Little Games [Japan Bonus Tracks] - The Yardbirds

Of the various expanded editions of the Yardbirds' Little Games album out there, EMI-Toshiba's 2004 mini-LP version is probably the best of the single-disc versions and certainly the best sounding, in 24-bit digital audio mastering. The original album's contents never sounded better -- you can practically hear the action on the guitars on "Little Games" and "Only the Black Rose," and the bowing on the break during "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" seems more surreal than ever. Where this disc really excels, however, is in its bonus tracks, which -- in addition to the usual outtakes from the album sessions and the singles that followed -- also feature a full complement of BBC recordings by the band right up through the last version of "Think About It" and the earliest rendition of the retitled "Dazed and Confused." Those late singles and BBC sides show the Yardbirds as they sounded late in their history outside of the direct influence of record company-mandated producer Mickie Most. In essence, it's the Yardbirds allowed to sound like who and what they actually were, in killer sound, and the results are far more impressive than the original Little Games album. This -- coupled with those bonus tracks -- was the way to end their history, and is in fact the ending that fans of the group (or of Jimmy Page) should seek out. And the producers were serious enough to leave off the one piece of ersatz -- albeit entertaining ersatz -- in the Yardbirds' late history: their recording of the "Great Shakes" commercial jingle. For that, if it really matters, one must go to one of the U.S. expanded editions. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide