Jeff Beck: C/D, S/D, RFD

Mark's opinions generally mirror my own - love Truth and Blow By Blow best, appreciate random tracks on the rest of the catalog, and haven't paid attention in years. Guitar Shop sounded intriguing and got a lot of press at the time, but I never got around to hearing it.

Actually, tho, as much as I've loved guitar heroics and (to a lesser extent) the heroes responsible, there are few things more boring than those instrumental "guitar showcase" albums they tend to make. (Better they should do instrumental versions of, I dunno, Christina Aguilera hits or something; then shred overtop of 'em.)

here's that rough n ready lineup w/an achingly beautiful instrumental. bob tench conveniently offstage smoking or taking a dump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkBYPwaExdM

Who was the singer in Beck Bogert Appice? Neither of the latter two was the Cactus singer, and I dont know if Beck ever sang.

his new album is fucking phenomenal

Who was the singer in Beck Bogert Appice?

Bogert mostly, with help from Appice who furnished some harmonies, I think.

Stormy Davis OTM.

Thanks Gorge. That always annoyed me that I didnt know that. His voice sounds like proto-Axl Rose on BBA's "Living Alone"

this can't be the only thread

is it?

oh, wait, I get it -- 'Commotion and Emotion' ranked real high on Pazz & Jopp .. so ..... not much more to be said..

got it

Be thankful you didn't see him in the recent PBS fundraiser. Dressed up like a poor man's 80's Rod Stewart in powder blue velvet wearing a tam o shanter and conducting an average rockabilly 'orchestra.'

Can you spell Bozo the C-L-O-W-N?

aw, George, how can u hate on Beck, tho? I mean, I do get that he is playing safe ... in fact, maybe safer than he's ever played. But it's at such a high level. And he really is the best .. and it really only appeals to such a small nerdy geary audience ...

let's face facts .. the Eric Clapton audience is like 100x the Jeff Beck audience! and Beck really did come out with a pretty nice LP last year. I think it is OK to give him a little credit for that. no?

did you hear 'Emotion and Commotion'?

if so, what did you think (because i completely respect your opinion as far as 'guitar gods' go)

That PBS special (tribute of some sort to Les Paul) was sort of shockingly misguided.

On the other hand, his tour last year was great. I went based upon the quality of the "live at ronnie scotts" or some such title that I saw on cable tv, but didn't expect much. The fans and the event made me fear the worst and regret the time and money expenditure, but once he was on stage, it was special.

He is still completely in control of his instrument and made beautiful, inspiring guitar sounds and song performances for a respectful appreciative group of oldsters and guitar center nerds.

aw, George, how can u hate on Beck, tho? I mean, I do get that he is playing safe ... in fact, maybe safer than he's ever played. But it's at such a high level. And he really is the best .. and it really only appeals to such a small nerdy geary audience ...

I'm not really hating on him that much. The records he made in BBA, which are far from his best, I still like an awful lot, for example.

But "shockingly misguided" is apt in reference to the PBS show. Part of my reaction had to do with him so -not doing- anything that a fan of Jeff Beck might want to hear. I didn't expect him to play any old material but ... in this case, geez. But it was passed off as something it really wasn't which, perhaps, was not his fault.

In fairness he has been all over TV for the Rolling Stone rock and roll hall of fame concert, or whatever it was, and he was his usual self for it.

kabongg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqA71mm9-XM

wow, cozy powell.

"Beck's Bolero" may well be my all-time-fave rock intrumental

It has the greatest scream by a drummer on any record, ever.

OMG this band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS6nhP5pX74

Unsung hack heroes of early Brit heavy rock -- Bobby Tench, Cozy Powell, Max Middleton.

rip: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/arts/music/jeff-beck-dead.html

One of the most immediately recognizable instrumentalists of all time.

RIP one of a kind

An old two-fer, Truth/Beck-Ola, was one of the first LPs I bought when I started collecting in the mid-'70. I like their "Shapes of Things" almost as much as the original.

he's way too prolific to narrow down to one album or era, let alone song, but fuckin "plynth" is one of the best barroom rockers ever

Possibly the world's greatest master of the whammy.

