Eric Clapton & The Yardbirds - The Early Years (2003)

Eric Clapton has become one of Britain's most successful guitar heroes of the last three decades, a writer, singer and performer who has consistently produced quality singles and albums which have sold millions around the globe, and whose live shows are always guaranteed standing-room-only events.

Clapton has now been a solo performer for so long that it is easy to forget that his formative musical years were spent working with a variety of different blues bands, including John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and not forgetting the legendary Yardbirds.

Clapton, who had been born Eric Clapp in March 1945, was brought up by his grandparents and they actively encouraged his interest in music, buying him his first guitar for his fourteenth birthday. Eric taught himself how to play, listening to recordings by his blues heroes and imitating their styles.

In 1962 Clapton joined his first R&B band The Roosters, whose other members included Tom McGuiness (later of Manfred Mann). After several months Clapton and McGuiness left the line-up to join Casey Jones and The Engineers and it was from this group that Clapton moved on to join The Yardbirds who had been looking for a replacement for guitarist Tony Topham.

The Yardbirds’ line-up when Clapton joined their ranks featured singer Keith
Relf, bass player Paul Samwell-Smith, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja and drummer Jim McCarty. The R&B band had been steadily building a following among London blues music fans, appearing regularly at the noted Crawdaddy club in Richmond (where they followed The Rolling Stones as the resident group).

The Yardbirds were managed by Giorgio Gomelsky who also owned the Crawdaddy Club. The group signed a recording deal and released two singles, I Wish You Would and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, both featured in this collection. The latter single gave them their first taste of chart success, reaching the Top 50 in late 1964. They also released an album Five Live Yardbirds, recorded live at the Marquee Club in London’s Soho, tracks from which are also featured here.

Eric Clapton remained with The Yardbirds for 18 months until musical differences resulted in him moving on to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Ironically Clapton’s departure coincided with the band’s major hit single, For Your Love, which reached number 3 in April 1965. Clapton went on to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the rest of his successful career needs no documenting here. The Yardbirds meanwhile had four more Top 10 successes (Heart Full Of Soul, Evil Hearted You/Still I’m Sad. Shapes Of Things and Over Under Sideways Down) during the next 18 months.

The recordings featured here are an important part of British R&B music history, chronicling the earliest recordings by Eric Clapton, who is now an international rock superstar, and The Yardbirds, one of the UK’s most important blues bands of the era.