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| 1944-2023 |
I was interested in the electric guitar even before I knew the difference between electric and acoustic. The electric guitar seemed to be a totally fascinating plank of wood with knobs and switches on it. I just had to have one.
--Jeff Beck
Someone told me I should be proud tonight... But I'm not, because they kicked me out... They did... Fuck them!
--Jeff Beck, upon being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the Yardbirds.
We have a love-hate relationship. He loves me and I hate him
--Jeff Beck, speech inducting Rod Stewart, who sang lead on "You Shook Me", into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Jeff could channel music from the ethereal. His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless.
--Jimmy Page
I’ve had love-hate relationships. Wish I had the guts to say so out loud.
ReplyDeleteMitchell, this was a speech Jeff Beck made inducting Rod Stewart into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so I'm assuming it was tongue-in-cheek, but you never know.
DeleteI don't remember much about Beck as a solo artist. I was looking at Wikipedia and former members of the Yardbirds which I do remember, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Paige.
ReplyDeleteYou probably know this, Mike, but in case anyone reading this doesn't know, Clapton, Beck, and Page weren't in the Yardbirds at the same time. First Beck replaced Clapton, then, for a brief period, Beck and Page were in the band at the same time until Beck was fired for being no-show too often, and Beck became the lead guitarist. But that doesn't mean Clapton, Beck, and Page never played together on stage. In the early 1980s, Ronnie Lane, who had been in the Small Faces, and then just plain old Faces (the latter included Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, both of whom were in an early version of the Jeff Beck Band and are heard on the "You Shook Me" video), came down with muscular sclerosis and an all-star benefit concert was held for him at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Toward the end of the concert Clapton plays his (but not the Yardbirds) hit song "Layla". Beck and Page are to the right of Clapton, each taking turns with a guitar solo. To Clapton's Left is Steve Winwood. Also seen to good advantage is the Rolling Stones Charlie Watts. The guy with the gong is Ray Cooper:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p74mvDSUzQg
Just watched it again.A correction is inorder. That's the hyperactive Page to the left (and behind) of Winwood and Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and Beck to the right of Clapton.
DeleteThe Wikipedia article has one of those timelines that shows the years that anyone was in the group.
DeleteHi, Kirk!
ReplyDeleteThe Reaper is a prick for taking blues rock guitar wizard Jeff Beck from us at the too young age of 78. Beck ranked in the top 5 on lists of all time greatest guitarists published by Rolling Stone and other mags.
I am most familiar with Beck's work on the string of 1960s Yardbirds hits that included the one you posted, "Heart Full of Soul," and one that takes me back to the summer of 1968 and one of my first dates with the future Mrs. Shady #1. She invited me into her home to meet her parents for the first time and we wound up in her room listening to a few of the records in her collection. The Yardbirds' hit single "Over Under Sideways Down" b/w "Jeff's Boogie" was the very first record she played for me that day. Another recording that comes to mind as I remember Jeff Beck is his collaboration with Scottish psychedelic folk rocker Donovan in the summer and fall of 1969 on "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)," a single credited as: Donovan (With The Jeff Beck Group).
I suppose it's true that Ben Franklin is indirectly connected to Jeff Beck because both were fascinated by and made good use of electricity.
Thanks for paying your respects to Jeff Beck, a fine English musician whose guitar made significant contributions to the soundtrack of my boomer youth. Enjoy the rest of your week, good buddy Kirk, and come see me at Shady's Place when you get a chance.
Shady, I'm most familiar with the Yardbirds stuff too, but in my last year in high school and for a few years afterwards until the format landed on the dust heap of radio history, I listened to an AOR station, which did play Jeff Beck instrumentals. I figured those instrumentals were the best way to show Beck's guitar prowess. "Scatterbrain" originally appeared on the album Blow By Blow, Beck's most commercially successful album as a solo artist. I don't own this album or anything but did read that "Scatterbrain" is now background music on a video game. Good as reason as any to use it as an example, I figured. As for "Hammerhead", it won a Grammy in 2010--a mere 13 years ago when Beck would have been about 65--for best Rock Instrumental Performance.
DeleteAs for the Ben Franklin reference, I originally was going to use the inventor of the wall socket, but I can't find out who that was.
Sounds like a man who held a grudge too.
ReplyDeleteDebra, that's part of what makes those Rock Hall induction ceremonies so fun. They bring together performers with all kinds of chips on their shoulders.
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