The Yardbirds: Little Games Sessions & More (Disc-2) CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

The Yardbirds Little Games Sessions & More (Disc-2) (1967)
Little Games Sessions & More - Disc 2 of 2 - EMI Legends Of Rock N' Roll Series\n1992 EMI Records Ltd.\n\n''Little Games'' LP Originally Released 1967\nThis Compilation Originally Released August 25, 1992\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: This digitally remastered 32-track, double-disc set covers Jimmy Page's tenure with The Yardbirds. This period didn't contain the band's best work, mainly because Mickie Most's poppish production reined in the band's experimental strengths. Nevertheless, tracks like "Little Games," "Puzzles," "Smile on Me," "Drinking Muddy Water," and a wonderful acoustic version of Jimmy Page's "White Summer" make this a good overview of The Yardbird's final stretch as a band. This set includes extensive liner notes and discography -- a real treat for fans. -- Rick Clark\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: If almost any group other than the Yardbirds had released Little Games, it would be considered a flawed but prime late-'60s psychedelic/hard rock artifact instead of a serious step backward, and even a disappointment. Not that it's a bad album -- it just lacks the cohesion and polish of the group's preceding album, The Yardbirds (aka Over Under Sideways Down aka Roger the Engineer). And well it should -- although they were nominally the same group they'd been a year earlier, in reality the Yardbirds had undergone a massive shift in personnel since the release of The Yardbirds. The departure of original bassist Paul Samwell-Smith in June of 1966 set off a sequence of personnel shifts, bringing guitarist Jimmy Page into the lineup, first on bass and then on lead guitar in tandem with Jeff Beck (while rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja switched to bass), until Beck's exit in November 1966 for a solo career left Page as their lone guitarist. At the same time, the band was forced -- by the failure of its single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" -- to accept a new producer in the guise of Mickie Most, who was currently enjoying huge success with Donovan and had a formidable string of hit singles to his credit with Herman's Hermits, the Animals, et al. The Yardbirds' blues roots and progressive tendencies clashed with Most's pop/rock preferences, and the two sides never did reconcile, much less mesh for more than a few minutes on the finished album. To top it off, the bandmembers were finally seeing some serious money for their live performances (ironically, just as they were hanging on by their fingertips to a recording contract), courtesy of their new manager, Peter Grant, and so were committed to lots of stage work. The overall result was a hastily done and uneven LP with flashes of brilliance. Apart from the title single -- one of the better compromises between where the group had been and where Most wanted to take them -- the two best cuts were "White Summer" and "Drinking Muddy Water," excellent showcases for the experimental and bluesy sides of the band, respectively; both, curiously, were also virtually thefts, "White Summer" lifted from Davy Graham's arrangement of the 300-year-old "She Moves Through the Fair" and "Drinking Muddy Water" a rewrite of "Rollin' and Tumblin'," a blues standard usually attributed to McKinley Morganfield (aka Muddy Waters). The best of the rest included "Only the Black Rose," a strangely beautiful, moody acoustic psychedelic piece; "Stealing, Stealing," an unusual (for this band) pre-World War II-style acoustic blues complete with kazoo; and "Smile on Me," a hard, bluesy number that could have come from any part of the group's history. The attempt at a catchy rocker, "No Excess Baggage," however, needed more work and better involvement from vocalist Keith Relf; the power chord-laden "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" was a great piece of psychedelic pyrotechnics, but it also sounded more like the Who than the Yardbirds, though it did introduce Jimmy Page's violin bow discourses on the guitar; and "Little Soldier Boy" was a silly psychedelic pop piece more appropriate to the Monkees than the Yardbirds. The album was unintentionally revealing, in hindsight, of the growing schism within the band, as Relf and drummer Jim McCarty's growing embrace of flower power and hallucinogenic drugs came to be reflected in the trippier numbers such as "Glimpses," whereas Jimmy Page was starting to take his blues slower and flashier, and into wholly new territory with that violin bow. One more album or a proper concert might've sealed the deal for the Yardbirds, but instead one more tour sealed the fate of the band. Little Games has been reissued in vastly expanded form several times, starting in 1992. -- Bruce Eder\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nEssential