[Slowhand] Live! Blueswailing

[Brooz at aol.com]

"Live! Blueswailing" is an essential release for EC and Yardbirds fans.  Hard 
to believe it was recorded in 1964, about 4 months after "5 Live."  The sound 
is, for the most part, great.  EC's and Sam's vocals on GMLS are low in the 
mix; Jim McCarty's drumming, excellent as always, could have been miked 
better--but overall, this is a fine recording of a blazing performance.  Snooky 
Pryor's "Someone to Love Me" is a revelation.  Introduced to the band by EC, this 
is the precursor to "Lost Woman," one of the best of the Beck-era tunes, before 
it was re-arranged with new lyrics written by Chris Dreja.  Unfortunately, it 
grinds to a halt midway through.  According to Clayson, a studio recording of 
this song was made at IBC around the time they recorded "For Your Love."  
Wonder what happened to it?  The other previously unreleased tune is "The Sky Is 
Crying" with an exceptional EC performance.

A couple reviews-

All Music Guide:
This recently discovered seven-song set is an awe-inspiring live recording of 
the Yardbirds before their official debut, Five Live Yardbirds. As a 
document, it adds considerable weight to the band's early rep that has been passed 
into legend. It also rewrites history: this short set blows Five Live away both 
in terms of performance and sound quality. This is the second incarnation of 
the band, with Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith, and new 
guitarist Eric Clapton (who had replaced Andrew "Top" Topham). The music here 
roars, screams, howls, growls, and bleeds white-boy British blues; it is 
blistering in its raw intensity, with covers of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey 
Business" and the standard "Smokestack Lightning." The band's trademark "rave-up" 
antics are abundant here (check out "She's So Respectable"), and in the 
closer -- one of the most startling rock versions of "The Sky Is Crying" on record 
-- the listener gets the clearest picture yet of Clapton as an early and 
worthy guitar hero. His playing is so inspired and full of razor-sharp turnarounds 
and knotty arpeggios, one has to wonder what was left for him to accomplish 
even then. The energy here is crackling, dangerous, and woolly. Anyone 
interested in vintage garage or modern garage rock should check this out, as it rivals 
most of what comes out of today's "raw and raucous" scene as well. Indeed, 
history has been rewritten. Thom Jurek


Yardbirds World, 14 October, 2003: 
Reviewer: Richard Mackay (Yardbirds World) from Blackbird Leys, Oxford United 
Kingdom  
Value For Money? Well, clocking in at around only 30 minutes (Around the same 
playing time as some £3.99 cd singles I have bought) this item is sold at an 
album price.
Importance of this cd?  For shear playing power & listening pleasure, it's 
possibly the best release since 1970. Rock music, as we now know it, started 
here, with this band.
Quality Of Recording?  Considering this is dated at July 1964, and pre decent 
sized amps (they were still using small A.C.30s at the time) also this is pre 
all the guitar gadgets as such, as live recordings go the sound is amazing 
through out.
Star Of The Recording? No matter how excellent everyone else was in the 
various line ups of The Yardbirds, the main man was always Keith Relf. This 
recording goes a long way in redressing the balance away from who ever the guitarist 
of the day was (in this case one Eric Clapton). Relfy was the best frontman of 
a band I have ever seen, his banter with the audience was quite special, his 
punk style singing was perfect for the band, whilst his harp playing was 
second to none.
A Worthwhile Purchase ? CRUCIAL!!