Roger the Engineer is Over Under Sideways Down!!

The ultimate supergroup of the 1960's was the Yardbirds. They had the most famous of all famous guitar players. The first was Eric Clapton. Then Eric left to join John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Then Jeff Beck came and played for them. He claims he "got kicked out" and Jimmy Page came in. Jimmy Page wanted to call it the New Yardbirds and that name was not great. He dissolved the band after everyone decided to go their separate ways. There are many different stories by the way. Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin.

Before Led Zeppelin, the Yardbirds made a few gems. Their album from 1966 is my favorite. Roger the Engineer or in America it was called Over Under Sideways Down. It did have Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on it and the only album that did. Jeff was lead guitar and Jimmy Page of all things was playing bass. The album is amazing and yet it is very rarely listed in the best Rock & Roll albums. I remember getting the remaster in 1997. I was ecstatic I finally had a full fledged Yardbirds album. I remember I could not get the plastic off fast enough.



Being a fan of British Blues I was impressed by the album. I thought the guitar playing by Jeff Beck was great and the band was tight. The songs instantly made a connection to me. It did not have a Beatles of Kinks feel. It was in it's own little world. What I enjoyed about the album was that it rocked. It had a mix of Blues and Psychedelia. It had much more then any band at the time. We here in America could not understand it, nor could England. The Yardbirds finally achieved success.

What maybe drew me to this album was the fact that it was not an album of it's time. It was loud and full of "noise" and rocked out like no other album from 1966. I tried to figure out made it stick, it stuck on its own. "Over Under Sideways Down" was the coolest song I ever heard. It was full of Psychedelia and even more it was great enough to play over and over with out getting tired of it. The upright sounding of the bass that is keeping time with the drums is great.

I think what also did is the fact I had influence. My father a fan of Blow Up the film with the Yardbirds making a special little cameo made me like them more, but their five seconds of fame made it more special. Those solos by Jeff Beck, made more sense in 1966 then anything in the world. They were on another plain. They made the whole world shake their head and really figure out what they had to say. It's to bad they did not focus that hard, because they did have something to say.

The song "The Nazz are Blue" is I think the best song out of the British Blues rock world. It has a great feel, let alone a wonderful bass line and Jeff Beck can play the best guitar. If you are looking to know more about the Yardbirds, you should start here. This may the best album of theirs and to top it all off you get to hear Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck before the whole world knew about them. Classic above classics for 1966. A lost year for some and for others a preview for things to come.