Little Games is the fourth American album by the British rock band Yardbirds. Recorded and released in 1967, it was their first recorded album after being a quartet with Jimmy Page as a single guitarist and Chris Dreja switching to bass. It's also the only Yardbirds album produced by Mickie Most.
Although the new lineup became more experimental with longer concert performances, improvisations, Yardbirds record company brought in the successful single producer, Most to persuade more commercial products. However, no material is accurately presenting their new approach or the upcoming single hit. Little Games became Yardbirds's last studio album, though Most continued to produce singles for the group. These were then collected and released with original albums along with censored and alternative mixes on the expanded edition titled Little Games Sessions & amp; More in 1992.
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After the commercially successful and critical Yardbirds album Have Rave Ups with The Yardbirds (1965) and Yardbirds/Over Under Sideways Down aka Roger the Engineer (1966), founding member and bassist/musical director Paul Samwell-Smith left the group to pursue a career as a record producer. He was replaced by bass by Jimmy Page's guitarist studio, which was originally Yardbirds approaching to replace Eric Clapton. The page position as a bassist was temporary and within a short time he switched to the second lead guitarist with Jeff Beck, with rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja taking over on bass. In 1966, the Beck/Page dual lead guitar line-up produced psychedelic "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago", "Psycho Aisies" and "Stroll On", the latest remake of "The Train Kept A-Rollin '" for their performances in the movie Michelangelo Antonioni Blow-Up . However, in late 1966, Beck was fired from the band for a disease that prevented him playing gigs while on tour in the US, and they continued as a quartet with Page as a single guitarist.
During 1966 and 1967, most rock audiences began to divert interest from Top 40 singles to albums and concert presentations. During this period, Yardbirds toured the US extensively, often appearing in popular counters such as Fillmore. They became more experimental, with longer, improvised sets including light shows, movie clips, and audio samples. Their material became more varied and introduced songs such as "Dazed and Confused", Jimmy Page's solo-solo track "White Summer", Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting for the Man", and expanded medleys with a re-work version of " I'm Human "and" Smokestack Lightning ".
Despite this change of direction, Mickie Most, famous for producing hits for Herman's Hermits and Donovan, was brought in by EMI as the new recording producer of Yardbirds. Most are not currently with new music trends and although Page has worked before for Most as a session guitarist, he is reportedly unhappy with Most taking on production tasks. According to biographer Gregg Russo, "the result of Most's involvement is that the personality of the Yardbirds stage has finally become very different from their recording persona".
Maps Little Games
Recording and production
The first record of Mickie's most involved took place at Olympic Studios in London on March 5, 1967. The session resulted in the single "Little Games" supported by "Puzzles". Although Dreja and drummer Jim McCarty were present to record "Little Games", most used studio musicians John Paul Jones (bass and cello settings) and Dougie Wright (drums) for their part to reduce studio time. The remainder of the song for Little Games was recorded during a three-day session at London's De Lane Lea Studios from 29 April to 1 May 1967 and a musician session was used, including Jones (bass on "No Excess Baggage") and Ian Stewart (piano in "Drinking Muddy Water"). One song, instrumental acoustic guitar entitled "White Summer" is Jimmy Page's solo piece. It uses the guitar tuning "DADGAD", giving it an Eastern music sound, enhanced by the Indian percussion tabla played by Chris Karan and the oboe melodic line. Another instrument, "Glimpses", features a guitar section with Page using the wah-wah pedal and sample train station and children's play sound after a manipulated sound of poetry. The guitar page also stands out on the "Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor", where he introduced the guitar-bending technique; "Drinking Water Muddy", which uses a slide-guitar section to follow the vocal lines (later used for greater effect on Led Zeppelin "You Shook Me"); and instrumental breaks in "Smile on Me", including the guitar wah-wah koda.
The recording schedule was so hasty that the group did not even hear the screening. Page reminded, "It was very bloody rushed, everything was done in one take because Mickie Most was basically interested in singles and did not believe it was worth the time to do the right track on the album". Yardbirds researcher, Gregg Russo, noted the result is that "many [songs] have a demo quality that is short of time will not allow them to change". Even one song, pop-ish "Little Soldier Boy" was published with McCarty's rough vocal guidance that provided a section intended for the trumpet.
The next three singles were recorded by Yardbirds and later released on Little Games Sessions & amp; More are given the same treatment. Only singer Keith Relf appeared in the cover version of "Ha! Ha! Said the Clown" (with Al Gorgoni on guitar, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen on organ, Joe Macho on bass and Bobby Gregg on drums, recorded at Columbia Studios New York on 13 June 1967 and Abbey Road Studios on 19 June 1967). Two more closing songs, "Ten Little Indians" (Jones on bass and orchestra and Clem Cattini arrangements on drums, Olympic Studios on September 25, 1967) and "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" (Nicky Hopkins on piano, Jones on bass and Cattini on drums, De Lane Lea in March 1968) also used the session musicians. Only B-sides to their last single, proto-heavy metal "Think About It", were recorded by the entire group. The song includes a guitar solo that Page has used in the concert group "Dazed and Confused" (which he brought, with several different lyrics, for Led Zeppelin).
Write and composition
Unlike the previous three charting Yardbirds ("Shapes of Things", "Over Under Sideways Down" and "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"), "Little Games" were not written by group members. Compiled by Harold Spiro and Phil Wainman, the lyrics resonated in Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times". Other recorded pop songs are "No Excess Baggage", by Brill Building songwriters Roger Atkins and Carl D'Errico, who composed the Top 40 Animal hit "It's My Life". Page adapted "White Summer" from the Irish folk song version "He Move Through Fair".
The remaining album songs are credited to the band members and include "Drinking Water Muddy", an interpretation of the classic blues of "Rollin 'and Tumblin'" and a tribute nominal to bluesman Muddy Waters, and "Smile on Me", a Howlin work 'Wolf's "Shake for Me" (later raised by Wolf to "Killing Floor" which Led Zeppelin adapted for "The Lemon Song"). The Yardbirds also recorded "Stealing Stealing", a band-style pitcher track that has been traced back to Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and the Memphis Jug Band.
Russo described the four and a half minute instrumental collage "Glimpses" as "a brilliant piece of psychedelic imagery [that] reveals the most experimental and inspired Yardbirds". It features several guitar songs, with effects and bending, and electric sitar-backing is pushed together by 6/8 beat and bass riff by McCarty and Dreja. Relf added some vocal songs to the song, reminiscent of Yardbirds' 1965 song "Still I'm Sad". A mechanical sound that sounds almost incomprehensible:
The psychedelic folk-style song "Only the Black Rose" is credited to Relf and features his vocals with the acoustic guitar accompaniment by Page and some quiet percussion effects. Described as "reflective" and "emotive" by Russo, it portrays the future of the collaboration of folk Acoustic Relf/McCarty Together and the Renaissance.
Like "Little Games" and unlike their previous hits, the next Yardbirds singles were written by others: Tony Hazzard composed "Ha Ha Said the Clown" (pop pop for Manfred Mann) and also pop-ish "Good Night Sweet Josephine" and Harry Nilsson supplied "Ten Little Indians", written in the poetry style of the children.
Critical launch and acceptance
"Little Games" was released as a single on March 24, 1967 in the US and April 21 in the UK. Despite reaching number 51 in the US, it failed to chart in the UK. As a result, EMI chose to release the album Little Games just for the American market, where it was released by Epic Records 10 or 24 July 1967. Compared to the previous Epic Yardbirds album, Little Games made a relatively weak appearance on the Billboard album chart 200, peaking at number 80 for two months running on the charts. The "Pop Spotlight" magazine on July 29, 1967
Recent reviews generally find fault with Little Games . AllMusic's Bruce Eder gave it three out of five stars and wrote "If almost any group other than the Yardbirds has released the Little Games, it will be considered a rock-hard rock/hard rock artist of the late '60s not a serious step back, and even disappointment ". AllMusic Review by Dave Thompson extended edition Little Games Sessions & amp; More begins "Today's producer Mickie Most's move to Yardbirds is the day when Yardbirds own values ​​move in. That union is a bad idea right from the start." New Rolling Stone Album Writer also gave the album three out of five stars, calling it "a conventional pop disaster effort". The Yardbirds itself is just as critical - The page reportedly considers the Little Games as "horrific" and Jim McCarty describes Mickie Most as "the protagonist in our destruction".
