To everyone’s frustration, nothing sold. “Our contemporaries all had hits,” said Jim, “and we wanted one as well.” As The Rolling Stones and other R&B groups like The Animals and Manfred Mann got a head start on The Yardbirds, there were fewer songs to cover if they didn’t want to repeat what those other artists had recorded. The goal was to have a hit record, not only for the revenue it would generate, but, as Chris pointed out, “to increase our popularity so we could draw a crowd beyond the fifty-mile radius of London.”
While The Yardbirds were hanging out with The Beatles as special guests on their Christmas shows at the Hammersmith Odeon, John Lennon suggested Chuck Jackson’s “The Breaking Point” as a potential single. They also met with a publisher who played them a simple demo with just bongos, a guitar, and a vocal. The composer, Graham Gouldman, was inspired to write songs by The Beatles. He was a guitarist in Manchester band The Mockingbirds. When the group’s label declined to record “For Your Love,” he offered it to The Yardbirds. They liked it. They thought it was different.
Samwell-Smith asked Giorgio to appoint him the band’s “musical director.” In arranging the song for the February 1 session, he kept the bongos on the demonstration record, now performed by Denny Piercey, and hired harpsichordist Brian Auger and standup bassist Ron Prentiss. The band as a whole was restricted to playing during a middle break. As soon as it was finished, they all believed it was that elusive hit.
Even before the group recorded “For Your Love,” a bone of contention for blues purist Clapton, he exhibited passive-aggressive behavior. He showed up late for gigs, and skipped one entirely. He became increasingly argumentative and withdrawn. He quit the group—or caused Giorgio to fire him—days before the single was released.
Despite his expertise, the others were relieved when he left, and felt no longer restricted to the blues. Clapton’s last appearance with the group was on March 3 at Uncle Bonnie’s Chinese Jazz Club. “I didn’t want to be part of a group that was going to be on TV doing Tin Pan Alley songs,” Eric said. A month later he joined John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. “For Your Love” became a big hit, soaring to number three in the UK and number six in the US.
Gomelsky asked Jimmy Page to replace Eric, but he was making too much money as a session guitarist, and recommended Jeff Beck (twenty). Jeff had played with fifteen groups through the years, but was then a member of The Tridents. He wasn’t making much money—he had holes in his shoes—and he was married. He recalled two guys corralling him between sets when The Tridents appeared at the 100 Club, telling him to be at the Marquee on Tuesday at two o’clock. “There’s a ratty van outside with ‘Keith’ written all over it with lipstick,” Jeff recalled. “I’m thinking, ‘It’s The Stones!’ I enter and realize my mistake, that it’s an audition for The Yardbirds. I see Keith Relf puffing on an atomizer. He tells me he has asthma. I thought, ‘I’m joining an asthmatic blues band.’” Jeff took the job in part because it meant more money.
He debuted with the group wearing Eric Clapton’s suit on March 5 at Fairfield Hall in Croydon. “It was horrible when I first started with The Yardbirds,” he recounted to the Daily Bruin’s Salli Stevenson, “because Clapton’s playing was so irresistible that I found myself playing like him. On top of that, Keith Relf told me to play the same way because I was a new guitar player. The first night I ever played with them, I got an ovation of the standing variety for an instrumental I can’t remember the title of. If I hadn’t played that tune, I probably would still have been underdog to Keith.”
Chris was put in charge of cleaning Jeff up, taking him shopping for mod clothes and getting his hair cut: “He was very shy and a bit of a rough diamond, pretty scruffy, working on his car all the time.” Jim added, “Jeff’s really a strange person because basically he’s quiet and nice. He’s got a big insecurity thing. He freaks out on stage, sometimes turning into something else, almost like a monster movie. I think he was uptight following Eric, but then he became a temperamental person anyway.”
