Roger The Engineer (Super Deluxe Edition) ［2LP+3CD+7inch］

ザ・ヤードバーズ、1966年発表の通称『ロジャー・ジ・エンジニア』が2LP+3CD+7inchのスーパー・デラックス・エディションで登場!

CD2枚とアナログレコード2枚には、オリジナル・テープから新たにリマスターされたアルバムのモノおよびステレオ・ヴァージョンをそれぞれ収録。モノ・ヴァージョンは、オリジナルの英国1/4インチ・モノラル・マスターテープを、このリリースのためにアビーロード・スタジオで新たにリマスタリング。英国オリジナル・アルバム・スリーブのレプリカに収められています。またステレオ・ヴァージョンは、新たに転送された1/4インチ・マスターテープからリマスター。

3枚目のCDはレア音源集で、新たにリマスターされたアルバム未収録のシングル、レアな別ヴァージョン、ジェフ・ベックのギターソロが聴ける「turn into Earth」の未発表初期ミックス等を収録。

7インチ・シングルには「Happening Ten Years Time Ago」を収録。後にレッド・ツェッペリンのメンバーとなるジミー・ペイジとジョン・ポール・ジョーンズが参加した、サイケデリックなシングル曲で、新しくリマスターされています。

更にA2サイズの折りたたみポスター、24ページの大判ブックレットも付属。

Once Jeff Beck joined the Yardbirds, the group began to explore uncharted territory, expanding their blues-rock into wild sonic permutations of psychedelia, Indian music, and avant-garde white noise. Each subsequent single displayed a new direction, one that expanded on the ideas of the previous single, so it would seem that Roger the Engineer -- Beck's first full album with the group and the band's first album of all-original material -- would have offered them the opportunity to fully explore their adventurous inclinations. Despite a handful of brilliant moments, Roger the Engineer falls short of expectations, partially because the band is reluctant to leave their blues roots behind and partially because they simply can't write a consistent set of songs. At their best on Roger, the Yardbirds strike a kinetic balance of blues-rock form and explosive psychedelia ("Lost Woman," "Over, Under Sideways, Down," "The Nazz Are Blue," "He's Always There," "Psycho Daisies"), but they can also bog down in silly Eastern drones (although "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" is a classic piece of menacing psychedelia) or blues tradition ("Jeff's Boogie" is a pointless guitar workout that doesn't even showcase Beck at his most imaginative). The result is an unfocused record that careens between the great and the merely adequate, but the Yardbirds always had a problem with consistency -- none of their early albums had the impact of the singles, and Roger the Engineer suffers from the same problem. Nevertheless, it is the Yardbirds' best individual studio album, offering some of their very best psychedelia, even if it doesn't rank among the great albums of its era. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine