Where The Action Is! Songs Ranked

An astonishingly fine, generally high-quality live-in-the-studio anthology, covering the Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page periods in the band’s history. Buying it should be a no-brainer for any real Yardbirds fan, as it matches any of the hours of Beatles outtakes and BBC sessions issued in the ’90s in both importance and vitality. The double-CD set consists of 35 live BBC and Stockholm radio performances that are more than sufficiently different from the group’s studio sides to justify the purchase, all in superb sound with a healthy, robust volume and presence, except for the typical anemic bass of the period. Disc One is the BBC material, 27 songs performed with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on guitars, covering “I Ain’t Got You” through to “Little Games,” “Goodnight Sweet Josephine,” “My Baby,” and “Think About It”: no Eric Clapton-era tapes have survived. These raw, single-take renditions showcase the sheer dexterity and power of this band better than any studio sides. The Jimmy Page material shows the fissures in the band, with less sense of a tightly knit group and more of four guys who just happen to be together, rather like the Beatles’ White Album sessions. Here are all of Where The Action Is! songs ranked.

Never miss out on the songs of the group that launched Rolling Stone’s greatest guitarists, The Yardbirds. Click and enjoy the pioneers of psychedelic rock!

10. The Sun is Shining

“This recording is always with me on road trips and just listening to what Beck can do on the guitar helps make the trip easier. I love Clapton and his blues and I love Page and his hard rock but in my opinion, Jeff Beck is the best rock guitarist of them all.”

9. Think About It

“On ‘Think About It’ Page plays the same wanky licks over and over without acknowledging there are other musicians in the room. He would later recycle this solo and use it in ‘Dazed & Confused’. I don’t think he ever advance past this two licks.”

8. Heart Full of Soul

“The Yardbirds really were quite something in the mid 60s, and in hindsight it’s quite a shame that they burned out as early as they did. This is a classic of its kind – edgy rock with a fuzzy guitar line and a vaguely threatening air of tension about it to keep you captivated.”

See more: The Yardbirds Albums Ranked

7. I Wish You Would

“I wish you would is the stuff of the sixties, the perfect average white blues song that stands out a touch because of some nice bass work. It’s cute like a girl group single, but the guitar has that rough fender rock n roll sound, very bluesy. It’s ultimately forgettable but enjoyable enough.”

6. Over Under Sideways Down

“I remember the first time I heard this short play and my reaction, frantic just friggin frantic. The wall of sound, the marvelous guitar work, decent vocals by Keith Relf, and a rhythm section on speed makes this tune for me one of the Yardbirds best.”

5. For Your Love

“For Your Love is a sixties classic no doubt, psychedelic and entertaining to the end. It is also probably the only Yardbirds song I can play for just about any audience and everyone will get something out of it. It’s enjoyable and unique.”

See more: The Yardbirds Songs Ranked

4. Shapes of Things

“Jeff Beck’s guitar work on this little forty five record may be some of the best he ever laid down. The lyrics are pretty impressive for a Yardbirds’ tune and they pull you in and then SMACK, that awesome guitar blasts through your ears and kicks your soul in the ass.”

3. Little Games

“Though most people acknowledge that the Yardbirds started to go downhill after Jeff Beck left the group, “Little Games” does nothing to validate this claim. Featuring an understated string arrangement, a chunky one-chord motif during the verse, and some by-the-numbers psychedelia during the solo, this song is as polished and catchy as anything in their discography.”

2. Drinking Muddy Water

“Drinking Muddy Water” is the kind of loosely-plagiarized blues rave-up that Led Zeppelin would come to master, but without any of the same power.”

1. Evil Hearted You

“The Jeff Beck era Yardbirds was way superior to and a million times more innovative that any other Yardbirds line-up. The ‘Evil Heart You’ single is the Yardbirds at their peak. And dig the Gregorian Chant on ‘Still I’m Sad’. I’d hate to say it but they left the Beatles, who were in their Help era, in the dust when it came to studio experimentation.”