When I interviewed Jim and Chris in 1982, they described a promotional film Giorgio had directed of them lip-synching “For Your Love” in a field in Windsor. Their description of the band dressed in medieval costumes and suits of armor was so ridiculous, I thought they were pulling my leg. Years later, in the era of YouTube, it was posted for all to see. The Yardbirds marveled at Giorgio’s ingenuity, but not all of his ideas were good ones.
“Heart Full of Soul,” another Graham Gouldman song, became the group’s next single. Because Giorgio thought a lot of the appeal of “For Your Love” was the prominence of the uncommon harpsichord, he had the idea of introducing novel Indian instruments to a rock arrangement. He hired a sitar player and a tabla player, but the former couldn’t quite get the tempo down and the instrument sounded thin. Jeff Beck stepped in, plugged his guitar into a Tone Bender fuzz box, and came up with a paralyzing electrical riff that made me think of an enormous maniac bee working its way into someone’s flesh.
The group was now playing more concert than club dates, and toured with The Kinks and The Beatles. During the summer, “Heart Full of Soul” climbed to number two in the UK and nine in the US. The group embarked to America for three weeks on September 2. Problems with the American musicians union caused dates to be cancelled.
A factor that affected The Yardbirds on their first tour, as well as limiting the flow of British bands to the US, was a rule enacted by the American Federation of Musicians union. In order to protect the jobs of their members, the AFM restricted foreign musicians from performing in the US unless there was a trade out with that country. For example, if a five-piece rock band from the UK wanted to tour in the States to promote their new record, five American musicians would have to be guaranteed employment in the UK. Those bands hoping to skirt by undetected, or whose management was uninformed, risked having dates cancelled—which is what happened to The Yardbirds—when brought to the attention of the US Labor Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Here’s AFM president Herman Kenin’s position in 1964 regarding The Beatles: “We don’t consider them unique. They are musicians and only sing incidentally. We can go to Yonkers or Tennessee and pick up four kids who can do this kind of stuff.”
While in Los Angeles, The Yardbirds taped a couple of Shindig! shows, and on September 9 performed a scene-making party in the Hollywood Hills where they set up behind the living room sofa. Phil Spector, Jackie DeShannon, Peter & Gordon, and members of The Byrds attended. While Jim was packing up his drums into a van, comedian Lenny Bruce hurled a dirt clod at him from an upstairs window. Much more impactful, this is where Jeff met and fell head over heels in love with Mary Hughes, a statuesque blond beauty who had been a featured extra in the beach party movies. Compared with England, Chris Dreja described California as going from “black and white into Technicolor.”
Jim: “Loads of people asked us if we were The Beatles.” Chris: “We used to tell people we were salesmen, that we were selling long hair.” It was a good joke, but it wasn’t so funny when the group was denied entrance to Disneyland because their hair was too long.
With dates now available, Giorgio booked sessions for them in two legendary recording studios. At Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio (also referred to as Sun Studio) in Memphis, they recorded “Train Kept A-Rollin” and “You’re a Better Man Than I.” The legendary Sam Phillips, who had produced Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, interrupted a fishing trip to engineer the session. Despite the special circumstances, Keith Relf got drunk and pissed everybody off. He redid his vocals a week later in New York. At Chess Recording Studios in Chicago—the home of Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley—they captured Diddley’s “I’m A Man,” which had been part of the group’s live set the past two years. In addition to the magical experiences, the band felt they got a better sound than they had previously in England.
That fall they did lots of gigs in the UK, some in Germany and Belgium
. In October the third Graham Gouldman single was released. “Evil Hearted You” boasted fine group vocals, powerful guitar chords, and Beck’s blistering lead. It got up to number three in the UK. Of equal interest was the B-side’s “Still I’m Sad,” composed by McCarty and Samwell-Smith in the mode of a thirteenth century Gregorian chant. Giorgio helped out on the low notes. Despite its unconventionality, it got considerable airplay in both the US and UK. Instead of “Evil Hearted You,” Epic Records in America released “I’m a Man.” It’s the group’s recording that best captures their speeded-up rave-up style, a frenzy of rapidly strummed, muted guitar strings. It made it to number seventeen.
