Monocled Alchemist

“Evil Hearted You” / “Still I’m Sad” (Columbia DB 7706) October 1965

The Yardbirds | Evil Hearted You | (Columbia) 1965 | Strident twanging and cymbal crashing sets the mood for the medium-paced “Evil Hearted You” (Columbia), the latest potential hit from the Yardbirds. Treatment is solo voice with falsetto chanting from the other boys with the minor key emphasising the plaintive effect.

After a sudden break in the rhythm, there’s a startling change of tempo, as in “For Your Love.” It’s extremely forceful, has tremendous impact, and there’s a great guitar interlude.

This is a Double-A disc, which means that the other side is regarded as equally important – and understandably so. It’s a most unusual number. “Still I’m Sad” opens with unison humming taking the melody line, and this continues as support for the soloist when he takes up the lyric. Effective! (NME, 24/09/65)

This is madness. How could they even think of putting this out as a double-sided record beats me when “Still I’m Sad” is so super and “Evil Hearted You” is so dull.

Keeping up with the reputation of turning out unusual discs “Sad” sounds like a song to the Incas Sun God. Massive male chorus do humming bits and Keith sings wistfully about moonlight on hair. It’s very way-out and very brave and I love it. gives me the shivers! (Disc Weekly, 02/10/65)

A double ‘A’-sider. A Graham Gouldman “Evil Hearted You,” which is a good omen. In much the same vein as their two previous hits, but not the kind of song that is typical of the Yardbirds’ “live” performances, though it’s now accepted as their disc image. Good and brisk vocal with some rave-up guitar bits.

Jim and Sam Yardbird wrote the other “A” side which is a Gregorian chant with manager Giorgio Gomelski in the background noises. The boys tend to prefer “Still I’m Sad.” Wonder what the fans will make of this sure-fire hit coupling. (Record Mirror, 23/09/65)

About Keith Relf

EVERY time I went out on a date or anything and came home later, I’d find my brother waiting for me on the corner, worrying himself sick. Sometimes he’d ring people up and ask if I was there. Nowadays, it’s him who’s always out to all hours, but he’s got a better reason—singing with the Yardbirds.

Keith Joined the Yardbirds with Eric Clapton, Actually, they formed the group and he was always dead keen on the idea but he never thought it would go as far as it has now.

LONG HAIR

He grew his hair long when he was at art school, though, not just for the Yardbirds. He’d come home after late parties and have Dad nag him. It was Mum that kept Keith from being thrown out, I think. But Keith won in the end because Dad’s now the Yardbirds’ road manager!

Keith used to go round all the folk clubs with a guitar he bought from a friend for £1. He didn’t do any work for ages after leaving art school and went round with a crowd from Kingston, a lot of berks they are. Keith went to see them again before he went to America and discovered they were all getting married. He was dead choked. There was one bloke who used to put a notch on his bed every time he took a girl home, now he’s married,

JAZZ FANATIC

Keith got all fanatical about the Modern Jazz Quartet through going with that crowd, He still likes modern Jazz, but not as much. He doesn’t get all that much free time, but sometimes he stays in his flat with his girlfriend and listens to records.

It’s funny about records with Keith. When he was going all folk mad, he didn’t buy records, he usually borrowed them, Apart from the guitar, the only thing he bought at that stage was a bike.

He was 18 and it was a stripped down racer, a Hobbs. He’d cycle to school and back every day. We lived in Richmond and it was 15 miles to his school at Kingston. Sometimes he took a 65 bus all the way, but mostly he went by bike. He used to have great races round Richmond Park with his friends. I didn’t share his enthusiasm.

The guitar wasn’t the first instrument he had. When he was little, he banged a biscuit tin, then he got a mandolin. I haven’t a clue where it came from, but he pretended it was a guitar. Then he got a real guitar and played that all the time.

After he heard Jimmy Reed he bought a harmonica and that was all we heard for a time. But he was funny about the guitar, he wanted to be a big purist and not plug it in. He Just ignored electricity for years until he got interested in groups.

LOVE LIFE

While he was at school, he used to have lots of girl friends. I wouldn’t say he was a Casanova, but perhaps he thought he was. He’d come home and I’d sit on the end of the bed and listen to him talk about his love life, picked up some tips that way!

He was always warning me about who not to go out with. He’d point at a boy and say: “Don’t go with him, he’s not the right type.” Then I’d go with the boy to find out.

I didn’t like crusts on bread and I used to throw them at him when we were eating. Once I threw a table at him. He pushed me, and I fell off the chair, I made out was hurt and he just said: “Stop being stupid and get up.”

But really he’s very kind and sincere. Please don’t think that’s corny because it’s true. If he says something to someone he means it. He loves signing autographs for fans. A girl came to the Crawdaddy one Sunday night with a little white mongrel puppy. She said that if she couldn’t find a home for it she’d have to have it put down, So Keith said he’d look after it. Later, when it got too much for him with his travelling and everything, he gave it to me. It was called “Winnie The Pooh” which was shortened to “Pooh”. It was embarrassing walking down the street shouting: “Come on, Pooh!”

