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''Ultimate!'' is a comprehensive career retrospective album by English rock group the Yardbirds. It was compiled by Rhino Records in 2001 and comprises 52 songs on two compact discs. The songs are arranged chronologically by recording date and span the period from their first demo recordings in 1963 to the last singles in 1968. It includes all 17 of the group's singles (both A- and B-sides) supplemented with more than a dozen album tracks, their performance for the film ''Blow-Up'', and three early solo numbers by singer Keith Relf. Previous attempts at career compilations were hampered by cross-licensing problems. Yardbirds' recordings from different periods have different owners (corresponding to the tenures of their three main producers), which proved to be an obstacle. ''Ultimate!'' is the first official group compilation to feature songs from all four recording lineups of the Yardbirds—Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Beck/Page. ==Background== Prior to ''Ultimate!'', several Yardbirds compilation albums were issued. In March 1967, Epic Records released the ten-song collection, ''The Yardbirds Greatest Hits''.〔 〕 It was the group's most successful American album on the record charts〔 and was included on ''Billboard'' magazine's 100 Top LPs of 1967 chart.〔 〕 Since it preceded the recording of the ''Little Games'' album with Jimmy Page, the album does not include any songs by the Page-quartet lineup. In 1970, Epic issued a second compilation album, ''The Yardbirds Featuring Performances by Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page''.〔 〕 The two-LP, 22-song collection includes songs from ''Little Games'', but lacks any of the material recorded by the dual-lead guitar lineup with Beck and Page. Starline Records in the UK, an EMI Records subsidiary, released a compilation titled ''Remember... The Yardbirds'' in 1971. It includes twelve songs with Clapton and Beck.〔Russo 1998, p. 97.〕 Beyond these early attempts by their official record companies, music critic Richie Unterberger commented that the Yardbirds' catalogue of songs "has been subject to more exploitation than any other group of the '60s; dozens, if not hundreds, of cheesy packages of early material are generated throughout the world on a seemingly monthly basis".〔 〕 With the advent of compact discs, this trend accelerated. When the Yardbirds' were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, Sony Music Entertainment, parent of Epic, prepared two compilations. Both sets contained two CDs worth of haphazardly-sequenced songs (with overlap) from the Giorgio Gomelsky-era Yardbirds (material with Eric Clapton and pre-''Roger the Engineer'' Beck).〔Russo 1998, p. 106.〕 In Europe and the UK, Gomelsky licensed Yardbirds' material to several different record companies, who issued seemingly random tracks on a large number of "best of" albums, often with Clapton's or Beck's names and images prominently displayed. (After Rhino's release of ''Ultimate!'', another package of Gomelsky-era product was issued with the title ''Ultimate Collection''.) However, the early Epic compilations continued to be the only ones to include songs from ''Roger the Engineer'' and ''Little Games'', which were not owned by Gomelsky.〔Russo 1998, pp. 117-120.〕 In 2001, Rhino Records issued ''Ultimate!'' Unterberger commented, "It had to happen sometime, and after about 30 years of piecemeal Yardbirds compilations, here it is: a lengthy best-of anthology that manages to cross-license material from the Clapton, Beck, and Page eras". 〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ultimate!」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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