Yardbirds
Little Games

THE REVIEW

Among the great patriarchs of hard rock, there is often one band that tends to be forgotten.

Faced with this reasoning, many might be wondering: "But which group is this?".

The sharpest ones will have already guessed because the title above doesn't leave much to the imagination. But for those who are still unclear, I can give a little help.

Well: some of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock history have played with them. Want the names? Ok? Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page.

"Now it's easy," some might be thinking: "it's the Eagles."

"No way, buddy, it's Guns N’ Roses."

"I know, they're Pink Floyd, the one with that guitarist who played with his teeth."

Not exactly. It's the Yardbirds, "gallinacci" in Italian (Mike Bongiorno dixit), and "Little Games" is the album the band brought to life in the period following Jeff Beck's departure, with Page on guitar.

The LP, composed of 10 songs, was released in 1967. It wasn't very successful commercially, so much so that the band broke up.

Jimmy Page, from the ashes of the group, gave life to the New Yardbirds, later Led Zeppelin. The singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty instead released two records with the Renaissance pre-Annie Haslam, while the bassist-secondary guitarist Chris Dreja became a photographer. And guess who took the photo that's now on the back of the first Zeppelin album? Yes, the one with Robert Plant wearing a black sweater and Bonzo, with a little mustache and an embroidered knit. Yes, HIM, Chris Dreja!

But let's get to the album. A mixture of pseudo-psychedelia, blues, and guitar riffs. It's difficult to find weak points or masterpieces, but overall it still proves to be a decent work alternating between acoustic and electric moments, carefree or tense, which will especially satisfy Jimmy Page's followers, who will discover that the track "Black Mountain Side" on Led Zeppelin I is actually "White Summer," the third track of Little Games. You can also hear the guitarist dabbling with the bow (his trademark) within "Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor" and "Glimpses".

The remastered version also includes bonus tracks, with singles and previously unreleased tracks. It's interesting to note that on one of these, "Think About It," resides what will become one of Page's best solos, that of "Dazed And Confused." It almost seems cut and pasted!

Overall, therefore, a forgotten and underestimated album, rightfully so except for a few clever finds, a poorly aged cousin of "Disraeli Gears".