The Yardbirds: Ultimate! : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The Yardbirds are largely known as the training ground for three of the best guitarists still working today -- even by people who think they did "Mr. Tambourine Man." This should set things straight. There is enough recognizable Clapton, Beck and Page on this collection, but the compilers wisely decided to focus on the Yardbirds as a band -- a band that pushed blues into the mainstream, without compromise. Ultimate shows how they picked some great songs and made them their own, and how they fell into the 1960s template of creating and recording at breakneck speed, trying only to out-innovate the competition and stay ahead of themselves. This package is especially welcome, since the band's recorded legacy has always been a sorry, disorganized mess. In the end, we have a what-you-heard-is-what-you-got tribute that steers clear of substandard unreleased curios and rare live tapes that have surfaced since the band's demise. If each disc begins with a "holy cow" and ends with a "what were they thinking?" it's amazing how fresh and fun all of this still sounds.