…with their Beatles and their Stones (3): the London sound

In the wake of The Beatles and the Stones came a wave of great British bands. First up, a Stones connection. Dick Taylor was an art student with Keith Richards, and along with Mick Jagger a member the the Blue Boys, the precursor to The Rolling Stones; he was, for a short while, the Stones bassist, leaving when he was won a pace at St Martin’s.

Art School didn’t last. Instead, he met Phil May, and formed The Pretty Things. Their first two singles, Rosalyn and Don’t Bring Me Down, were hard rocking r’n’b classics.

The Yarbirds were another London band, forming in 1963, taking over The Rolling Stones residency at ten Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. Shortly after, the young Eric Clapton joined. It was that line-up that recorded Five Live Yarbirds.

Later, Clapton would leave, to replaced by Jeff Beck; when he left, he was replaced by…