RIP

Earlier this year I decided to listen to his mid-80s synth stuff and his late 90s dance stuff. Some surprising (in a good way) moments in both periods.

Got a nice vinyl copy of the BBA live album for (relatively) cheap a couple months back--such an artifact: a double from a band who'd only recorded a single lp, recorded in Japan and only ever released there.

RIP

Absolute whammy bar legend, rest in power!!

Letterman's people had this up in near-record time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJErzI-aP1M

so gorgeous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOPvOBd8IA

made so many great records

I need that BBA Japanese live lp!

In some ways, one the most true to his own muse musician of those 60s artists. Jeff Beck never really quit trying to improve or try different things.

RIP

Earlier this year I decided to listen to his mid-80s synth stuff and his late 90s dance stuff. Some surprising (in a good way) moments in both periods.

I got both of the Beck 'Original Album Classics' early last year and listened to them all the time in the car. It actually led me to get his CD "Jeff" a couple weeks ago and oddly enough I listened to last night before bed.

I really like both of his drum and bass type records. They sound of their time but they hold up pretty well as he gets all sorts of weird sounds out of the guitar. Weird sounds and the love of making them with an 'electric' guitar seems to be a big thing with Beck in that BBC documentary about him in the 60s.

I love his track "Nadia" off 'You Have it Coming' and there is a good live version on 'Live at Ronnie Scotts'.

Always loved that he wore a Runaway Radio enamel lapel pin from 101 KLOL (the Houston AOR station) on his Flash jacket.

https://rock101movie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/timeline-80-runawayradio80s.png

What Andrew Sarris called "Antonioniennui" (actually, no):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJGEn4FDys

I don't think I've heard a Beck album, just an assortment of cuts, a dozen at most, over the years.

where to start?

I’d recommend Truth. It’s the blueprint for (and superior to, imho) Led Zeppelin I, and contains the greatest-ever recorded scream by a drummer.

I love Truth but the all-instrumental Blow by Blow and Wired are the ones I've played the most

Good a time as any to revisit this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaGfW2Ifuts

There was a 2cd Rhino comp called The Ultimate Yardbirds that did a great job of summarizing the band

yeah, his fusion albums from the '70s are probably the best, but I think the key thing with Jeff Beck is that when you listen to Jeff back you are mostly listening to/for Jeff Beck. The context almost doesn't matter, he is indomitable.

And another friend just now sent me the Blow-Up clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHqXWIoYRvA

I listened to Beckology at least twice from end to end. The first half is really strong, a fantastic listen, but the momentum slows with Beck, Bogert, Appice and their two live cuts were kind of excruciating. (The studio outtake "Jizz Whizz" was much better than expected though.) Things do pick up a lot with the selections from Blow by Blow and Wired - that takes us five tracks into the third and final disc. After that the rest is wildly uneven, but there's a nice cover of "People Get Ready" and "Where Were You" is just beautiful.

you guys gimme some other examples if I overlook anything…

1.) he is the most major brit rock 60s personage whose shit under his own name is in no way part of the terrible classic rock complex, no classic rock radio presence to speak of…

2.) while there was a tradition of instrumental music being genuinely popular on the radio before, what, 1967? the 70s? (particularly in the UK), he is the most major rock figure whose mark was most definitive (again, under his own name) as an instrumental artist (those 70s fusion records were genuinely popular).

3. similarly, he is one of the major fusion acts… he's right behind the big three of Return to Forever, Mahavishnu and Weather Report…he plays on Stanley Clarke's "Hello Jeff " and "Rock and Roll Jelly," two songs that are notable for their lack of the self serious portent that enveloped fusion. Which I have no problem whatsoever with, but the absence as such makes these songs totally fun and daresay danceable…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTUBTfeNRtg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igi342t78qs

4) he came up with the drum best for “superstition”

contusion” of songs in the key of life could totally be a late 70s jeff beck tune

beat

xpost: the other day, I heard "Hi Ho Silver Lining" for like the second time: almost no one other than heads in the U.S. know this tune, but is it true that in the UK, it is by far the best known exponent of his work, a pub singalong, played at weddings and so forth?