Release!, May 5, 2005\nReviewer: Morten Vindberg\n"Little Games", originally released in 1967, was the last Yardbirds studio album. It was recorded after Jeff Beck and Paul Samwell-Smith had left the band to be replaced by Jimmy Page. At this time the band's popularity was on the decline, and their time as chart-toppers seemed to be over. Even though their previous single-release "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" had both been adventurous and catchy it had only reached no. 30 in the charts. "Happenings . " had featured both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and it is in my opinion one of their strongest. \n\nTheir next single release ( without Beck ) was the almost equally strong recording "Little Games". This song was more immediately catchy, but with a great guitar playing from Page, showing that they were still a band with ambitions to be more than a hit-singles band. I remember it being played regularly on Danish radio in the summer of 1967, and it's hard to understand how it could fare even worse in the charts than "Happenings". \n\nConsequently the group was allowed only days in the studio to record an accompanying album. The album, also called "Little Games" was originally only released in the US, and though it contains many great songs, some of it may sound somewhat rushed. \n\nThe original version contained 10 songs ( later reissues up till 16 ). The songs vary quite a lot a style. \n\nFine blues rockers like "Smile on Me Baby" and "Drinking Muddy Water" are much in the same vein as the "Roger the Engineer" 1966 album. \n\nMore commercial songs had been part of the Yardbirds' repertoire since the departure of Eric Clapton, and I always enjoyed this side of the band too. \n\n"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier", Sailor", "No Excess Baggage" and "Little Soldier Boy" are all great examples of this. \n\n"Little Soldier Boy" has often been criticized for been an under par recording. And I can agree that a little more time in the studio probably would not have harmed the song, but still it's one of my personal Yardbirds songs. \n\nThere are also a couple of instrumentals on the album. "White Summer" is very reminiscent of "Black Mountain Side" on the first Zeppelin album, and "Glipmses" is a relatively long experimental track featuring strange sounds and voices, and a choir much like the one they did on "Still I'm Sad" \n\nKeith Relf's "Only the Black Rose" is an acoustic song, showing that Relf at this time probably already was seeking softer grounds. \n\n\n"Puzzles", which was the B-side of the "Little Games" single, was oddly not included on the first versions of the album. It is a great up-beat band composition, featuring a terrific guitar solo from Page. The song was recorded during the "Little Games" sessions, so it ought to have been included in the first place \n\nOf the other songs that were included on later versions of the album "Think About It" and "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" are great additions. \n\nThese two very different recordings were the A and B side of the final Yardbirds single released in spring 1968. \n\n"Goodnight Sweet Josephine" is a very catchy commercial tune written by hitmaker Tony Hazzard ( "Fox on the Run", "Listen to Me" etc, ), and had it been released a year or two earlier, I'm sure it could have made it to the top of the singles charts. I prefer the version on CD 2 which I actually took for the original version. \n\n"Think About It" is another experimental track, clearly pointing in the direction of what was to come with "Led Zeppelin" \n\n\n"Ten Little Indians" is another fine but unsuccesful single from late 1967. \n\nCD 2 contains outtakes, alternate versions and 4 songs from Keith Relf and Jim McCarthy's "Together" project. \n\nMost alternate versions are great and as strong as the original album versions. \n\nOf the outtakes the instrumental "De Lane Lea Lee" could have easily been included on the original album, it's song in the same vein as "Glimpses"; most likely it was decided that two songs of that kind would be too much. \n\n"Never Mind" and "You Stole My Love" could also have been great additions, but both obviously are lacking vocals. \n\n"LSD" and the "Great Shakes" commercial are nice to have but nothing special. \n\nThe "Together" tracks seem totally out of place here. I would have preferred the 4 songs that were recorded with both Page and Beck. \n\nThe "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" / "Psycho Daisies" single, "Stroll On" and "Beck's Bolero" would have been logical choices. \n\nStill I consider this an essential release for any fan of progressive 1960's music. \n\nBy the way, it deserves being noted that this 2 CD release contains a great 28 pages booklet with detailed band history, extensive discography, rare photos and notes to each track on the CD's.