The subsequent further produced singles are unsuccessful attempts to reach the pop market. Little Games soon got out of the mold, but after Led Zeppelin rose to the star and Page became the focus of attention, fans and collectors searched for copies of the album and raised prices, resulting in fake copies being introduced (see Printing errors below). The scarcity of the last single also led to a collection of 1975 Golden Eggs, which was widely circulated and successful in its time. However, Little Games, along with singles, outtakes, alternative mixes released by EMI as an expanded two-CD edition of Little Games Sessions & amp; More in 1992.
From the singles and the last song of the Little Games, the only songs included in the Yardbirds concert repertoire are "Drinking Muddy Water", Jimmy's "White Summer" page impressions (later featured in the Led Zeppelin concert in medley with "Black Mountain Side"), and psychedelic "Glimpses", which were soon replaced by "Dazed and Confused" in the concert highlight.
Track list
1967 original album
Epic album printing error
Epic Records, after making several printing errors with Yarbirds material in the past, made some more with Little Games . Chris Dreja's family name for songwriting credits (previously misspelled as "Drega" in previous album Over Under Sideways Down ) went wrong again on record label album "Ereja". This error also appears on the single Epic "Drinking Muddy Water" and the songs "Smile on Me" and "Drinking Muddy Water" are included in the 1970 compilation of America. The Yardbirds Show Performance By Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page >. The single "Little Games" (written by Harold Spiro and Phil Wainman), only the last author list, misspelled as "Wienman".
Epic also mistakenly released a number of stereo versions of Little Games in the mono version and pressed with mono LP labels. The three-letter prefix of the parent number on the record label and in the LP track path defines the version correctly. "XEM" indicates a copy of the original mono; if it shows "XSB" (even on the label, although the mono catalog number and there is no STEREO indication under the Epic logo), it is stereo emphasis. Copies of Little Games have also been forged - authentic copies have a deep dark purple album cover, while fake ones have lighter or "whitened" purple covers.
1992 expansion edition
The expanded edition of Little Games , titled Little Games Sessions & amp; More , released by EMI America as two sets of discs featuring original albums, plus singles "Ha Ha Said the Clown", "Ten Little Indians" and "Goodnight Sweet Josephine". Also includes some outtakes and alternate takes/mixes. A mixture of acoustic guitar solo "White Summer" without percussion and horn is included along with the "Glimpses" version with different overdubs. Yardbirds group single record and one of the strongest with Page's "Think About It", also made its first official release album here. In addition, three songs recorded by Keith Relf/Jim McCarty folk-duo Together and fourth, credited to Relf and McCarty, are also included.
Graphical position
Albums
Singles
Personnel
The Yardbirds
- Keith Relf - vocals, harmonica, percussion
- Jimmy Page - guitar
- Chris Dreja - bass guitar on all songs except as indicated, backing vocals
- Jim McCarty - drums, percussion, backing vocals
Additional personnel
- Clem Cattini - drummer on "Ten Little Indians" and "Goodnight Sweet Josephine"
- Bobby Gregg - drums on "Little Games" (original album)
- Nicky Hopkins - keyboard on "Goodnight Sweet Josephine"
- John Paul Jones - bass guitar on "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" and "No Excess Baggage" (original album), bass and cello arrangements on "Little Games" (original album), bass and orchestra arrangements on "Ten Little Indians"
- Chris Karan - tabla in "White Summer"
- Joe Macho - bass on "Ha Ha Said the Clown"
- Rick Nielsen - an organ in "Ha Ha Said the Clown"
- Ian Stewart - piano on "Drinking Muddy Water" (original album)
- Dougie Wright - drums on "Little Games" (original album)
- Unknown - oboe on "White Summer"
- Mickie Most - producer
Note
References
- Brackett, Nathan (2004). "Yardbirds - Album Guide". New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon and Schuster.
- Clayson, Alan (2002). The Yardbirds . Backbeat book. ISBNÃ, 0-87930-724-2.
- Cub, Koda (2001). Ultimate! (Note album). The Yardbirds. Rhino recording. R2 79825.
- Russo, Greg (1992). Small and Other Game Sessions (Note album). The Yardbirds. EMI North America. E2-98214.
- Russo, Greg (1998). Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-Up . Crossfire Publication. ISBNÃ, 0-9648157-3-7.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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