Box of Frogs were an English rock band formed in 1983 by former members of

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwe ...

, who released their first album in 1984. The core group consisted of

Chris Dreja Christopher Walenty Dreja (born 11 November 1945 in Surbiton, Surrey) is an English musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and bassist for rock band the Yardbirds for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. E ...

Paul Samwell-Smith Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul Smith, 8 May 1943, in Richmond, Surrey, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band the Yardbirds, which launched leading g ...

, and

Jim McCarty James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance. Following Chris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only member of the band to featu ...

. Vocals on their

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album were done by John Fiddler (formerly of

Medicine Head Medicine Head were a British blues rock band – initially a duo – active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973 with " One and One Is One", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The group recorded six original albums ...

and British Lions). On the second album, Fiddler sang on five songs, with guests singers

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and

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performing the remaining songs. Many musicians guested on their albums (including guitarists

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and

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, harmonica player Mark Feltham, and keyboardists

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and

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). Former Yardbirds bandmates

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and

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played lead guitar on parts of their first and second albums, respectively. The group's formation and unusual band name were explained on the sticker affixed to original LP releases: The group showed promise on the first album of rock radio friendly tunes, featuring Jeff Beck. The album was popular on college campuses. Plans were made for a US tour, but it is alleged that Samwell-Smith, Dreja, and McCarty hated the idea of the tour, much to John Fiddler's dismay. Jeff Beck, who along with Dzal Martin was considered as the lead guitarist for such a tour, was reportedly disgusted at his ex-bandmates' refusal to tour America. He took no part on the second album, ''Strange Land'' (1986), and Fiddler barely chose to do so before walking out. "Asylum" is one of the few songs Fiddler sang on, and was the only one featuring Page. The group's two albums, ''Box of Frogs'' (1984) and ''Strange Land'' (1986), were combined for release on a single CD by

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in 1996.

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gave the album four and a half out of five stars, although he commented:

Personnel

* John Fiddler - lead and backing vocals, guitars, percussion, synthesizers *

- rhythm guitar, percussion, occasional backing vocals *

- bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion, synthesizers *

- drums, percussion, backing vocals, keyboards

Discography

Albums

''Box of Frogs'' (1984)

= Track listing

= Personnel

= Box of Frogs *

- bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion, synthesizer, producer *

- drums, percussion, backing vocals * John Fiddler - lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, percussion, synthesizer, assistant producer *

- rhythm guitar, percussion, backing vocals, photography Additional musicians *

- lead guitar (tracks 1, 3, 6, 9) * Ray Majors - lead guitar, backing vocals and percussion (track 2) * Dzal Martin - lead guitar (tracks 4, 7, 8), slide guitar (track 4) *

- slide guitar (tracks 5, 7), electric sitar (track 7) * Mark Feltham - harmonica (track 1) *

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a yea ...

- trumpet (track 7) *

- keyboards (tracks 1, 3), piano (track 8) *

- keyboards (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7) * Geriant Watkins - piano (track 9) Production * Mark Larson - design * Gary Edwards - overdubs and mixing * Max Norman - recording engineer * Patty Dryden - illustration

''Strange Land'' (1986)

= Track listing

= Bonus cassette version tracks:

= Personnel

= Box of Frogs *

- bass, production, backing vocals *

- drums, keyboards, backing vocals, percussion *

- rhythm guitar, percussion * John Fiddler - vocals on tracks listed above Additional musicians * John Knightsbridge - lead guitar (track 1) *

- lead guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6), slide guitar (track 4), electric sitar (tracks 5, 6) *

- lead guitar (tracks 3, 9) * Dzal Martin - guitar (tracks 4, 7, 9), lead guitar (track 4,on the outro 8) *

- lead guitar (track 7) *

Graham Gouldman Graham Keith Gouldman (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc ...

- rhythm guitar and backing vocals (track 6) *

- synthesizer (tracks 1, 3), keyboard outro solo (track 3) *

- synthesizer (tracks 2 to 4) emulator synthesizer (track 3, 5, 6, 8, 9), keyboards (track 6) *

Geraint Watkins Geraint Meurig Vaughan Watkins (born 5 February 1951) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, rock and roll pianist and accordionist. He has backed many notable artists, including Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Ro ...

- piano (track 4) * David Clayton - keyboards (track 7), synthesizer (track 9) * Neil Lockwood - backing vocals (track 1) *

Carroll Thompson Carroll Thompson is a British lovers rock singer, best known as the "Queen of Lovers Rock" Biography Thompson was born in England and is of Jamaican descent. Thompson undertook classical piano training on the piano and sang in school and chur ...

, Julie Roberts - backing vocals (tracks 2, 4) Production * Mark Larson - art direction * Simon Hanhart - engineer at Battery Studio * Stephen Street - engineer at island * Gary Edwards - engineer at Redan Recorders * Jeremy Allom and Louis Austin - engineers at Ridge Farm * John H. Howard - illustration * George Marino - mastering

Singles

*"Back Where I Started" / "The Edge" - 1984 (UK) *"Back Where I Started" / "Nine Lives" / "The Edge" - 1984 (UK - 12-inch) *"Into The Dark" / "X-tracks medley": "Two Steps Ahead" / "Just A Boy Again" / "Harder" / "Another Wasted Day" / "Back Where I Started" - 1984 (UK) *"Into The Dark" / "X-tracks medley" - 1984 (UK - 12-inch) *"Two Steps Ahead" / "The Edge" - 1984 (US) *"Two Steps Ahead" / "Two Steps Ahead" - 1984 (US - 12-inch promo) *"Average" / "Strange Land" / "I Keep Calling" - 1986 (UK - 12-inch) *"

Heart Full of Soul "Heart Full of Soul" is a song recorded by English rock group the Yardbirds in 1965. Written by Graham Gouldman, it was the Yardbirds' first single after Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton as lead guitarist. Released only three months after "F ...

" - 1986 (Netherlands)

Transcription discs

*''Interchords'' - 1984

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Box Of Frogs English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1983 The Yardbirds Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Epic Records artists Musical groups from London