Rare 1968 PROMO THE YARDBIRDS LIVE Page Zeppelin

$

303

  SCARCE 1968 WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL COLLECTIBLE                             

LOUD & ALIVE                                                   

                    The Yardbirds

   Live At The Anderson Theatre  1968

\              USA - EPIC RECORDS - E 30615 - WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL

ORIGINAL 1968 first pressing WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL ... this is the black & white cover version....

The album is scarce because when it first hit the stores in 1968, Jimmy Page had the albums production stopped with a court injunction. Epic Records pulled the plug on the release and only those copies that made the stores in it's first week of release were the survivors...After 40+ years, it's a scarce and highly sought after title of essential collector interest, as the Yardbirds get-it-on 

March 30, 1968, and the Yardbirds had come to the Lower East Side's Anderson Theatre to make what was ultimately to be their farewell concert in New York. That had fallen on evil times, this most progressive of the English rhythm 'n blues bands that had coalesced around the old Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. And now the Yardbirds were entering the twilight, with rumors of an imminent break-up following them wherever they would go. Gone were the screaming girls, the anguished teenyboppers who would plaster themselves all over the stage as soon as Keith Relf stepped toward the microphone; gone also were the hit singles, the flash of a Clapton or Beck, the incredibly progressive drive that was so much a part of them during the good years. All that was left was the rhythm section of McCarty/Dreja, Keith's voice and harp and a good-credentials-but-who-is-he-anyway lead guitarist named Jimmy Page.

And so, for the hordes of fans who faithfully made the pilgrimage to Second and Fourth on that star-crossed night, the question was whether or not the Yardbirds would be able to get it on in the way most of the remembered; like all those insane stops and starts in "I'm Not Talking"; or maybe "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" which is definitely so far ahead of its time.

Which meant that now, on this Saturday night, you were sitting in your seat about halfway down and over to the left, breathing in that very particular atmosphere which comes when you know you're on the verge of an event, aimlessly staring around an old vaudeville museum piece from a timeless, far away era, to the stage, up to the galleries, just killing time....

Well, getting the benefit of fourty two years' hindsight to look back at the occasion, let me tell you that you're in for one of those maniac rock 'n roll times, which you're going to carry out of that theatre and tell all your friends about, and which they're about to tell all their friends, and so on, until you have on your hands a concert which approaches legend. LEGEND!
On this night, it was all about the Yardbirds'. Jimmy Page, already in the process of forming the New Yardbirds (which would eventually become a combination called Led Zeppelin, and if you listen to "I'm Confused" on the first side, you'll understand how that little number works), plays guitar on this album like you would not believe. There's a point toward the end of "I'm A Man" where he literally becomes possessed by strange, unknowable forces, and if you don't believe me, it comes somewhere during the second break. He also bows his instrument like a violin on two separate occasions, and the sound is as sweet as if it were a Stradivarius in his hands.

Let's not forget Keith, either. Musically, his voice and harp have never sounded better, taking on a live edge that sometimes got lost on his more restrained studio stuff, and he weaves through each separate part of the group with the natural air of a born leader. This is his band, you remember, nursed carefully along the whole road and no matter all the hard times that have gone down, are going down, will be yet to come, he's proud of them.

For Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja, this was similarly their finest moment, standing in the shadows and keeping the whole structure from toppling over. Dreja played bass as he once had played rhythm guitar, and McCarty's precise and militaristic rhythms kept close watch on him. You never noticed them much, until you happened to look, and it was always reassuring to find them both right there, driving along like twin steam shovels.

This is it, folks. This One You've Been Waiting For. The Yardbirds: Live At The Anderson Theatre. March 30, 1968.

• 1 The Train Kept A Rollin'
  2 Dazed and Confused
  3 The Train Kept A Rollin' 
  4 You're a Better Man Than I/Heart Full of Soul
• 5 Dazed and Confused 
  6 My Baby
  7 Over, Under, Sideways, Down
  8 Drinking Muddy Water 
  9 Shapes of Things
  10 White Summer 
  11 I'm a Man

CONDITION: The cover is VG++ has only a little light shelf wear starting, nothing near bad at all too bad overall an acceptable collectible ...

The vinyl with white promo labels is glossy on both sides, the vinyl is CLEAN M- and overall ALL plays TOP LEVEL clean...

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record