Eric Clapton: One Of His Most Killer Performances
A handful of artists have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Only one, however, has been inducted three times: that’s Eric Clapton. He was inducted in 2000 for his solo career, and in 1993 as a member of Cream. But his first induction came in 1992, as a member of the Yardbirds. Clapton didn’t show up for the induction, and he rarely references his stint with that legendary band. Which is a shame: they’re one of the best bands of their era, and his one album with them featured some of his most furious guitar playing.
Clapton joined the Yardbirds in 1963, replacing their original lead guitarist, Anthony “Top” Topham. Topham was a few years younger than his bandmates: singer Keith Relf, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and drummer Jim McCarty. His parents wouldn’t let him go out multiple nights a week to play with a band; he was just a teenager! Clapton was well known in London but hadn’t yet gotten his big break. He became the Yardbirds’ new lead guitar player.
The Yardbirds with Clapton released a number of studio singles, which are among the best examples of 1960s British rock and roll: a cover of Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Wish You Would” and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.”
But Clapton’s best moment with the Yardbirds–and depending on your perspective, one of the greatest parts of his vast discography– is on Five Live Yardbirds, released 60 years ago this month. (We included it on our .)
Clapton only stayed with the Yardbirds for less than three years; in 1965, he left to join John Mayall’s Bluebreakers; we’ll also note that his one album with that band, Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, is also one of his finest moments. The fact that Clapton’s name was in the album title shows how big of a deal he was, even back then. He’d go on to form short-lived but legendary bands Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek & the Dominos. But he’s not really a band guy: Clapton has been a solo artist for the past fifty years. And while his solo career has its share of gems, for our money, Clapton is at his best when he’s in a band.
Clapton has always had a quiet confidence; he rarely gives off the impression that he has anything to prove. Maybe that’s justified: the infamous “Clapton is God” graffiti started popping up in London around the time he started playing in the Yardbirds (although some, including Clapton, believe that the graffiti may have been a publicity stunt).
But in March of 1964 when Five Live Yardbirds was recorded at London’s Marquee Club, the Yardbirds and Clapton surely were trying to prove themselves. Less than a year earlier, they had taken the Rolling Stones’ residency at the Crawdaddy Club; those were big shoes to fill. Clearly, the Yardbirds were a band with a lot of hype. They lived up to it.
The band opened their Marquee show with Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business” and they play it like their lives depend on it. The Beatles and the Kinks had covered the song was well, but this version might be the best version (other than Mr. Berry’s original).
You can practically hear the band sweating from the minute they hit the stage; they were blowing the roof off. Joe Perry once told the British magazine Classic Rock that this specific version of this cover “was such a blueprint for a lot of what Aerosmith tried to do.” The Yardbirds were clearly on to something.
On this night, they were firing on all cylinders and left nothing in the tank. Most of the set varied from fast to breakneck speed, but they did slow things down for Eddie Boyd’s “Five Long Years” (which Clapton later revisited 30 years later on 1994’s From The Cradle). But that’s the only thing that resembles the smooth, fluid blues playing that Clapton would later corner the market on. Most of the album rocks in a way that would be unrecognizable to fans of Clapton’s work from the ’70s and beyond. There are no less than three Bo Diddley covers on the album, the best being the set-closing “Here ‘Tis,” a frantic rocker. it’s wild to listen to: maybe Clapton was on to something. “Here ‘Tis” is played with the tension that comes easily to a twenty-something; it’s harder to reproduce when you’re older. To his credit, Clapton moved on from this style when it didn’t fit him anymore.
The highlight of the set, though, was Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning”; Clapton has rarely, if ever, sounded this dangerous in any other context (it’s also one of Keith Relf’s finest moments). Soon, though, Clapton would part ways with the band, allegedly over their one hit single, “For Your Love.” (He felt it was too “pop,” which is funny considering the turns that his career would take in subsequent decades.) The Yardbirds got even better with his replacement, Jeff Beck. Clapton would go on to be an example, for better or worse, for getting older in rock music. His fluid and smooth guitar playing punctuated tons of rock and pop songs (and movie scores) through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s and he became a great (and underrated) singer as well.
Historical context aside, Five Live Yardbirds is an incredible album and is still exciting to listen to today. But put in historical context, it’s a fascinating document of a time when the Yardbirds, who were contemporaries of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, the Animals, the Hollies and others, were one of the best bands in the land, and on this night, they proved it.