I had forgotten that he actually played with Clarke, but while walking around this morning listening to Wired again I was thinking that the music sounds very much in the vein of Clarke's solo material, particularly his self-titled and Journey to Love albums...and there he is!

xpost abt Hi Ho Silver Lining

P much, although poss not so much nowadays.

xpost: the other day, I heard "Hi Ho Silver Lining" for like the second time: almost no one other than heads in the U.S. know this tune, but is it true that in the UK, it is by far the best known exponent of his work, a pub singalong, played at weddings and so forth?

― veronica moser,

can confirm.
this is a uk party standard.
and i have never ever got fed up with it.

Just discovered this now-obscure 45:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO4Xn0S5MGE

Written and performed by Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann) and released in March 1968, it's more or less a supergroup featuring Jeff Beck on guitar, Paul McCartney on drums, Paul Samwell-Smith on bass, and Nicky Hopkins on keyboard with Peter Asher producing.

From Hot Wired Guitar: The Life Of Jeff Beck, by Martin Power:

Locked into a low-paying contract that forced him to release below-par singles wholly unrepresentative of his undoubted talent or preferred musical direction, and with a band now on the verge of desertion, Beck continued to prop up his income with the odd session. The most notable of these was an inspired contribution to the B-side of ex-Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones’ single ‘And The Sun Will Shine’, cut in the early spring of 1968. Written by the Gibb Brothers – aka the Bee Gees – ‘And The Sun…’ was a fairly innocuous example of late-sixties pop balladry. But its flip side, ‘The Dog Presides’, was much more rewarding to the ear. Cut at Abbey Road’s famous Studio II, ‘The Dog Presides’, featured an all-star cast of musicians and fashionable London faces. Making his debut as a producer was Pete Asher of Peter & Gordon, a singing duo that had already achieved considerable notoriety with four million-selling singles, the best known of which was ‘A World Without Love’. The brother of Jane Asher – then dating Beatle Paul McCartney – Pete had asked McCartney to attend the session at which he ended up playing drums. Also along for the ride was Jeff’s former bandmate and now producer in his own right, Paul Samwell-Smith, who added bass guitar. To give things an extra helping of top-end sheen, Nicky Hopkins brought along his keyboard, leaving Beck to provide some typical fiery runes from the neck of his Gibson Les Paul. The result of all this superstar jamming was a cracking little tune, sung beautifully by Jones, whose panicky harmonica fills were a perfect complement to Jeff’s growling lead lines. For Beck, who reportedly earned a week’s rent from ‘The Dog Presides’, there was only one regret: “Well, all I remember [about it] was hoping Paul McCartney would sing“.

1.) he is the most major brit rock 60s personage whose shit under his own name is in no way part of the terrible classic rock complex, no classic rock radio presence to speak of…

This is true, but also slightly mysterious: why didn’t “classic rock” radio latch onto anything from the first two records? That said, I did hear his version of “Shapes Of Things” a few times on the radio, and I must’ve heard some of the Blow By Blow / Wired stuff on the radio since when checking it out recently every other tune was, “oh, I know this one” (and I didn’t know anyone into Beck who would’ve played those records for me). I think there was probably a narrow window (and/or a midnight “let the stoner DJ play whatever” slot) on “classic rock” radio in the ‘80s that let some Jeff Beck slip through.

BBC just put this up, Beck doing a rig rundown in 1974:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7nP0xwgTY0

is it true that in the UK, it is by far the best known exponent of his work

Beck described it "like having a pink toilet seat hung around your neck for the rest of your life.”

it is / was such a ubiquitous UK wedding / school disco / pub singalong anthem though i'd guess a lot of people who know the song don't know who it's by. i asked my wife about it earlier and sher said she had always thought it was a beatles song!!

