Jeff Beck - RIP

I didn't see this coming. I don't think anyone else did either. Jeff Beck died yesterday. He didn’t sing. His guitar sang for him. Once you heard the first two notes of any Jeff Beck song, you knew it was him. I can describe his playing in one word – otherworldly. Many years ago Billy Gibbons expressed a similar sentiment when asked how he would describe Jeff Beck – “a true Martian.” I can count on two fingers the number of guitarists about whom the question most asked is “how did he do that?” Jimi Hendrix is one – Jeff Beck is the other. In his hands, a Fender Stratocaster could laugh, cry, sing, moan, wail – it could express any emotion a human voice can express. He got so much out of a Stratocaster with a deft touch on the tremolo, string bending, and volume control. One never got the feeling he was out of control. He was precise. Totally unique and inventive, he was fearless…and uncopiable. He was an alchemist. Some would describe him as the best guitarist not named Hendrix. Others would describe him as just “the best.” Such distinctions are a matter of taste. I always got the feeling that Jeff Beck was a guitarist in search of a direction. He certainly had a much larger and more eclectic body of work than Hendrix. His "lack of direction" could be one of two things – either he was trying to find a niche of his own, or he just did whatever he felt like doing. Since he liked working on cars more than he liked making music, I’ll go with the latter. He is a guitar hero’s guitar hero. The proof is in my Facebook feed, where the tributes are coming in hard and fast - Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Robbie Krieger, Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Joe Bonamassa, Mike Campbell, Tony Iommi, Bernie Marsden, Warren Haynes, Joe Perry, Stephen Stills and counting…

There were three guitarists who passed through the Yardbirds, THE guitar band of the 1960s. Eric Clapton came before while Jimmy Page came after. It is Jeff Beck’s work with that band that is the most memorable [Heart Full of Soul, Over Under Sideways Down, Shapes of Things, Stroll On (aka Train Kept A’ Rollin’), just to name a few]. When he left the Yardbirds [he said they fired him], he formed his own Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. The two albums they recorded [Truth, Beck-Ola] before they imploded were enough to give Led Zeppelin a blueprint for the future of blues rock [their respective debut albums shared You Shook Me]. Songs from this period [Let Me Love You, Plynth [Water Down the Drain], Rice Pudding, Rock My Plimsoul, Spanish Boots, Blues Deluxe] provided inspiration to a young blues guitarist from Utica, New York named Joe Bonamassa. I am certain they inspired many others.

His next Jeff Beck Group [Rough and Ready (1971) and Jeff Beck Group (1972)] went in an entirely different direction from the blues rock of the first two albums. These albums were hard rock with jazz, Memphis soul, and funk overtones.  I didn’t think much of them when I was younger, but they grew on me over the years. Underrated, they did give a glimpse into the future with the instrumentals I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You and Max’s Tune.  Beck did the arena rock power trio thing with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice [Beck, Bogert & Appice (1973)]. Your mileage may vary with the results of the single album they recorded, but they did give us a blistering version of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition, and for that alone it’s worth the purchase [SRV did it better, though…].

My favorite era for Jeff Beck was 1975-80, when Beck decided to dispense with vocalists and play to his instrumental strengths. He recorded Blow by Blow [1975], Wired [1976], and There and Back [1980]. Blow by Blow was the melodic “jazz fusion” masterpiece. Wired saw him join with Jan Hammer. There and Back had the best bits of both. The version of Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready [Flash (1985)] that he recorded with Rod Stewart is definitive. If you want to hear Jeff Beck’s guitar-as-voice, look no further than this song. Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989) was a “no bass” trio with keyboardist Tony Hymas and drummer Terry Bozzio. It was a return to instrumental music after the ill-advised dance music of Flash. Every bit as good as Wired, Beck throws a lot into his blender - jazz, blues, funk, pop, balladeering, reggae, even punk – and creates something indescribably impressive.

Jeff Beck’s early influences were Les Paul and Cliff Gallup. He did tributes to both [Crazy Legs (1993) – Gallup; Rock n’ Roll Party [Honoring Les Paul] (2010)], both of which stayed true to the originals. When you listen to Imelda May sing How High the Moon, close your eyes and transport back to the 1950s – it’s a dead ringer for Les Paul and Mary Ford. The live albums from this century - Live at B.B. King Blues Club [2003], Performing This Week... Live At Ronnie Scott's [2008] Live at the Hollywood Bowl [2017] – provide one excellent contemporary overviews of Beck’s entire body of work.

Emotion & Commotion [2010] is something I’ve written about before [http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2011/04/jeff-beck-emotion-commotion.html] so I won’t rehash here. Bottom line – it’s his best since Blow by Blow. Buy it.

He recorded three exercises in electronica [You Had It Coming, Who Else! and Jeff]. Some of the songs were good, some of the songs not so much [especially the hip-hop ones], but all had dazzling displays of technique that were simply jaw-dropping. Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have nothing on this guy. Loud Hailer [2016] is a mixed bag. The good news is that Beck showed at 72 that he was still capable of ripping your face off. The bad news is you have to sit through political rants of British vocalist Rosie Bones set to electronic beats. His final record was with Johnny Depp (!) – 18. On the surface this seems like an odd pairing, but somehow it works. Not all of the songs have vocals. Imagine instrumental versions of Caroline, No and What’s Going On. The vocals on John Lennon’s Isolation and the Velvet Underground’s Venus In Furs work, but Johnny Depp should stop trying to sing falsetto [Ooh Baby Baby]. Beck’s guitar runs the gamut from face-melting viciousness to being incredibly tender.

My friend Alan reminded me of the many good times we had doing student activity production work in college with Jeff Beck’s music as part of our soundtrack. Star Cycle and The Pump immediately come to mind. There are guitar players, and then there’s Jeff Beck. Guitarists whom I respect are all doing a collective “we’re not worthy!” And well they should…