"There were four rock groups in the world that really counted, and The Yardbirds were one of them".

It's tough to argue with that quote by Simon Napier Bell, one of the Yardbirds' producers. Their influence continues to this day, not only in the superstar guitarists whose careers began with the Yardbirds--Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page--but in the groups inspired by the Yardbirds' sound, including Aerosmith, and even Bruce Springsteen, whose screaming, whining Telecaster solos trace their lineage directly back to Jeff Beck's hitch with the Yardbirds.

As Alan Clayson notes in his new book, ironically, despite their influence, and the superstar guitarists they launched, the core group of musicians who made up the Yardbirds after original bassist Paul Samwell-Smith left were surprisingly average: Keith Relf was a so-so singer, Jim McCarty was a stiff drummer, and Chris Dreja was an average bassist and rhythm guitarist. The Internet makes it very easy to do an A/B comparison between the late period Yardbirds and early Led Zeppelin. Simply download the bootleg live versions of "Dazed and Confused" and "Train Kept a Rollin" as done by both late period Yardbirds and early Led Zeppelin, you'll hear exactly what I mean: Bonham and John Paul Jones absolutely leave McCarty and Dreja in the dust as a rhythm section, and Plant is a far more flexible vocalist than Relf (who tragically died via electrocution during a live performance) ever was.

The Yardbirds' rep rests on three pillars: the fact that three of the greatest electric guitarists in the history of rock music passed through their doors, their appearance, at the height of their career, in Antonioni's classic 1966 film, Blowup, one of the great films of the 1960s, and on a handful of great, often experimental singles.

And what singles they were: while the Yardbirds failed as a blues group in their initial incarnation, as a hard rocking pop act, they were terrific. "For Your Love" with Clapton on guitar, (which, as Clayson documents, ultimately cost the Yardbirds his services), and then the string of singles with first Jeff Beck, and then Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on dueling lead guitars, including "Shapes of Things", "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago", "Over Under Sideways Down", and "Train Kept a 'Rollin'" (or as it was retitled for Blowup, "Stroll On".