THE YARDBIRDS W/PAGE+BECK ROGER THE ENGINEER '66 PSYCH BLUES COLUMBIA UK LP

$

26

• THE YARDBIRDS - Roger the Engineet (Columbia Records EMI UK - SCX 6063)

• Original UK Stereo Pressing

• Machine stamped matrix (see pics)

• Original black COLUMBIA stereo label with COLUMBIA "music note" logo on top with boxed EMI on bottom with white text.

• Clean ware-free labels.

• I GRADE THE VINYL AS NM. The vinyl is quite stunning with just minor superficial abrasions, mainly sleeve marks. These minor marks are not visually distracting and in no way do they compromise the overall integrity of this LP. The original luster is completely intact, the vinyl shines and sparkles like new.

• The cover (VG+) has some minor shelf ware and minimal edge ware with slight age discoloring/staining along the fold over seams. "HECHT." is written in black ink (less than 1" long) on back top right side under the catalog number. The writing is very minor and not too visually distracting (see photos). This is a typical UK style cover. The graphics are sharp and vivid. DO NOT let this opportunity pass you by.

• Once Jeff Beck joined the Yardbirds, the group began to explore uncharted territory, expanding their blues-rock into wild sonic permutations of psychedelia, Indian music, and avant-garde white noise. Each subsequent single displayed a new direction, one that expanded on the ideas of the previous single, so it would seem that Roger the Engineer -- Beck's first full album with the group and the band's first album of all-original material -- would have offered them the opportunity to fully explore their adventurous inclinations. Despite a handful of brilliant moments, Roger the Engineer falls short of expectations, partially because the band is reluctant to leave their blues roots behind and partially because they simply can't write a consistent set of songs. At their best on Roger, the Yardbirds strike a kinetic balance of blues-rock form and explosive psychedelia ("Lost Woman," "Over, Under Sideways, Down," "The Nazz Are Blue," "He's Always There," "Psycho Daisies"), but they can also bog down in silly Eastern drones (although "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" is a classic piece of menacing psychedelia) or blues tradition ("Jeff's Boogie" is a pointless guitar workout that doesn't even showcase Beck at his most imaginative). The result is an unfocused record that careens between the great and the merely adequate, but the Yardbirds always had a problem with consistency -- none of their early albums had the impact of the singles, and Roger the Engineer suffers from the same problem. Nevertheless, it is the Yardbirds' best individual studio album, offering some of their very best psychedelia, even if it doesn't rank among the great albums of its e