All the girls go mad about Keith and scream for him when he’s on stage. He’s got more used to it before, but they didn’t know he was going up there nervous and wondering if he’d pass out. It’s funny for me to see my brother on stage being treated like an idol, I just laugh.

Not all that many people know that Keith was once told by a hospital never to sing again. He collapsed just before the Yardbirds went to America and they found he had a punctured lung. I fainted when I went to see him in hospital. There were all these things rigged up over and under the bed. He had got very despondent about his asthma and wanted to leave the group. He used to say he wasn’t doing them any good and was only a drag.

But the boys all kept going into hospital to see him. It was funny to see them walking along with bunches of flowers and fruit hanging down. When he was let out, he spent two weeks touring Cornwall in his car and then went back to the group.

Another time, he got food poisoning and the hospital thought it was typhoid. They kept him in an isolation ward for ten days before they let him out. He seems to have all the luck.

Keith gets really fed up when things like that go wrong, but then he’s so keen to get back to work that he forgets about it. He cares so much about his singing and the group that I’m really glad things have become so big for them. (Record Mirror, 30/09/65)

‘Nothing Religious About Our Hit’ says Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith . . .

AS THE YARDBIRDS’ new double-sided hit goes leaping up the charts, lots of money pours in to their coffers. But instead of feeling pleased about it, Paul Samwell-Smith is actually afraid! I asked the co-writer of “Still I’m Sad” if he was pleased that he had joined the ranks of top pop composers.

“It pleases me as a writer but I’m afraid of the number because it has a lot of me in it,” he replied. “It is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and it is very successful for me.

EMBARRASSED

“It has got a lot in it that I wanted to do. I’m embarrassed when I hear it. I’d like people to write in and say which side they prefer. A lot of people have put a religious connotation on it, but there is none.

“If they buy the record, do they buy it because it has any religious associations for them?”

Sam has had a say in the production of all the Yardbirds’ hits. What technique does he use when recording?

“With the group, you start with a drum sound because that takes the longest. I use four or five mikes—one for the high hat, get the bass muffled, one for the snare and one for the torn torn. You get a good sound by equalising.

“I put the drums and bass on the same track. The electric bass goes through a twelve inch speaker, not a bass guitar amplifier, that gives you a very punchy sound,” he explained.

“The rhythm and lead you can do wherever you like. You should do the backing with all four and maybe a guide voice. A good voice enables you to get the feel.”

When they visited America, the Yardbirds did some recording with Sam Phillips who produced early Elvis Presley discs for Sun.

“He put drums, bass and rhythm on one track. then lead on another which left two tracks clear for vocals,” the Yardbird Sam told me. “Everything is much simpler that way. But I would stick to our technique.

“My brother taught me all about electronics ten years ago when pop music just about came in. He guided me and introduced me to what a sound is. He made me aware of music. It is not just a sound you hear, something you hum.

“‘What’s New Pussycat’ is a good example of a great song as a whole. As a recording goes you can hardly beat that. Tom Jones has a beautiful voice.

“You wouldn’t find many recording engineers that would say that it is a bad recording. In fact, they would all say how good it is.” (Record Mirror, 21/10/65)

Our Emotional Experiences In Sound! – by The Yardbirds

It could be the flop of the year—or it could be the biggest thing in package shows since the invention of the electric guitar. I’m talking about the controversially different tour of Britain that Manfred Mann and the Yardbirds will make together next month. Both these top groups have decided to stake their careers on appearing in a package show that will be as way-out as you can imagine. There will be big names—but the bill won’t consist of just a string of groups or singers. It will be A POP SATIRICAL REVUE!

To any mind, this is taking a bigger gamble than ever before. Even promoters who have tried to “produce” pop shows have not gone this far. How do the Yardbirds feel about it? I asked member Chris Dreja When we met this week . . . hanging out of a first-floor window off London’s Brompton Road! He and Manfred Paul Jones were posing for a picture.

He was the right way up when we got down to the serious topic of the forthcoming show.

Said Chris: “No doubt about it, we are taking a risk. This has never been done before, and we don’t know if the fans will take to the idea of having satirical sketches as well as beat.

“We think they will—that’s why we’re doing it. But we also hope we’ll see some what you might call ‘young adults’ in the audience, people with the intelligence and sophistication to appreciate what we’re doing.”

Spoilers

Yardbird Keith Relf strolled into the room and chimed in: “One thing that would spoil it would be screams. You can’t get away with gags and comedy if people can’t hear for the noise.

“Still, we think the fans will appreciate that we’re trying to give them a good show and at least give us a chance.”

Whatever the reaction, you’ll notice that the Yardbirds place a lot of importance on doing something different. They almost have a contempt for groups which turn out the same stuff time after time. Says Keith: “Like the so-called way-out groups that you go along to see, and they’re just doing “I’m A Hog For You Baby,” like everybody else.”

