Dear Nathaniel,
Hello my love, I hope everything's okay with you right now. I'm not feeling very well at all but I want to just get better for you. The nights are really hard and it's difficult to sleep still I doubt that will change any time soon I can't stop thinking about you and everything we had planned. I miss you so much beyond words, I can't start looking forward until I am able to fully come to terms with what's happened, and that just can't happen overnight.
It's been four weeks since we found out, I can't believe it's been that long already, you would have been with us for two weeks now as well. Nothing makes it easier other than thinking about all the love you brought us and the good times we did have. I love you.
Today we're listening to the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton has left the band, to be replaced with Jeff Beck, and since the album I have features two singles released during the period Jimmy Page also features in the middle. This is probably one of the most influential albums released, especially with the two extra singles factored in.
Not only is Jeff Becks guitar playing far ahead of it's times and will influence the way rock musicians play guitar for years to come, the Yardbirds were also instrumental in the creation of Psychedelic rock with their song Happenings Ten Years Time Ago. That track incidentally features not only Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on guitar but also John Paul Jones on bass two years before he joined Jimmy Page's New Yardbirds (later Led Zeppelin).
I absolutely love this album, Jeff Beck is an absolutely amazing guitarist and adds a great hard rock sound with his energetic guitar work sprawled over the songs. I really enjoy the Yardbirds, not just for their music but also the history and legend around them and their lead guitarists. While Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page went onto super stardom, Jeff Beck was not able to emulate that same success, despite a brilliant innovative style and extreme skill.
Of course Jeff Beck didn't completely fall from the radar but his subsequent career just wasn't as successful, despite this Jeff Beck is still considered (and rightfully so) as one of the best guitarists of all time alongside the others. We'll be able to play you some of his other work some other time. I hope you're not getting tired of the 60's yet, because I hope to give you a bit more of a taste in the days to come.
I get really excited thinking about what I'm going to play you next but it always takes forever to decide, in the end I know I have all the time in the world to play you everything and that makes me happy. It feels really good to be able to do this for you, and I know I say that every time but it really does. I'm able to just forget about everything and focus on you and the music and telling you what I had always wanted to tell you.
When I write to you like this everything just disappears around me, for the most part, and I can just fade away from the world, and it feels really nice because I can feel you right there with me, and that's the beauty of music. I'm really glad I chose to use the re-release of this album with the two extra tracks in the middle. I never understood the practice of 60's bands to release singles that weren't available on any studio albums. Just like how See Emily Play doesn't appear on the real Piper at the Gates of Dawn despite being brilliant.
I suppose it's too late to change that now, and the shift towards album oriented music was slowly happening with Frank Zappa and Progressive Rock paving the way.
I hope you enjoyed the Yardbirds my love, I hope you sleep well. Goodnight my son Nathaniel.
Love from Dad.
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