\n\n\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe extinction of a species, the birth of an era, April 10, 2004\nReviewer: Clyde D. Hoops "thingols" (Back where I started from in Oceanside California)\n \nFirst of all if you are reading this review then it is pressumed that you are either a Yardbirds fan of some degree or a fan of the mighty LZ and are looking for roots of Jimmy Page.\nYou cannot just bulk all of their work together in a lump sum and praise or berate as a whole, every incarnation of this band stood alone according to the guitarist of the day. An example is the EC material in comparison to the Beck era material or even the Page era material, all must be listened to as seperate bodies of work or entities, as their guitarists were and are.\n\nThis is the only available album of the Jimmy Page line up which at this time was a quartet of Page/Relf/McCarty/Dreja and is as much a real enjoyment as the other albums by this band, so many hints of the future direction of rock is apparent but not necessarily on first listen. That and the fact that this collection is amended with one or two missing classic tracks like 'LSD' or 'You stole my love', and a whole load of crap, from the commercial jingle, to the band "Together" songs,to the last singles this band ever recorded for release 'Good night sweet Josephine', 'Ha Ha said the clown', which are really light-hearted almost second rate Pop/schlock, to the one off cut of 'I remember the night', I still wonder why it was included.\n\nApart from the fact that Mickie Most was the producer, which is an unfortunate oversight, the fact that many of the singles included to flesh out the package are also an oversight, this band could still rock and rock HARD. Listen to 'Think about it', 'You stole my love', 'No excess baggage', or even 'Tinker, tailor, soldier...,\n\nEvidence of things to come can be heard in the song 'Tinker, tailor.., when you hear the first recorded use of the violin bow during the middle break, or the interesting acoustic workout that is titled 'White Summer' which would reappear on the first LZ as 'Black Mountain Side'.\n\nIts a shame that this album doesn't get better reviews or reactions from the music industry then or now, one interesting fact is that All Music Guide (wether in their book or on their web site) rate this album higher than the studio album with Eric Clapton. As an added aside if you are interseted in this time period than any reader MUST have the latest disc release about this period called "Cumular Limit" which has several songs from this time which were never released or fully developed as songs, a rare find indeed.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nTake a While, think about it...a pre Zep glimpse, May 13, 2003\nReviewer: Brian Tepper "Brian" (Ambler PA)\nThis record got slammed when it was released. Producer Mickie Most knew nothing about rock n roll until he heard Jimmy Page blazing away on his Day-glo Telecaster with notes bent to the point of the neck falling apart (listen to "Smile on Me" again). Most basically had his ace session man John Paul Jones pop in on this one, so we get a glimpse of interplay with he and Page on the title track as well as "Tinker Tailor". Unfortunately, some really good material was trashed here and no one ever did a good version of "Little Soldier Boy". Fortunately, some incendiary bits have been gathered including a snarling instrumental version of The Mockingbird's "You Stole My Love" and the phased version of "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" featuring a Zep-style solo from Page. We also get the bowed guitar technique that Page may have nicked from The Creation's Eddie Phillips. Where Phillips scaped away with the violin bow, Page puts delicacy into the mix and we get more of a eerie atmosphere throughout("Puzzles, "Tinker Tailor" "Glimpses"). Even when some dopey pop travesties rear their silly heads every now and then (Ha Ha said the what????), it's still interesting to hear that they're trying something so odd for them. They actually add to the power of the stronger tracks. \nNo evaluation of this extraordinary Yardbird-Pre-Zep collector's wet dream can be complete without dishing props to "Think About It". Ever wondered where the climatic rev-up after the bowed segment of Led Zeppelin's version of Jake Holmes'"Dazed and Confused" came from need look no further..here is the Psolo of solos..note for note in its original (albeit mono) glory. Page definetly earned his chops with this stuff and for any Yardbird fan this comprhensive double decker easily serves up the most interesting Yardbird material just because of it's numerous glimpses to the future when a Zeppelin would rule the next era in rock n roll!