Album Notes

Family Tree: Birds of a Feather
(Mooreland Street MSG 1969)

There’s the Yardbirds’ family tree, and then there’s the Yardbirds’ family tree, and in terms of having something fresh to listen to, one is a lot more enjoyable than the other. John Mayall, Cream, the Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin – whatever is left to be said about the monsters that once took flight from the Yardbirds’ nest? But step away from the antics of a few smart guitar slingers, and there’s an underground swirling around the band’s other members that rarely sees the daylight it deserves.

In fairness, this is less a Family Tree collection, than an anthology of Jim McCarty’s more recent, extra-curricular activities. The British Invasion All-Stars, the Yardbirds Experience and, of course, the Jim McCarty Band are the dominant names here, together with a clutch of McCarty-less highlights from the Ambulators’ tribute to ‘birds mentor Sonny Boy Williamson. Likewise, the 19 tracks turn up a mere handful of established Yardbirds classics (“Shapes Of Things,” of course, kicks it all off), preferring to mine the entire British beat repertoire of bluesy classics, R&B stompers and proto-rock howlers.

The line-up across the four acts is phenomenal – Don Craine, Phil May, Dick Taylor, Eddie Phillips, Mick Green, Matthew Fisher, Ray Majors, Mick Avory, Dave Walker … and that’s just the names that your pet goldfish would recognize. Noel Redding leads one aggregation across a dynamic “Jimi Hendrix Trilogy”; Pete French (ex-Cactus) fronts another through an incendiary “Wang Dang Doodle” and a Cream-stopping “Sitting On Top Of The World.” (Both tracks, incidentally, are previously unreleased.)

There’s no weak moments, no awkward segues, no annoying lapses. From start to finish, Birds of a Feather blazes as brightly as the blues should burn, and rocks with all the passion that the Yardbirds themselves made their own. Others among the band’s hatchlings may grab all the headlines, and make all the noise. But when it comes to actually playing the music, and making it matter, this is Year Zero.

Dave Thompson
Goldmine Magazine











The very best of Mooreland St Records 1999-2006.

Tracks 1-6 by The British Invasion All-Stars featuring Yardbirds founding member Jim McCarty along with Dick Taylor and Phil May of The Pretty Things, Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) Don Craine and Keith Grant (Downliners Sect) Eddie Phillips (Creation) Ray Phillips (Nashville Teens) and Mick Green (The Pirates)

Tracks 6 and 7 are brand new recordings featuring Pete French (Cactus/Atomic Rooster) on vocals. Never before released! The band is The Ambulators. (More info on them below)

Tracks 9-13 are by The Jim McCarty Band once again with Mr McCarty on drums, co-lead guitar by current Yardbirds vocalist John Idan and former Yardbirds axe-man Ray Majors along with Rod 'The Mod' Demick on bass. Vocals handled by Idan and Majors.

Tracks 14-18 are from the album 'Mostly Sonny-A Tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson' by The Ambulators with Dave (Savoy Brown) Walker on vocals. Don Craine - guitar, Nigel Watson- guitar, Ray Majors-lead guitar, John O'Leary-harmonica, Roger Cotton-keyboards, and Mick Avory (The Kinks) on drums.

Track 19 is a long out of print song by The Yardbirds Experience. 'The Yardbirds Experience' is the same basic line-up as The British Invasion All-Stars with the additional of Noel Redding on bass.

79 minutes of great rock n blues! Enjoy