Okay, I might be a bit fuzzy on this, but I had always thought that the producer gave Clapton the boot because he felt he wouldn't fit in to the direction he wanted them to go.
Hardcore Yardbirds fan here.
Never heard it that way.
From the usual source's "For Your Love" page:
"Despite the success "For Your Love" gave the Yardbirds, it signalled the departure of guitarist Eric Clapton, who played on the track.[10] Dismayed with the group's shift from R&B to pop, Clapton left to join John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers."
In any case the bassist was the producer for the single and later even dropped being the bass player to produce full time.
HAVE heard that that scenario about "Heart Full of Soul", though, Beck's debut with the band.
Beck's treatment of the riff was what made it a "go", after the original sitar player's attempts just weren't gonna cut it..
Song's Wiki page has full details
Heart Full Of Soul
Same thing I suppose. Depends on hows you look at it, big bonehead move by the producer or a good move by Clapton?
Good move for Clapton,
great move for Beck.
Manager Giorgio Gomelsky came out ahead.
When bassist Samwell-Smith retired to take on full-time production chores, it opened the door for Page to join as a bassist for a short stint while rhythm player Dreja learned to pay bass, resulting in our being treated to 6 months of dual lead Yardbirds.
The real bonehead producer in all this was actually Mickie Most who was trying to mold Jeff Beck into a pop star along the Donovan/Herman's Hermits model, with which he was intimately familiar, having produced them as well as the Animals.
From his Wiki page:
"Most's productions were backed by London-based session musicians including Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass guitar and arrangements, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Bobby Graham on drums. He produced Jeff Beck's hits "Love is Blue" and "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and the Jeff Beck Group albums Truth and Beck-Ola.
He teamed the Beck group with Donovan for the single "Barabajagal".
By 1967, after commercial and critical failure of The Yardbirds album
Little Games, he decided to steer clear of rock groups. The Yardbirds objected to his insistence that every song be cut to three minutes and that albums were an afterthought following the singles. His focused approach also led to a split with Donovan in late 1969"
In spite of all that there are some
great Page cuts on
Little Games.
That also explains how Page and JP Jones were acquainted and why they were available for the "Beck's Bolero" session which occurred in late '66.
A-a-and:
"Despite these setbacks, Most set up his own production office at 155 Oxford Street, sharing it with his business partner Peter Grant. It was through Most's association that Grant was asked to manage The Yardbirds."
And thank the rock gods for that.