\n\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nRave-Ups, Rough Diamonds and Rubbish, September 27, 2000\nReviewer: G.J. Donnelly (Phoenixville, Pa. United States)\nAn appreciation of this odds and sods album of these late-period (1967-68) Yardbirds recordings probably depends on one's affection for either the band or Jimmy Page. The LITTLE GAMES era was the most erratic of this band's manic career, alternating between sheer genius (the volcanic fury of "Think About It", the hypnotic sound collage of "Glimpses") and the flat-out awful ("Ha, Ha Said the Clown," "Goodnight Sweet Josephine") with the occasional hidden nugget in between. Hackmeister Mickie Most apparently confused this heavy ensemble with his agonisingly winsome hitmakers Herman's Hermits as he rushed the Yardbirds through two days of haphazard, half-baked recording sessions that were the norm for bucktoothed Peter Noone and co. The group's creativity was still evident, although the songs are even sketchier than those on ROGER THE ENGINEER. Page fantatics will be thrilled to hear his acoustic opus "White Summer" (shamelessly ripped off from "She Moves Through the Fair") while "Glimpses" is Keith Relf reciting a bizarre poem through a wah-wah pedal as Page weaves chaos around him. A masterpiece. The giddy take on the jugband standard "Stealing Stealing" is likeably goofy (love the kazoo and Keith's harp!), although it sounds more like a demo than a complete song. "Little Soldier Boy" is a wrongheaded attempt to wed the willful naivety of Donovan with Vietnam-era anti-war politicking---a gag-inducing cocktail (see Eric Burdon). It also sounds incomplete - note Jim McCarty's riotous vocal impersonation of a trumpet. "No Excess Baggage" is spiffy power pop with some fine John Paul Jones bass bursts (Chris Dreja seems to have been shunted to the background on this LP), though the tune seems more appropriate for the 1965 Animals (FYI: the song's writers also penned "It's My Life"). "Smile On Me" sounds like another rehearsal take, but it still kicks, thanks to Page's greasy guitar riffs. "Tinker Tailor..." is famous for Page's bowed guitar solo, but Relf delivers McCarty's playfully yearning lyrics with brooding grace, and overall, it has a real driving Mod feel. Love McCarty's snap beats on the tom-toms that kick off the second verse. "Little Games" has an infectious rhythm, and Page's guitar artfully blends with John Paul Jones's cello, but the corny coming-of-age lyric ("gold fish and jam jars...?") is stupid. "Drinking Muddy Water" is a driving knockoff of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" dominated by Page and Relf's guitar-harp trade offs. Enhanced with backward percussion and a ghostly vocal, "Only the Black Rose" is Keith Relf's medieval folk-pop acme. Harry Nilsson's weird hip-kiddie lament "Ten Little Indians" is an acquired taste, but it did grow on me. Relf's whispered countdown from 10 to 1 is backed by an army of Page overdubs and horns arranged by the ubiquitous Jones. "Think About It" is the Yardies' proto-Zep attempt at heavy metal, and it is a killer track. Relf's ghostly voice guides listeners into Page's blazing solo, backed by Dreja's finest recorded bass work (no Jones here) and McCarty's fluid around-the-kit drum rolls. "Ha Ha Said the Clown" and "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" are dreadful attempts at Manfred Mann-style Swinging London pop. The alternate takes that take up the rest of the CDs are listenable (the mono version of "Little Games" outstrips the stereo), and "De Lane Lea Lee" is trippy enough, though Page's narrative is annoyingly buried in the mix. The "Great Shakes" jingle (aping "Over Under Sideways Down") is a cute addition too. The Together tracks are more in the Incredible String Band mode than the Yardbirds, as Keith Relf and Jim McCarty warm up for their formation of Renaissance. LITTLE GAMES has its pleasures, but its slapdash feel will not appeal to everyone. If you're a Yardbirds fan, pick it up (Greg Russo's liner notes are definitive, and he did a masterful job re-mastering the recordings), but casual fans will likely be put off by the horridly camp and poppy material like "..Clown."\n\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGlimpses indeed, September 22, 2000\nReviewer: patrice (Seattle, WA)\nClearly this is not a cd for those new to the Yardbirds, though I can't imagine many would fork out for a double cd of their most neglected album in the first place. That aside, and clearly this is not in the same league as the Roger the Engineer cd, Jeff Beck's masterwork, there is actually a lot of great music here. There is also some utter dreck, my main offender would have to be a "jug" version of "Stealing" (?!)... Still if you are partial to English psychedelia there are few finer songs then "Glimpses", "Tinker,Tailor, Sailor, Sailor", and "Puzzles". And I rather like some of the pop excursions such as the title track and "Ha Ha Said the Clown". Unlike a lot of the San Francisco psychedelia of the era, the Yardbirds always kept their psychedelia very structured, which in an odd way often heightens the surreal effects. It's a real shaggy bear of a cd compilation, not all of it essential but even the weakest bits somehow adding to the charm of the package. The liner notes are excellent. And hey I found this used so the pain was all the less.