In December The Yardbirds were back in the US for three weeks. At Chess Recording Studios they recorded “Shapes of Things,” which group members—Jeff Beck included—consider their best record. Paul—with Jim contributing later—wrote the song in a Chicago bar about the destruction of the planet. It’s a great record and a distinctly Yardbirds-sounding record. The pulsing guitars discharge a very electric sound, almost as if they were plugged into the power grid. The break spirits the listener away onto an exhilarating magic carpet ride via the Indian melodies of the vocals and lead guitar, which Jeff played on one string. The March 1966 single rose to three in the UK and eleven in the US.
A highlight for Jeff was when Giorgio took him to see Howlin’ Wolf perform in a club that looked like it had recently been converted from a drug store. Jeff: “There were Negroes standing and sitting everywhere eating chicken and rice. And up on the stage was Howlin’ Wolf dressed in a black dinner jacket and sitting on a stool playing some battered old guitar.” Jeff met Howlin’ Wolf and sat in with his backing group.
Attendance on the winter dates was mixed. Only ten fans turned up for a show on Christmas night at the Peppermint Stick Club in Wheatfield, New York. Traveling by small planes in the Midwest during hunting season provided novel traveling companions, according to Jim: “Next to you would be these guys who had been hunting and their dead moose was in the front seat.”
From their numerous tours of the US, The Yardbirds got a good glimpse of the cultures in different parts of the country. The first time they arrived in Los Angeles, they unintentionally drove through Watts, with buildings still smoldering in the aftermath of the riots. Chris: “We were touring the US during a period when aluminum coffins were coming out of the back of the plane at the same time as our luggage, and servicemen were everywhere. Ninety percent of the country was conservative: Bible belt, military, crew cut types, or businessmen. Businessmen with briefcases would see us and walk back for another look.”
Giorgio had an idea to make The Yardbirds the first rock band to play the San Remo Music Festival, held at the end of January in San Remo, Italy. He thought it would be good exposure, and it would ingratiate the group to the Italian record company. A month before, The Yardbirds had recorded the two Italian-composed pop songs (with English lyrics) at RCA Studios in Hollywood, but they weren’t happy about it. Jeff even refused to contribute to one of the songs. The appearance was a misfire and no good came out of it.
The Yardbirds nonetheless had a good relationship with Gomelsky, whom they considered a sixth member of the band. Chris: “We had a good time with Giorgio. He used to look just like Fidel Castro, so we got him an army jacket and the type of peaked hat that Fidel wore. We used to have him paged at the airport: ‘Would Fidel Castro please come to TWA check-in.’” But after one too many bad ideas—San Remo—it was time to make a change. More to the point, where was the money? They were having hits on both sides of the Atlantic, earning more from live performances, but they were making the same wage as a year ago. They didn’t think Gomelsky was cheating them, but that he was bad with finances. When they informed him, he was heartbroken. In order for them to get out of their agreement with Gomelsky, the group agreed to forfeit their artist royalties on all their previous recordings.
At the time, recent hits weren’t thought to have much value, so it was an easy decision to make. Only years later were the group’s masters considered classics, generating income not only from record sales, but from films, TV shows, and commercials. For example, in 1986 Rhino produced The Yardbirds Greatest Hits, Volume One: 1964-1966. It sold around 130,000. For simplicity sake, if the royalty was a dollar an album, $130,000 was paid to Gomelsky with, presumably, no money paid to the band.
Paul’s sister worked for novice manager Simon Napier-Bell as his secretary and recommended him as a replacement. When Simon met with the group, he liked them. He was anticipating meeting “bloody monsters like The Rolling Stones,” but he found them “gentle souls with good manners.” He took over in April 1966. “He worked hard in the beginning,” Jim said, “got us our first-ever advance from the record company. But where Giorgio over-related to us, he couldn’t relate to us at all.”
