Ultimate! is a comprehensive career retrospective album by English rock group the Yardbirds. The 52-song two–compact disc compilation was released in 2001 by Rhino Records. The tracks span the period from the group's first demo recordings in 1963 to the last singles in 1968. They include all 17 of the group's singles, both A-side and B-sides, supplemented with more than a dozen album tracks, their performance for the film Blow-Up, and three early solo numbers by singer Keith Relf.
A large number of compilation albums have been released over the years, usually limited to the group's pre-1966 catalogue. Attempts at full career retrospectives were hampered by cross-licensing problems. Yardbirds' recordings from different periods have different owners (corresponding to the tenures of their three main producers), which proved to be an obstacle. Ultimate! is the first official compilation to feature songs from all four recording lineups of the Yardbirds – including those with guitarists Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and the dual lead lineup with Beck and Page.[1] The album was released to favourable reviews, with the critics describing it as the most comprehensive, but perhaps overinclusive, collection of the group's material.
Background
Prior to Ultimate!, several Yardbirds compilation albums were issued. In March 1967, Epic Records released the ten-song collection, The Yardbirds Greatest Hits.[2] It was the group's most successful American album on the record charts[2] and was included on Billboard magazine's 100 Top LPs of 1967 chart.[3] Since it preceded the recording of the Little Games album with Jimmy Page, the album does not include any songs by the Page-quartet lineup. In 1970, Epic issued a second compilation album, The Yardbirds Featuring Performances by Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page.[4] The two-LP, 22-song collection includes songs from Little Games, but lacks any of the material recorded by the dual-lead guitar lineup with Beck and Page. Starline Records in the UK, an EMI Records subsidiary, released a compilation titled Remember... The Yardbirds in 1971. It includes twelve songs with Clapton and Beck.[5]
Their [Yardbirds' song] catalog... has been subject to more exploitation than any other group of the '60s; dozens, if not hundreds, of cheesy packages of early material are generated throughout the world on a seemingly monthly basis.
Beyond these early attempts by their official record companies, numerous small and gray market labels have issued a large number of "best of" and "greatest hits" packages.[6] In Europe and the UK, the group's material was licensed to several different record companies, who issued collections of seemingly random tracks, often with attractive packaging and Clapton's or Beck's names and images prominently displayed.[7] In 1977, Shapes of Things, the first of many albums made up of Giorgio Gomelsky-era Yardbirds tracks (limited to Clapton and pre-Roger the Engineer Beck recordings), was released by Charly Records.[8]
With the advent of audio compact discs, this trend accelerated.[9] When the Yardbirds' were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, Sony Music Entertainment, parent of Epic, prepared two compilations. Both sets contained two CDs worth of haphazardly-sequenced songs (with overlap) from the Gomelsky era.[10] However, the early Epic compilations continued to be the only ones to include songs from Roger the Engineer and Little Games, which were not owned by Gomelsky.[7]
Song selection
The songs selected for Ultimate! represent all singles and a significant portion of the material found on the Yardbirds' albums released between 1964 and 1968 by Columbia Records in the UK and Epic Records in the US.[11] Yardbirds' biographer Adam Clayson describes the selections as "the best of the Yardbirds, with material from all four line-ups [sic]: Clapton; Beck; Beck & Page; and Page."[1] Critic Richie Unterberger noted that the set "manages to cross-license material from the Clapton, Beck, and Page eras".[12] The songs are taken from the core of the group's catalogue:
The balance are non-album singles, "Stroll On" from Blow-Up, and three solo recordings by Keith Relf.[11][b] Since Ultimate focuses on officially released recordings from 1964 to 1968,[12] it does not include material released later or by other labels, such as live recordings (except from Five Live Yardbirds), demos, and alternate takes.[c]
In 2001, Rhino Records issued Ultimate! in July in the US and in August in the UK as a two-CD boxed set.[1] Dan Forte of Vintage Guitar magazine called it "the closest-to-definitive collection of a band that’s been woefully under-represented on CD".[20]The Austin Chronicle's Raoul Hernandez described the album as "lend[ing] ample credence to the supposition that the Yardbirds are the not-so-missing musical link between Sixties pop and Seventies rock".[19] However, he points out that the Mickie Most-produced tracks with Page "flounder", making the collection less of a concise statement.[19] Similarly, while Richie Unterberger gave it AllMusic's five star rating, he questioned the inclusion of some of the more obscure material.[12] He felt that the early demos, the Italian-language single, and the Keith Relf solo numbers detract from "the overall tone of a set largely selected on the basis of quality, rather than collectability".[12] Forte notes that more songs from Five Live Yardbirds and two strong Page-era songs, "Glimpses" and "Smile on Me", were not included.[20]
Track listing
The album sequencing is arranged chronologically, beginning with demo recordings from 1963. The songwriter's names, dates recorded, and track running times are taken from the Ultimate! CD booklet and may differ from other releases.[11] For discographical information (release dates, chart positions, catalogue numbers, etc.), see The Yardbirds discography.
Keith Relf – vocals, harmonica, tambourine, acoustic guitar
Chris Dreja – rhythm guitar (disc one, disc two tracks 1 through 10, 25, and 26); lead guitar ("Questa Volta"); bass guitar (disc two tracks 13, 15, 17, 19, and 24); piano; maracas
Jim McCarty – drums (disc one, disc two tracks 1 through 13, 15 through 20, 21 through 23, and 24 through 26); percussion; backing vocals
Paul Samwell-Smith – bass guitar (disc one except track 15, disc two tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 25, and 26)
Eric Clapton – guitar (disc one tracks 1 through 12)
