The Yardbirds -- "Having a Rave Up"

The Yardbirds' second album, Having a Rave Up with The Yardbirds, was issued in 1965. It was the band's first with new guitarist Jeff Beck replacing Eric Clapton. But for whatever reason, only half the album features Beck. The whole second side is made up of live cuts with Clapton that were recorded the previous year.

This compilation really doesn't make much sense, especially when one considers that the band recorded enough songs with Beck to fill the entire album. This re-imagined version fixes that.

SIDE A

1. You're a Better Man Than I
2. Evil Hearted You
3. I'm a Man
4. Still, I'm Sad
5. My Girl Sloopy
6. Heart Full of Soul

SIDE B

1. Shapes of Things
2. I Ain't Done Wrong
3. Steeled Blues
4. I'm Not Talking
5. New York City Blues
6. The Train Kept a Rollin'

Most of the first side is the same. However in adding the new songs, a little rearranging was necessary to keep the lengths of the sides fairly close. So "The Train Kept a Rollin'" was moved from the end of the second side, and "My Girl Sloopy" was inserted on the first side. Side B kicks off with the band's latest single at the time, "Shapes of Things," followed by four other new tunes before "The Train Kept a Rollin'."

In my opinion, this is a much better album than was released and likely would have been more highly regarded today than it has been in its true arrangement.

For the cover, I just made a few cosmetic changes to the original, including changing the songs listed. I also changed the album title to simply Having a Rave Up.