Yardbirds - Little Games Sessions and More [1992]
This two-CD set assembles the complete Little Games album and all of the usable rehearsals, unmixed backing tracks, and alternate
takes associated with it in one place, along with a few Yardbirds-related holdings in the EMI vaults. For a variety of reasons
(not all the fault of the band), Little Games was the Yardbirds' least successful album, but it was also their only full-length
studio recording featuring guitarist Jimmy Page, who seems to have hung back here in exerting his musical inclinations, in keeping
with the desires of producer Mickie Most's quest for a pop/rock tone to the album.
The odd B-sides, outtakes, alternate takes, and bonus tracks reveal a high level of virtuosity that Most failed to exploit -- the
unanthologized B-sides "Puzzles" and "Think About It," the acoustic version of "White Summer," and the punchier mono mixes of
"Little Games" and "Drinking Muddy Water" are superior to much on the finished album; other tracks like the instrumental backing
track for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" and an alternate version of "Glimpses" merely fill in holes for Page completists. Keith
Relf and Jim McCarty's post-Yardbirds acoustic duo, Together, which evolved into the original Renaissance, is also represented on
three tracks, doing the brand of folkish soft rock that they favored, even as Page had moved on to setting the rock music world on
fire with Led Zeppelin. Fans of the Yardbirds, and anyone who could appreciate the original album, will prefer this pricier alternative
for the bonus tracks, Led Zeppelin fans will love large parts of this set, and British psychedelic enthusiasts will consider it essential.
* Chris Dreja – bass guitar
* Jim McCarty – drums, percussion, backing vocals
* Jimmy Page – guitar
* Keith Relf – harmonica, percussion, vocals
Additional personnel
* Nicky Hopkins – keyboards
* Clem Cattini – drums
* John Paul Jones – bass guitar
Disc one (*Unreleased track in the U.S.)
1. "Little Games" [Stereo Mix] (Phil Wainman, Harold Spiro) – 2:39
2. "Smile On Me" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) – 3:20
3. "White Summer" (Jimmy Page) – 3:59 (Slightly extended version with quick snatch of studio chatter at the end)
4. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" [Vocal version] (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty) – 2:53
5. "Glimpses" [Version 1] (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) – 4:23
6. "Drinking Muddy Water" [Stereo Mix] (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) - 2:54
7. "No Excess Baggage" (Roger Atkins) - 2:39
8. "Stealing Stealing" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) - 2:36 (Extended version)
9. "Only The Black Rose" (Keith Relf) - 2:50 (Backwards drum beat on this remix is faded out before falling out of sync with the rest of the
track as noticeably heard on the original LP version)
10. "Little Soldier Boy" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf) - 2:44
11. "Puzzles" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) - 2:10
12. "I Remember The Night*" (Anthony Pirollo) - 3:03 (Lead vocal by Jim McCarty)
13. "Ha Ha Said The Clown" (Tony Hazzard) - 2:30
14. "Ten Little Indians" [Vocal version] (Harry Nilsson) - 2:15
15. "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" (Tony Hazzard) - 2:44 (U.S. version excluding Dreja & McCarty)
16. "Think About It" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Keith Relf) - 3:45
Disc two (*Unreleased tracks, **Unreleased in the U.S.)
1. "Little Games" [Mono Mix] (Phil Wainman, Harold Spiro) - 2:24
2. "You Stole My Love**" (Graham Gouldman) - 2:57
3. "White Summer*" [Acoustic Version]" (Jimmy Page) - 3:53 (Same guitar tracking as the album release)
4. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor*" [Instrumental] (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty) - 2:56
5. "L.S.D.**" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja) - 1:01
6. "Drinking Muddy Water" [Mono Mix] (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) - 2:52
7. "De Lane Lea Lee**" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja) - 2:35 (Featuring nearly inaudible spoken passages by Jimmy Page)
8. "Glimpses*" [Version 2] (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja, Keith Relf) - 4:20 (Excludes spoken interlude, train sounds and kids voices.
Ending riff is also echoless)
9. "Never Mind**" (Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja) - 2:48
10. "Ten Little Indians*" (Instrumental) (Harry Nilsson) - 2:17 (Different take than the vocal release)
11. "Goodnight Sweet Josephine**" (Tony Hazzard) - 2:44 (U.K. version featuring entire group)
12. "Henry's Coming Home**" (Jim McCarty, Keith Relf) - 2:59
13. "Love Mum And Dad**" (Jim McCarty, Keith Relf) - 3:50
14. "Together Now**" (Jim McCarty, Keith Relf) - 3:05 (This and the above two tracks by first post-Yardbirds group Together, featuring Relf & McCarty.
All three tracks produced by Paul Samwell-Smith)
15. "Shining Where the Sun Has Been*" (Jim McCarty, Keith Relf)- 2:53 (By Keith Relf & Jim McCarty. Acetate recording owned by Jim McCarty)
16. "Great Shakes, US Commercial*" - 1:01
Format : MPEG Audio
File size : 6.08 MiB
Duration : 2mn 39s
Overall bit rate : 320 Kbps
Album : Little Games Sessions & More
Track name : Little Games (Stereo Mix)
Track name/Position : 01
Performer : Yardbirds
Accompaniment : Yardbirds
Publisher : Indent Series
Genre : Rock
Recorded date : 1996
Writing library : LAME3.98r
Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Duration : 2mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 320 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Stream size : 6.08 MiB (100%)
Writing library : LAME3.98r
Encoding settings : -m j -V 4 -q 3 -lowpass 20.5