Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
Long out of print in America, the Yardbirds‘ final album Little Games was the only one of the venerable band’s LP to be released in both the U.S. and the U.K. unchanged. This means that none of the band’s then-current non-album singles were appended or used as substitutes for LP tracks, and thus none of the group’s popular tunes appear (which might explain why it’s been out-of-print in the States for so long). Originally released in 1967, Little Games is also the only Yardbirds record to feature the quartet lineup with Jimmy Page as the primary guitarist.
To be frank, it’s a mixed bag, eclectic almost to a fault. The title track, bonus cut “Puzzles” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor” cover the group’s pop bases, while “Drinking Muddy Water” and “Smile On Me” hit the band’s roiling blues rock groove. But there’s also mellow balladry (“Only the Black Rose”), psych pop (“Little Soldier Boy”), stoned whimsy (“Glimpses”), rootsy tomfoolery (“Stealing, Stealing”), straight-up rock & roll (“No Excess Baggage”), ridiculous music hall homage (“I Remember the Night”) and Page’s acoustic instrumental “White Summer” (which would be resurrected on stage during Led Zeppelin shows). Some tunes work better than others, naturally, but regardless of quality the cuts sound like they were recorded by a dozen different bands, instead of one band with diverse interests. Is Little Games the product of an excess of ideas or a blatant lack of focus brought on by declining fortunes? You decide.
