Unfortunately, the end was near. Clayson quotes Chris Dreja: "Having two guitarists was no longer a great idea." Beck was unhappy at sharing the lead, and eventually left the group in mid-tour. They continued as a quartet with Page on guitar until July 1968, when the others called it quits. Page tried to recruit replacements. In a Pete Best-like statement, Dreja goes on to say "I even went up to Birmingham...to audition Robert Plant and John Bonham, but I wasn't interested in becoming a jobbing musician with strangers." Clayson adds, about John Paul Jones, "...since he'd been involved in most of The Yardbirds' post-Beck singles, he was an obvious choice for Page's new band, Led Zeppelin." The rest, as they say, is history.

The Yardbirds were an incredible group in their time, and Clayson himself eventually played with a revived version led by Dreja and McCarty. There are more succinct summaries of the group's influence but Clayson's book is useful, and its wonderful collection of photographs gives it great coffee table appeal.

The development of British rock guitar can be traced to a few storied groups. John Mayall fielded a trio of guitar heavyweights: the post-Yardbirds Clapton, Peter Greene, Fleetwood Mac's first guitarist, and Mick Taylor, who replaced the doomed Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones. These three were interchangeable journeymen (Clapton even named a later album "Journeyman") playing traditional blues behind a leader. The Yardbirds blended the blues with self-contained originality. Clapton had the shortest tenure, and went on to a spectacular career with Cream and as a solo artist. Beck and Page were more devoted to the group, and managed to advance the state of the art within its context. When Beck left and formed his own group in 1968, his first album "Truth" continued the Yardbirds tradition of blues mixed with innovation (featuring an unknown singer named Rod Stewart, and current Rolling Stone Ron Wood playing bass). Jimmy Page, of course, went on to Led Zeppelin, the archetypal heavy metal group (how could anyone improve on "Good Times Bad Times"?). Perhaps that was where the Yardbirds were headed, but Clayson's book does capture their real story for posterity.