Yardbirds

The good don’t always die young; the new Yardbirds come home to roost with short, exhilarating, crunchy blues-rock songs: tough melodies and whale hooks that grab your coat and leave you breathless. Original members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty—backed by guitarists Jeff Beck (an ex-Yardbird), Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Skunk Baxter, John Rzeznik, Slash and Brian May—are authoritative, not a wussy retread of their younger days. With tough heartthrob singer John Idan replacing the late Keith Relf, the ’birds make excellent new music that dips into their classic canon: “Shapes of Things,” “Train Kept a Rollin’,” “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” and “For Your Love.” It’s apropos that Mose Allison’s “I’m Not Talkin’” jump-starts this lowdown party; he helped create the 1960s British blues invasion.