! I totally enjoyed these videos you did on the Yardbirds! So well produced! Loved the info, photos, and especially all the music snippets you interwove in telling their history. I was surprised at songs I never knew existed. Thank u!!

That’s an interesting note about David McCallum. Somewhere in my collection I have an album he put out around that time.

Great episode, Matt, really appreciate your research 👏

The Yardbirds remind me of an all star football team where there are just too many potential goal kickers with not enough side men. On paper they should have been huge but it just goes to show.

The Film Blow Up Is on my hard drive , I remember seeing when I came out I think 67 ?

As a teen I inherited my grandfather's PYE grammophone - the same one your lamp sits on. Awesome to see one again! I still remember the smell of the thing when I lifted the lid!!

Happily Jeff Beck Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, these 3 Legends are still with us.

You've got a nice poster or is it a handbill of the Yardbirds with the Sir Douglas Quintet on which also is the Loading Zone, the R&B cover band I was in. There's another of those Bay Area venues - the San Ramon High Stadium! But our favorite place was the Fillmore (before they called it the Fillmore West), that hall was really funky, especially the Green Room washroom and the loft up the back stairs. Thanks for the flash from the past.

Beck has proven that he alone has emerged as top dog guitar God of all the invasion era players.

Roger The Engineer is flawed, but still great.

One of the most interesting bands from the british invasion and one of the most innovative ones of the british invasion, also quite underappreciated, i think that Roger The Engineer is a truly great record.

Great breakdows Matt. I learnt a lot. Gonna pick up that compilation you mentioned. Cheers from Tokyo!

Really enjoyed this history lesson. One of my favorite 60's bands. I also like the variety of albums you have in the background when you're doing these Pop Go the 60's videos! Keep up the good work!!

Thank you, what a great history of The Yardbirds. I have enjoyed every minute of information on parts 1 and 2. I have just about every track and album you mentioned, except for the 'Cumular' album, even though some of the Australian Versions are slightly different. Definitely will be going through them again this week.

Good Night Sweet Josephine is a banger!

great channel

Your videos are great because they cut to the chase on band developments. It's very straightforward, yet thorough and in depth in its anecdotes & insights.

Great keep going

Good job.

Great follow up video! I bought a few Yardbirds CDs back in the early 1990s but they sort of fell off my radar. I may do a little more exploring of the later period. Thanks for sharing this!

I love these series you do on Bands from the 60s. Every thought about doing one of these retrospectives (lack of better word) on The Grass Roots? That would be cool. Keep up the great work!

I'm glad that The Yardbirds are getting a recognition of their history, one of the greatest 60s bands, shame they went early. Excited for the upcoming band history videos, which band is up next?

Great videos on the Yardbirds, man. I was in high school in the 80s when I started playing guitar, and a lot of my practice was playing to their records and learning the riffs, etc. I bought the Shapes of Things LP Box Set and a bunch of other LPs. I have three versions of Roger the Engineer! They were definitely a guitar player's band, but ultimately are a frustrating band. A lot of their material was just terrible. Don't get me wrong, I love the Yardbirds, but they're one of those bands that when they're good, they're really really good (and way ahead of their time), but when they're bad, boy are they bad. I think Keith Relf became more of a liability in the later years, when combined with the material they were using. If they had stayed more heavy riff-based rock, I think it would have worked better. Still one of the most important bands ever, though.

FYI. You need to check out “Box of Frogs” Three original members of the Yardbirds created the band in 1983 and they put out a couple of albums. Not sure if it’s on CD, I have both of the vinyls. Pretty good sound.

Thanks Matt, that was great. I reckon The Yardbirds must have also been one of the first groups to consistently use the same font (The Yardbirds) on all of their work.