For Your Love – THE YARDBIRDS***

For Your Love/I’m Not Talking/Putty (In Your Hands)/I Ain’t Got You/Got To Hurry/I Ain’t Done Wrong/I Wish You Would/A Certain Girl/Sweet Music/Good Morning Little Schoolgirl/My Girl Sloopy

For Your Love was the first American LP from the British R & B cum pop group The Yardbirds, featuring some tracks from the already departed Eric Clapton. The title track was a US No. 6 and UK No. 3 hit single. (US:96)

“I'm not that impressed with this album as overall it is way too inconsistent. Some good songs, some mediocre ones and a couple of boring numbers as well.”

“Half dated, half great early British invasion style blues rock, half good pop, half boring rehashed pop tracks. That's a lot of halves. There isn't anything worth hearing that isn’t on their compilation stuff. Really only for hardcore fans.”

“For Your Love was The Yardbirds' first American LP, and although Jeff Beck is featured on the album's cover and liner notes, this compilation is actually drawn mostly from earlier Eric Clapton era material. The psychedelic tinged pop of the title track is the highlight here, while the remainder of the LP leans heavy on Chicago blues steamed, pressed and styled in the 60s British tradition, but missing the visceral immediacy of the real deal.”

“On the whole this is a pretty good collection; the best thing about it is that it demonstrates the creative evolution of The Yardbirds like no other album does. From the self-assured blues/rock of I Wish You Would, to the glorious pop sounds of For Your Love, to the guitar innovations of I'm Not Talking, and the artistic license of My Girl Sloopy, its all happening. A mix of good, fairly hard blues pop, and comparatively lame pop hit covers.”

“An absolutely classic piece of rock from the mid-1960s, and it features an (unaccredited) Eric Clapton at a time when he could still play straight blues without turning every guitar solo into a wrestling fight between his guitar and his ego."

“Being familiar with The Yardbirds only via their widely played pop hits, I was surprised to find that many of the songs on this album sound like Anglicized covers of blues tunes. I wanted to hear the roots of rock by a band that was experimenting with American blues and going beyond the blues to form a new sound.”