The Yardbirds: Ultimate!

Does the band that perfected the ”rave-up” (which Webster’s should define as ”a gleeful, noisy burst of high-speed jamming in a blues-based rock context”) deserve anything less than a rave review? We think not. Remember that the Yardbirds were the font from which flowed the white-hot proto-metal that inspired hundreds of garage bands; factor in the presence of guitar gods Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck; and recall monumental tunes like ”Shapes of Things” and ”The Train Kept A-Rollin’.” Then tell us why you’d even dream of skipping this primo two-disc compilation.