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Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds

The Yardbirds - Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds Audio CD

A fair review of the The Yardbirds "Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Yardbirds reviews here, or go back to the The Yardbirds tabs.

Band: The Yardbirds
Title: Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds
Rating:

Release Date: 1999-09-28
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Bye Bye Bird 2: Mr. Downchild 3: 23 Hours Too Long 4: Out on the Water Coast 5: Baby Don't Worry - Sonny Boy Williamson 6: Pontiac Blues 7: Take It Easy Baby [Version One] 8: I Don't Care No More - Sonny Boy Williamson 9: Do the Weston 10: River Rhine [#] 11: Lost Care [#] 12: Western Arizona [#] 13: Take It Easy Baby [Version Two][#] 14: Slow Walk [#] 15: Highway 69 [#] 16: Hey Little Cabin [#]

Not the Yardbirds You Think You Know
The Yardbirds was one of the legendary rock bands that came out of the British blues scene. Sonny Boy Williamson (II) was a blues legend, both as a singer-songwriter and as a blues harp player. This album presents the two acts working together, but before the Yardbirds had developed their unique "rave up" approach to electric blues, and certainly before they added harpsichords and bongo drums to their act and drove Eric Clapton to quit. There are false starts and stops to some of the tracks, but they show Clapton's developing technique. And, the Yardbirds sound like they genuinely want to play Williamson's brand of blues. As a historical document, this is an important album, but as a stand-alone, this-is-the-only-album-by-these-artists-I'm-going-to-buy set, well. . . there are better Sonny Boy II albums, and far better Yardbirds albums.

Sonny Boy was in Bad Shape, But he had a Good backing Band !
Sonny Boy was booked to a UK Tour of December 1963, and without Backing Musicians, The Yardbirds along with The Animals {on Northern Dates} provided the Band. This was a 1971 Mercury LP of Sonny Boy Williamson, backed by the Yardbirds {With then Brand-New, Lead Guitarist: Eric Clapton}.
The first 9 tracks are from the Crawdaddy Club on 8 December 1963, and the last two are culled from The Star Club, Croydon on 7 December 1963.
Five Extra tracks from the same Shows have been added to this CD release.

The Music: By this Time in his Life, the Health of Sonny Boy was in Decline {he was Dying}, and as he sounds like The Hellhounds were indeed, on his Tail. But, these Five Young Yardbirds are full of Life and Playin' a Bunch on this one!

The Man from Mississippi, even in Poor Health, doesn't sound all that bad.
Sonny Boy, blows a Mean Harp on these Tracks and his Singing, while not up to the Standards of his Recordings from The 1940's and 50's is passable, and for these very excited kids in England in 63, he was a Grand Treasure {Judging by the Whoops and Screams of the Audience on this One!}.

"Bye, Bye, Bird" is a Quick Opening Number of Harp Funtastics by Sonny Boy, and then it's right into: "Mister Downchild" with some Brisk Lead Guitar by Eric that is played off Sonny Boy's Harp. "Pontiac Blues" is my Favorite Cut on this one, Sonny Boy, gives The Performance of the Night on this One, The Vocals are Chilling here, This IS The Blues. . . You are not gonna hear it done this way No More, This is The REAL DEAL. . . Delta Blues with these Young Yardbirds, hanging on Sonny's every note. . . This is Authentic Stuff.

For just: The Yarbirds, "Do The Weston", is The Band, without Sonny Boy. This One has some nice Leads by the Young Eric, and Keith is onstage, blowing Harp. This is "Pre-Rave-Up" Yardbirds, and as it is kinda mild by what would come to pass in The Late Sixties London Blues Revoulution with John Mayall and Peter Green's, Fleetwood Mac. This One, shows you that The 'Birds' were still in the egg in 1963, and still searching for The 'Sound'.

This Recording serves as an Historical Recording of a Time {Pre 1965} in Music. We are not gonna Hear The Blues performed in this manner ever again. By then, everthing would Change, because The Stones, The Yardbirds and the Animals, were gonna do some very new and different things to The Blues with Wa-Wa Pedals and Fuzz-Tones and lot's of Feedback. The Blues wasn't gonna be Pure anymore but it was going to be very Fresh & Interesting!

To hear These Recordings in their Complete Form, and Sounding Much Better than this CD, go ahead and Purchase: "The Yardbirds Story" ~ "The Complete Recordings, 1963-1967". That 4 CD Box Set, features the Complete Sonny Boy Williamson December 63 Show, Plus The Yardbirds Opening Six Song Set thrown in to Boot. that is the way to go.

Again, this is the Earliest Music by The Yardbirds, that is out there. And, in addition, these are some of the Last Recordings by Sonny Boy Williamson {Good Luck finding a copy of 1970 LP that features The Animals when they backed Sonny Boy in Newcastle on this very same Tour!}. This is For Fans of Delta Blues and also for Fans of the Early British Blues Movement of the Early Sixties that would soon Explode into something even Bigger.

This is History.

In "Western Arizona" or the blues club in London consider this

Before we get to the actual review D. As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various recordings from the 60's and 70's. B. Hebbard was kind enough to point out that "Western Arizona" and "Do The Weston" are the same song. Over the years certain tunes are known by a couple of names. If you see either title you'll know that you are getting the same track.

If you are looking for the Sonny Boy Williamson cut "Baby Don't Worry" it is not available on all the pressings. The pressing here does include the song but is not as complete as others on the market! Since the Yardbirds are not on the track you can decide if you can justify the higher cost.

For fans that have collected most if not all of the Yardbirds recordings over the years they can enjoy the music here. As they back blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson you can understand the influence he passed on to so many of the British Invasion bands. Eric Clapton must have been out running the bands van to play the shows with him.

The focus of this release is for those that aren't looking for the Yardbird tunes they adore to this day. If you are seeking anything from "For Your Love" to "For R. S. G. ", you won't have the proper mindset for it.

If you want to discover some raw blues with no thrills as it happened, this will get right in your face and deliver. "Bye Bye Bird", "Mister Downchild", and "River Rhine" are three songs that you may want to check out first to get more comfortable with the proceedings.

Once you look in to the Yardbirds being on stage and not the stage, it isn't hard to submerge yourself in the tremendous material of Sonny Boy Williamson and the young guitar-player. What was his name? Call him "Slowhand" or Eric.

Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

.

Blues at its best
Back then I didn't know about Eric Clapton, Sonny Boy, and the blues. I've been a Yardbirds fan ever since I heard "For Your Love" on AM radio. I knew I liked the song. So, I started buying Yardbird albums. One day I found this album, bought it, and put it on my turntable. The music was great. You could feel what Sonny Boy was singing. I have been listining ever since. This is one of the finest live recordings ever made. It ranks with The Alman Brothers "Filmore Concerts", Sam Cook's "Live At The Harlem Equare Club", Van Morrison's "Its Too Late To Stop Now", and "The Ultimate Live Otis Redding Show. " If you don't own it, invest the money. Its worth more than what you will pay for it.

You can see a complete list of all The Yardbirds discography, or go back to the The Yardbirds tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.