The Yardbirds
– Roger the Engineer
Nothing about Roger the Engineer feels cautious. It’s a British Invasion record that saw the door to psychedelia opening and kicked it down with fuzz pedals and feedback. The Yardbirds were never a band to sit still, and here they didn’t just push boundaries—they made them rattle. With Jeff Beck taking the lead axe, the album splinters into wild experiments and blistering riffs, still tethered—barely—to blues roots.

This was the first album where the band had full creative control, and it shows in the best kind of chaos. Songs leap from bent blues to proto-psych freakouts, all driven by Beck’s guitar playing, which could sound like a buzzsaw one moment and a weeping theremin the next. Keith Relf’s vocals come off wounded and sardonic, like a man caught between protest and possession. Meanwhile, the rest of the band keeps things fluid, letting each track find its own strange shape.
There’s something undeniably modern about the messiness here. The album doesn’t smooth things over – it leaves the rough edges exposed. It sounds like a band trying to break out of themselves, each song another shove against the walls closing in. Roger the Engineer isn’t polished; it’s impulsive, twitchy, and brilliant in its refusal to stay in one place. It wasn’t just ahead of its time – it was already annoyed at the future.
Choice Tracks
Over, Under, Sideways, Down
That opening riff struts in sideways, all swagger and slink. It’s a mutation of Chuck Berry’s bounce, mutated into something fuzzier, heavier, and stranger. A radio hit with a sneer.
The Nazz Are Blue
Jeff Beck takes over vocals and the guitar practically speaks. It’s a raw, slow-burning blues, but the tone is molten. You don’t listen to this track—you ride it out.
Rack My Mind
Leaning more garage than barroom, this one buzzes with paranoia. Relf sings like he’s sorting through static in his head, while the band cranks the tension tighter with every verse.
Turn Into Earth
A surprisingly gentle detour. This one floats rather than stings, with echo-laced vocals and a haunted atmosphere. Like a folk tune that got caught in a dream and stayed there.
Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (Bonus track on some reissues)
Though not on the original UK release, it’s worth noting if present. A frantic, fragmented masterpiece of psychedelic rock that would influence everyone from Hendrix to punk-era oddballs.
Roger the Engineer is restless, twitching with ideas, too wild to contain and too smart to ignore. The Yardbirds didn’t just predict the future—they shoved it forward, kicking and screaming.