Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Yardbirds

Artist:The Yardbirds

Song:Heart Full Of Soul

Album:The British Are Coming

The Yardbirds are best known as the British Invasion band that at various points featured guitar legends Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page. Like a lot of these bands, they started out covering blues standards and even backed up Sonny Boy Williamson in their early days. The basis of the group was vocalist Keith Relf along with Paul Samwell-Smith on bass, Chris Dreja on rhythm guitar and Jim McCarty on drums. Clapton joined in 1963 and was guitarist for their 1964 hit For Your Love. Clapton left in 1965 and was replaced by Jeff Beck of The Tridents. Beck's guitar work is most evident on the 1965 hit Heart Full Of Soul. Samwell-Smith left in 1966. Jimmy Page was brought in and Dreja switched to bass. So for a while, including for their appearance in the film Blow Up, the group had both Beck & Page but Beck left in late 1966. This 3CD box set The British Are Coming probably has every major British Invasion hit not by The Beatles & The Rolling Stones. Sanctuary Records has also released the CDs individually. It's a great comp. The Yardbirds probably remained truer to their blues roots than some of the other British Invasion bands. Leader Keith Relf electrocuted himself while playing his guitar and died in 1976. Here's The Yardbirds performing Heart Full Of Soul on Shindig in 1965.