Understandably, having both sides of a disc in the chart at the same time is making them almost burst with joy. And they still haven’t adjusted to it.

Says Chris: “Ask us our favourite, and we’d tell you ‘Still I’m Sad’ every time. I tell you if I wasn’t a member of the Yardbirds it would be my favourite record in the chart!”

“I can’t tell you how knocked out and proud we are of this record. It’s got originality, and that’s what we always aim for. To last in the charts these days you’ve definitely got to be original.”

Just how much importance the Yardbirds place on their music might be shown in this comment from Keith: “Just a few weeks ago we had a letter from a girl who said one of our records made her think of autumn leaves and soft, green meadows.

“This is just what we want. We like to feel we’re producing an emotional experience in sound.” (NME, 22/10/65)

The Yardbirds: Bewildered By Showbiz

“WE’RE coming out of our shells at last.” This was the birdlike statement Keith Relf, the Yardbirds’ lead singer made this week. For, although the boys have been around the scene for several years, they have been one of the least “with it” groups, and not associated with the “pop night life.”

“Although the group have been formed for over two-and-a-half years, we’re still bewildered by showbusiness and the life people lead,” Keith said. “We’re just about now beginning to earn big money and so we’re starting to think pop star-ish. Mind you I still prefer the simple things in life.

“What we’ve seen of other pop artists who have become affected by success has rather put us off mixing socially in the business. We’d hate to become like this,” he added.

“Jim and Chris are basically homebirds, going on the occasional jaunt; Jeff likes to get around a bit and Sam likes to go to parties – but only with people he’s known out of the business, for years.

“I have undertones of a secret yen to get out on the road with a bedroll on my back. Getting around the country as we do in a big car I see these fantastic green fields. The countryside is really beautiful at this time of year and I wish I was out roaming it.”

Fashionwise the Yardbirds have always been individual but hardly the first in line when new styles arrive at London’s Mod Mecca, Carnaby Street.

“None of the group has ever really been fashion conscious,” said Keith. “When I was about 15 I suppose I was a bit mad on fashions. I I wanted 14 inch bottom trousers and crepe shoes and things.

“Then I went to art school. I couldn’t afford clothes hardly at all and used to go to jumble sales to buy them.”

Keith is the only member of the Yardbirds with really long hair.

“It just got increasingly longer when I was at art school. I didn’t consciously grow it for the group like some pop artists do. I came into the business with it like it is.

“Jeff had long hair down to his shoulders when he joined us earlier this year, but it stood out too much as long so we had to get him to cut it.

“Chris had long hair about two-and-a-half years ago but he was the one who started the trend in the group to cut his hair shorter. Sam also used to have a hell of a lot of hair. I’m thinking of getting my hair cut now to follow in this trend.” (Disc Weekly, 23/10/65)

It’s The Mad, Mad World of Yardbirds Chris and Jim

JIM McCARTY and Chris Dreja are the two Yardbirds who say they are “unidentified.” They appear to be nice quiet people who wear striped school scarves round their neck in cold weather and look like Oliver Twist.

In fact, they are quite mad! They plonked themselves down in the seat opposite mine last Wednesday, ordered two coffees, and said they were schizophrenic (having a split personality). They also said that they were thinking of producing a monthly magazine completely devoted to the Yardbirds.

“It will be about our approach to life and about our sense of humour.” said Jim. “It will therefore be pretty sick because our sense of humour is revolting,” said Chris.

They thought of this brilliant idea one day when they were actually thinking of doing a book with Chris drawing the funny sketches, and Jim doing the funny writing.

COMPARED WITH LENNON

But Jim lost half the funny writing because he did it on scrap paper inside a loose cover, put it in his jacket pocket and lost the jacket! After that the idea of the book rather palled. “We even had a title,” said Chris sadly. “It was going to be called ‘We didn’t actually . . . ‘ We did get a bit worried because of John Lennon’s books—and you know that directly any pop people say they’re going to write a sick book people immediately compare them to Lennon.”

“But the monthly Yardbirds saga is still an idea we’re considering. We’re going to evolve characters for the Yardbirds to adopt. Magnificent and horrible,” said Jim.

“And we’ll draw funny men with funny names and horrible things wrong with them. Ugh!

“And we’ll write about the things we find funny. Inside the group our humour is rather strong. It makes other people rather anti-us because they don’t understand what we’re talking about. People don’t like that, you know.”

TRAVELLING TIME

The only problem now facing Jim and Chris is—time. With a near-number one record, and most of their free time taken up with new musical ideas like playing on potato spoons and dustbin lids full of wet earth (they said) they are relying on their travelling time to scribble and sketch.

“Last time we thought we’d do something useful and constructive on the flight from here to New York,” said Jim.

“But instead we were so terrified about the plane and whether the wings were still on we had to keep looking out the windows, and we played cards to keep our nerves calm. We played for six whole hours and were in such a state, so we didn’t write a single word!”

“We played,” said Chris, “for LIFE!”—(Disc Weekly, 30/10/65)