On May 31 the group entered Advision Studios to record an album for the first time, with Samwell-Smith and Napier-Bell coproducing. Most of the songs were written in the studio—Relf supplied a majority of the lyrics—with the band sharing the credits. The Yardbirds, also known as Roger the Engineer from Chris’ cover illustration of studio engineer Roger Cameron (and, minus two songs, as Over Under Sideways Down in the US), is considered a near-classic, ranking at number 350 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It is, indeed, an exceptional album, but not because of the songwriting. Sonically, it’s among the best albums of the period: with extraordinary dynamics, and clarity of both instruments and voices. The band’s sound is consistent through a variety of influences: Indian, African, Australian, chants, blues, and country. There is also a song about suicide, Relf’s “Farewell.”
The album provides a showcase for Jeff’s resourcefulness on nearly every track. Take for example “The Nazz are Blue.” Jeff sings new lyrics over an energetic reworking of “Dust My Broom,” a delta blues popularized by Elmore James. Jeff was a fan of hipster comic Lord Buckley who referred to Jesus as “The Nazz” because he came from Nazareth. (George Harrison’s 1977 hit “Crackerbox Palace” was also inspired by Buckley.) For the solo, Jeff essentially plays one note, using vibrato and controlled reverb to sustain the volume. It’s brilliant, it’s effective, it’s original, and it’s totally Jeff. Its only fault was Beck’s horrible moaning—he insisted on singing instead of Keith.
“Over Under Sideways Down,” developed after jamming around Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” was recorded in mid-April to be released as a single in June. A group composition, Jeff contributed the bass and came up with the sinuous violin-like riff on his fuzz-tone guitar. The flip, “Jeff’s Boogie,” showcased Beck’s multiple guitar styles in a swing rhythm.
Jeff was brilliant. In my opinion, the best playing of his career was with The Yardbirds. Regardless on how shaky the ground he perceived himself to be, Jeff rose to the challenge as a member of a team. Rather than taking delight in how well he excelled, though, Jeff felt pressure. It was an internal dilemma, not because his bandmates were unreasonably demanding. In his post-Yardbirds career, his personal dynamic was different. As a bandleader he had more say in his repertoire, and his musicians were more beholden to him.
On June 18 The Yardbirds were hired to headline the Oxford May Ball, a prestigious and well-paid end-of-the-school-year formal dance. Keith had been drinking heavily and his performance deteriorated. He blew raspberries into the mic and rolled around on the stage. He was incapacitated for much of the second set during which the band played instrumentals. It proved to be the last straw for Paul, who was also fed up with touring. “At twenty-three I’m too old for all these screaming kids leaping about,” he said, not long after the gig. “I don’t think I’ll be missed—no one really noticed me on stage. I might just as well have been a dummy.”
“Paul was invaluable, articulate, and bright,” Chris said, “but he was also nervous and high-strung. He was a lovely man, but a square peg in the round hole of rock and roll. Most people thou
ght of him as uptight and officious.” When Samwell-Smith left, they lost the creative heart of the band. He produced their last big hit: “Over Under Sideways Down” climbed to ten in the UK and thirteen in the US.
As it happened, Jimmy Page (twenty-two) had ridden with Jeff to the dance that night. On the way home, he offered to step in and play bass. The timing was finally right for Jimmy to hit the road as a member of a hit rock band. Although Jeff got along with the other members of the group, he felt that McCarty was the only one he could talk to, and was lonely. Having Jimmy join would mean that he finally had a friend in the band, an ally. “Jimmy made a point of getting the right clothes to present the right image,” said McCarty. “We played a gig in Scotland where Beck and Page were wearing old military jackets with German Iron Crosses and they got spat upon. Jimmy seemed interested in instruments of perversion. Every now and then he’d talk about the Marquis de Sade.”
My British Invasion Page 13