Forthcoming Yardbirds box set combines unreleased recordings, photos

By Brian Gardiner

A 5-CD box set called The Yardbirds: Glimpses 1963-68 that has taken five years to compile is promising previously unheard tracks and an in-depth booklet with unseen photos. The set, to be released on the Easy Action Records label, is fully licensed by EMI, BBC and the Yardbirds.

For Led Zeppelin fans, and specifically Jimmy Page fans, this set offers a fair bit of Jimmy Page material, including "Stroll On" (the Yardbirds take' on "Train Kept a Rollin'" for the film Blow-Up), plus early versions of "Dazed and Confused" and "White Summer."

Easy Action Records

"White Summer," a Jimmy Page guitar instrumental, later became a live staple for Led Zeppelin.

(Editor's note: As this is the first Yardbirds-sanctioned release since songwriter Jake Holmes filed suit against Jimmy Page over royalties of "Dazed and Confused," it is interesting to note that this releases credits Holmes as author and the Yardbirds as arrangers. This is not the first Yardbirds release to do so; the releases in 2000 of Cumular Limit and Live Yardbirds! Featuring Jimmy Page also contained this credit to Jake Holmes with the Yardbirds as arranger, while Led Zeppelin releases have credited only Page -- or, sometimes, also Robert Plant.)

The audio also includes several interview clips from members of the Yardbirds, including three with Jimmy Page.

The last disc has live BBC material throughout the Yardbirds' career, including two appearances from the Jimmy Page era, in 1967 and 1968. The first disc also contains some BBC recordings with Page.

The box set is currently not available for ordering, and no release date is currently listed for the product.