1. Lost Woman*
2. Over Under Sideways Down*
3. The Nazz Are Blue
4. I Can't Make Your Way
5. Rack My Mind
6. Farewell*
7. Hot House of Omargarashid
8. Jeff's Boogie
9. Turn into Earth
10. What Do You Want
11. Ever Since the World Began
B+
So the reissue of this album, currently available on Spotify, starts with two bonus tracks. In the interest of journalistic integrity I made a point of skipping them both times I listened to this. And really, they are pretty good songs, but kicking off with "Lost Woman" just makes sense. It's a thunderous behemoth of a song, building from a soft start to some truly amazing drumming and bass work. And really, the Yardbirds' rhythm section was, based on this album, fucking amazing. This is music that's deeply rooted in the blues, and in 1950s rock, but at the same time very forward-looking. It makes for an interesting contrast - it's sort of like listening to some bizarre hybrid of Howlin' Wolf and the Who.
What really grabs attention on this album, of course, is Jeff Beck's incredible guitar. Feedback, distortion, sustain - it's all here, propped-up by inventive and technically dazzling playing. And yet all this technical wizardry is put to work serving short, catchy, punchy songs that could I suppose be described as "acid bubble gum". This is psychedelic rock, but it's also mostly dance music, and obviously intended to be radio friendly. The only real exceptions to the "Carl Perkins on acid" sound are the strange piano ballad "Farewell" (which proves the bad weren't just coasting on Beck's guitar but could also write great tunes), and the schizophrenic "Ever Since the World Began" (which starts out like something off the first Black Sabbath album, with lots of droning gloom and muttering about Satan, and then suddenly leaps into a jaunty bit of beat music). Oh, and I suppose "Hot House of Omargarashid", which is basically just three minutes of drumming and wobble boards and deeply odd.
The best song, however, is "Over Under Sideways Down", which features the immortal lyric "When I was young they talked about immorality/ but everything they said was wrong is what I want to be". It's catchy and fun. And really, this whole album is catchy and fun. We haven't had a genuinely fun album in a while, so it's nice to have something to bop along to.
That said, this is great while it's happening but it doesn't have much staying power. The music is great, but the lyrics aren't especially deep - just the usual hippie nonsense about failed relationships, the aftermath of a trip, and how you don't need money to be happy. Nice sentiments, but not particularly mind blowing. And the second half of the album can't really sustain the frenetic, psychedelic mood of the first half.
So this is a very good album, if you happen to like 60s psych and you're interested in the birth of hard rock. It's a fun listen, and features some astonishing playing. Just don't expect it to blow your mind.
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