Roger the Engineer

Yardbirds
Caricature drawing of an audio engineer Roger Cameron (Who went on to run Advision Studios)holding headphones and a reel of recording tape
UK release
Studio album by
the Yardbirds
Released15 July 1966 (1966-07-15)
RecordedApril–June 1966
StudioAdvision, London
Genre
Length35:52 (14-track version)
LabelColumbia
Producer
The Yardbirds UK chronology
Five Live Yardbirds
(1964) 		Yardbirds
(1966) 		Remember
(1971)
The Yardbirds US chronology
Having a Rave Up
(1965) 		Over Under Sideways Down
(1966) 		The Yardbirds Greatest Hits
(1967)
Alternative covers
US release by Epic Records

Roger the Engineer (originally released in the UK as Yardbirds and in the US, West Germany, France and Italy as Over Under Sideways Down) is the only UK studio album and the third US album by the English rock band the Yardbirds. Recorded and released in 1966, it contains all original material and is the only Yardbirds album with guitarist Jeff Beck on all tracks.[1] It was produced by bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and manager Simon Napier-Bell.

Although the British edition is still officially titled Yardbirds by authoritative chart sources, such as Official Charts Company,[2] it has since been referred to, first colloquially, then semi-officially, as Roger the Engineer,[3] a title stemming from the cover drawing of the record's audio engineer Roger Cameron by band member Chris Dreja.[4]

It is the only Yardbirds album to appear in the UK Albums Chart, where it reached number 20.[2] In the US, it reached number 52 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making it the band's highest-charting studio album in the US.[5] It reached number 8 in Finland.[6] The album's best-known song, "Over Under Sideways Down", was released as a single in May 1966, two months before the album.[5]

The album is included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[7] In 2012, the album was ranked number 350 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[8]

  1. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen. The Yardbirds: Roger the Engineer – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Yardbirds – Albums". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  3. ^ Gulla, Bob (2008). Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History. ABC-CLIO. p. 24. ISBN 978-0313358067. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  4. ^ Jones, Chris (17 April 2007). "The Yardbirds Roger The Engineer Review". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  5. ^ a b Koda, Cub; Russo, Gregg (2001). Ultimate! (Boxed set booklet). The Yardbirds. Los Angeles: Rhino Records. pp. 46, 51. OCLC 781357622. R2 79825.
  6. ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 140. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  7. ^ Dimery, Robert (2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Universe Publishing. ISBN 978-0789320742.
  8. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Yardbirds, 'Roger the Engineer'". Rolling Stone.