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGoodnight Sweet Yardbirds, March 9, 2000\nReviewer: A music fan\nWhen I was in high school in the late '70s and early '80s Jimmy Page's work with the Yardbirds had achieved a kind of mythic status. I say "mythic" because almost no one had actually heard any of it. Though most of the Clapton and Beck material was available, Jimmy Page's work with the band was mysteriously under-represented in the record stores. As it turns out, there was a pretty good reason for that. In spite of the staggering work that the Yardbirds did before Page's tenure in the group, and in spite of how brilliant Page's work was a year later with Led Zeppelin, "Little Games" never came close to realizing the band's potential. Though the Yardbirds were still reportedly a strong live act, "Little Games" and its associated singles was, for the most part, the weakest of the Yardbirds albums by far; let down by a producer intent on turning the band into a pop group, and weak material. To be sure, there signs of life here and there. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor," for instance, was a strong single, with a fine bowed guitar solo from Page. And many tracks hint at directions Page would later pursue with Led Zep. If you're a new Yardbirds fan, though, start elsewhere; "Five Live Yardbirds" or "Roger the Engineer." "Little Games" is only for the completist.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSad finale for a great band, December 19, 1999\nReviewer: Will Shade (USA)\nIf you are a Yardbirds nut (like me) you need to get this CD. If not, well, don't start here. This CD does have some amazing stuff, especially Page's tour de force "Think About It" and the shimmering "White Summer." But if you are just now coming to the Yardbirds, start with something from the Beck era. Mickie Most, of course, has much to answer for when he dies and goes to rock n roll hell. His production and choice of material sabotaged this album. Just ask Jimmy Page.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nI want my money back!, October 17, 1999\nReviewer: Robert Bluestone "robertbluestone" (Santa Fe, NM USA)\nClearly one of the best of the English bands of the 60's, this recording, gorged with filler material that should have never been released including an awful commercial for 'Great Shakes.' With truly terrible ballads by 'Together,' this recording is an exploitation of the reputation of a great band.\n\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Mickey Most, Paul Samwell-Smith \n\nAlbum Notes\nLITTLE GAMES SESSIONS & MORE includes a 28-page booklet with extensive liner notes, photos, track annotations and discography.\n\nThe Yardbirds: Keith Relf (vocals); Jimmy Page (guitar); Chris Dreja (bass); Jim McCarty (drums).\n\nProducers: Mickie Most, Paul Samwell-Smith.\nCompilation producer: Ron Furmanek.\n\nRecorded at De Lane Lea Studios, Olympic Studios and Abbey Road Studios, London, England in 1967 & 1968. \n\nIncludes liner notes by Greg Russo.\nAll tracks have been digitally remastered.\n\nBy the time Jeff Beck left the Yardbirds in late 1966, the group was down to a four-piece, with former session-man Jimmy Page left to handle the guitar duties. As the group disintegrated over the next year and a half, Page would end up taking the remnants of this group and turning it into Led Zeppelin.\nThis two-disc set includes LITTLE GAMES, the final Yardbirds project, as well as outtakes, and a few singles by Together, a group featuring Jim McCarty and Keith Relf. Despite the commercial problems facing the Yardbirds at the time, LITTLE GAMES showed a good deal of experimentation--with psychedelia ("Glimpses"), social commentary ("Little Soldier Boy") and with the group's beloved blues ("Drinking Muddy Water"). Page's influence resonates throughout, particularly on the acoustic "White Summer," which later had parts recycled in the Zeppelin classics "Over The Hills And Far Away" and "Black Mountain Side." The historical importance of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" lay in the fact that it was the first time Jimmy Page employed the bowing technique which he became renowned for later in his career.\n\nIndustry Reviews\n..boasts a somewhat academic excavation of illuminating, if esoteric, rarities and outtakes.. - Rating: B\nEntertainment Weekly (09/18/1992) YEAR: 1967
This rock cd contains 16 tracks and runs 44min 46sec.
Freedb: dc0a7c10
Buy: from Amazon.com

Categories

Latest lists

The Yardbirds: Little Games Sessions & More (Disc-2) CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal