The Yardbirds released Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds on November 15, 1965, through Epic Records in the United States. Their second American album divided its two guitar lineups across the vinyl: six studio recordings with Jeff Beck on side one, followed by four live tracks with Eric Clapton on side two. The running order put the band’s changing approach to its repertoire within a single record.
The Clapton performances came from a March 1964 show at London’s Marquee Club and had already appeared on the British album Five Live Yardbirds. Beck’s studio recordings were made in 1965, after he replaced Clapton. American listeners were getting an introduction to the earlier club band alongside songs that showed how far its arrangements had moved.
The title had a practical meaning. In a June 2014 interview with DME, drummer Jim McCarty credited bassist Paul Samwell-Smith with the idea of building the bass and drums toward a crescendo. “We were just trying to make the music a bit more exciting,” he said. The rhythm section supplied the momentum that gave the instrumental passages their force. The rave-up depended on the players driving the intensity together.
“I’m a Man” appears on both sides, giving that idea two distinct settings. The live performance with Clapton runs longer than four minutes; Beck’s studio version takes less than three. Having both on the original LP makes it possible to compare how the band handled a familiar number onstage and in a tighter studio arrangement, with different guitarists.
“Heart Full of Soul” shows another kind of reinvention. Written by Graham Gouldman, it began with a recording approach that involved Indian musicians playing sitar and tabla. Rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja told Vintage Guitar in its November 2009 issue that the band wanted that character for the riff, but the instruments’ sound and timing weren’t fitting the track. Beck used his guitar and a fuzz pedal to supply the part instead. The released record kept the idea while changing the instrument that expressed it.
That willingness to experiment took a different form on “Still I’m Sad,” written by McCarty and Samwell-Smith. Gregorian-style chanting became part of the arrangement, with manager and producer Giorgio Gomelsky contributing the low vocal part. Dreja recalled Gomelsky’s influence on that approach and the band’s interest in how film composer Ennio Morricone used voices. Here, the unusual sound came from the singing itself. On an album containing extended live workouts, the track made room for a slower experiment built around vocals.
The studio side ended with “The Train Kept A-Rollin’,” where Beck’s guitar imitated a train whistle before the band settled into the riff. Harmonica, changes of rhythm and a brief rave-up gave the track several turns within its roughly three-and-a-half-minute running time. It connected the band’s experiments with guitar sounds to the instrumental build-ups that were already part of its live performances.
The Yardbirds returned to that song for the 1966 film Blow-Up. Singer Keith Relf wrote new lyrics for a reworking called “Stroll On,” and the band changed the arrangement again. By then Jimmy Page had joined, and the film captured him and Beck playing guitar together.
