Birdland (the Yardbirds album)

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Birdland
The Yardbirds - Birdland.jpg
Studio album by
the Yardbirds
Released22 April 2003 (2003-04-22)
Recorded2002-03
Genre
Length56:52
Label Favored Nations
Producer Ken Allardyce
the Yardbirds chronology
Reunion Jam
(1999)		Birdland
(2003)		 Live! Blueswailing July '64
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
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Birdland is a studio album by English blues rock band the Yardbirds, released in 2003. [1] Their first studio album in over 35 years, the only band members from the 1960's group who appear are drummer Jim McCarty and rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja (former lead guitarist Jeff Beck does have a cameo on "My Blind Life"). Newer members are lead singer and bassist John Idan, lead guitarist Gypie Mayo and harmonica player Alan Glen. Notable lead guitarists make cameos throughout the album, including Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Slash and Brian May.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

Blues rock is a fusion genre combining elements of blues and rock. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock: electric guitar, electric bass, and drums, often with Hammond organ. From its beginnings in the early- to mid-1960s, blues rock has gone through several stylistic shifts and along the way it inspired and influenced hard rock, Southern rock, and early heavy metal. Blues rock continues to be an influence in the 2010s, with performances and recordings by popular artists.

The Yardbirds English band

The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith. The band is known for starting the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down".

Contents

The album contains seven new originals (composed mostly by McCarty or Dreja), and eight remakes of classic songs from the 1960s. The song "An Original Man (A Song for Keith)" was dedicated to Keith Relf, original Yardbirds singer who died tragically in 1976.

Keith Relf English pop musician, singer for the Yardbirds (1943–1976)

William Keith Relf was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for the Yardbirds.

Track listing

  1. "I'm Not Talking" (Mose Allison) – 2:44
  2. "Crying Out for Love" (Jim McCarty) – 4:36(*)
  3. "The Nazz Are Blue" (Chris Dreja, Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith) – 3:15
  4. "For Your Love" (Graham Gouldman) – 3:20
  5. "Please Don't Tell Me 'Bout the News" (Jim McCarty) – 4:00(*)
  6. "Train Kept A-Rollin'" (Howie Kay, Lois Mann, Tiny Bradshaw) – 3:38
  7. "Mr. Saboteur" (Jim McCarty) – 4:55(*)
  8. "Shapes of Things" (Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith) – 2:38
  9. "My Blind Life" (Chris Dreja) – 3:33(*)
  10. "Over Under Sideways Down" (Chris Dreja, Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith) – 3:16
  11. "Mr. You're a Better Man Than I" (Brian Hugg, Mike Hugg) – 3:22
  12. "Mystery of Being" (Jim McCarty) – 4:08(*)
  13. "Dream Within a Dream" (Jim McCarty/ Edgar Allan Poe) – 4:44(*)
  14. "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" (Jeff Beck, Jim McCarty, Jimmy Page, Keith Relf) – 3:22
  15. "An Original Man (A Song for Keith)" (Chris Dreja, Gypie Mayo, Jim McCarty, John Idan) – 5:20(*)

(*) denotes a new song

Personnel

The Yardbirds

Chris Dreja British rock musician

Christopher Walenty Dreja is an English musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and bassist for The Yardbirds.

Rhythm guitar guitar technique; part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section

In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.

Alan Glen British musician

Alan Glen is a British blues harmonica player, best known for his work with The Yardbirds, Nine Below Zero, Little Axe, and his own bands, The Barcodes and The Incredible Blues Puppies.

Additional musicians

Jeff Beck English rock guitarist

Geoffrey Arnold Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of the three noted guitarists to have played with the Yardbirds. Beck also formed the Jeff Beck Group and with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, he formed Beck, Bogert & Appice.

Steve Lukather guitarist

Steven Lee Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as a founding member of Toto. A prolific session musician, Lukather has recorded guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums representing a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Lukather was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. Lukather has released seven solo albums, the latest of which, Transition, was released in January 2013.

Happenings Ten Years Time Ago 1966 single by The Yardbirds

"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" is a 1966 song by the English rock band the Yardbirds. It encompasses the musical genres psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, and has been described as a prototype of heavy metal music. With special effects and dual lead guitars by Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, it was considered groundbreaking for the time. However, it only made a modest showing in the record charts and ended the group's six Top 20 singles run in the UK and US

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References

  1. ↑ "Birdland - The Yardbirds | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
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