..and while he famously hated it, he was persuaded to play it one time at least -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhpgepbvIhY

xxxpost, "The Dog Presides" indeed! Totally refreshing, bird, thanks so much!

Here's one somebody just sent me:

This one, from 2007, is worth it too. Not just because he does the track from Blow by Blow that was all over the airwaves back in the day, but for the solo by Australian bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, who was 22 at the time. The entire show at Ronnie Scott's is available on YouTube, and it's really good...includes a version of Billy Cobham's "Stratus" (from his first solo album, "Spectrum") that is every bit as good as the original!

David Torn said on of Beck winning a Grammy for "Plan B" which featured mix and music by Torn.

splatt said:
that's what Jeff said, and it meant a lot to him..... and to me. he called me immediately upon hearing the Grammy news, and enthusiastically blasted me with, "It's your Grammy, it's yours!"

freaking dude.

ya know, he was really incredibly supportive of me as a player, pointing out the inspiration he'd gotten listening to my playing & music, my uses of pitch-expression on the guitar over the years, and my Oud playing of all things..... completely unbidden, and without any hint of hesitation.

mensch.

i went to a gig with him, once --- his gig, after dinner --- which was fantastic.
me & my friend Hector went backstage afterwards to see what was up, thank him for his brilliance, see how he felt, make after-show plans, but the room was sooooo over-crowded --- maybe 85-100 people jammed together in a pretty small ante-room? --- with a sizeable percentage of guitarists present.

it was waaaay too crowded for me, and i was getting guitarplayerly-claustrophobic..... couple of well-known players saw me, came over & said "hey"; one of 'em said, clearly condescendingly, "what are you doing here?".
(like, why would i attend a JB show?" damn. WTF?)
i said, "well, i came to hear Jeff play", turned to Hector & said "let's split & see Jeff later." Hector disagreed, "f*** that merde, let's hang for another few minutes!"

so, a few minutes later:
Jeff pops through the curtain and is just peering around the crowd, then grabs a chair & stands up on it so's he can see better, sees me & points at me & yells across the room "TORN, TORN! Didja hear me playin' your licks, TORN? Didja hear your licks, TORN?"
and, as if i were a kid..... i just felt so good in that moment. crazy, of course, but kinda validated, maybe even relieved somehow? and Jeff knew, he def knew what that meant to me.

freaking dudistic mensch.

Great story, thanks.
A bunch of shows, incl w xpost Jan Hammer Group and Stanley Clarke---also, scroll all the way down for his Bowie show, guesting on "Jean Genie" and "Round and Round":
https://zensurfingarcher.blogspot.com/

why didn’t “classic rock” radio latch onto anything from the first two records?

I used to hear "Beck's Bolero" and a few others from those records, plus "Going Down", on the local classic rock station.

On the subject of the tour with Jan Hammer, there's a Spinal Tap-worthy quote from Beck from a guitar magazine:

I couldn't believe how I misjudged the role he was to play. Not musically, because his playing is superb, and if he fell on his arse on a piano, it would come out a magnificent chord. He's that sort of bloke.

Flash has weirdly really grown on me. I first heard it last March and only enjoyed the more bizarre songs where the LinnDrum seems to be wanting to do free jazz or 777-9311. Now I have time for all of it except People Get Ready.

The opening seconds of this cannot fail to make me laugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s7r9n4jspM

That's a Dirk Diggler single they've got there.

Written and produced by Nile Rodgers!

But check out this bonkers/shit song (also written by Nile Rodgers) and time capsule video from the same album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaGfW2Ifuts

Crazy solo starts around 3:40.

I am saddened by the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. Here’s a clip of a video I did with him in ‘85. It was this video that really paved the way for the success of my hit, Soldier of Love. 

I’ll always be grateful to Jeff for that opportunity.

RIP, my friend. pic.twitter.com/7FTDYMLp3r

— Donny Osmond (@donnyosmond) January 12, 2023

Greil Marcus was asked about Jeff Beck and recalled a bizarre incident at one of his Yardbirds shows. Here's the relevant section:

Jeff Beck shocked me in the Yardbirds. What he did in “Shapes of Things” seemed unreal, but it erased the song. With the much stronger number “Mister You’re a Better Man Than I” he becomes part of the body of the song; he is the song. I admired him in the Jeff Beck Group but Rod Stewart was so good it was hard to listen to Jeff Beck. Listen to their “I’ve Been Drinking.” It’s built to showcase the solo but when it comes, and the rest of the instrumentation builds to it, it’s a distraction. Maybe that’s why for so long that record, buried as a B side, was almost impossible to hear.

I’m glad he carried on. I would have thought he was pretty much forgotten. A full page obituary in the New York Times almost didn’t make sense. Someone there loved him.

A memory, though: In June 1966, we went to a small place in Brixton, in London, to see the Yardbirds: the Ram Jam Club. Before bands came on they played only reggae—its rock steady form. We had no idea what it was but it slithered through the room. Then a soul band called the Heatwaves came on. They were good. They built their set so that when they ended with “Heatwave” it was pure satisfaction.

By this time it was late and the place was so hot and steamy it felt like sweat was pouring down the walls. The Yardbirds came on and the reality of the night took a step up. They were both explosive and careful, anarchic and precise. It was an unstable combination of values and it seemed to make every song feel like a risk, where anything could happen.

When they finished everyone was milling about. Two beautiful Swedish women went up to Jeff Beck, gave him huge smiles, talked for a minute, and then one of them asked Beck for his guitar. As a souvenir: “I will take it home,” she said. I was shocked. There was something so condescending, so trivializing of the show, along with a sort of implicit transaction that she wasn’t trading sex for the guitar, it wasn’t worth that much, but merely by appearing before him offering him the priceless opportunity to keep her in his mind forever as an unobtainable erotic object. Something like that. I could see him freeze with rage. He picked up his guitar and proceeded to smash it to bits. Then he kicked the pieces to the back of the stage and walked off. The women acted insulted. I liked that as much as any solo I heard heard him play.

Was just looking up the Yardbirds' history because of the book I'm writing — Cecil Taylor opened for them at the Fillmore West for three gigs at the end of May 1968. Beck was long gone, though; Jimmy Page was the sole lead guitarist by that point, and the band broke up in early June.

Jeff Beck shocked me in the Yardbirds. What he did in “Shapes of Things” seemed unreal, but it erased the song

wrong

Was just looking up the Yardbirds' history because of the book I'm writing — Cecil Taylor opened for them at the Fillmore West for three gigs at the end of May 1968. Beck was long gone, though; Jimmy Page was the sole lead guitarist by that point, and the band broke up in early June.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, January 30, 2023 2:34 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just hit me that it's kind of weird to me to realize that 1968 Page and 1968 Taylor existed at the same time

The women acted insulted. I liked that as much as any solo I heard heard him play.

Maybe she was trying to get him to say, "Well, I'll bring the guitar---special delivery," boom-chakka-wow-wow. I mean, those were the Sixties, after all. But easy to see how it could have come off as too lofty, baby.

Maybe Marcus was just thinking of the scene in "Blow Up."

along with a sort of implicit transaction that she wasn’t trading sex for the guitar, it wasn’t worth that much, but merely by appearing before him offering him the priceless opportunity to keep her in his mind forever as an unobtainable erotic object.

Griel is overthinking this. When you're hot people give you guitars all the time.

Don't I know it

BBA Box Set:

https://www.houstonpress.com/music/things-to-do-listen-to-the-beck-bogert-and-appice-live-box-set-16323062

Includes the first domestic release of Live In Japan

Awesome!

Nice! Here's the link on the Rhino site.

oh fuck yes

Will not forgive him for breaking up Cactus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCIZaU08aVQ

This one too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAhFjk05aaM