Jeff Beck (Official Thread)

[Foxhound]

Re: Jeff Beck

Check out this lineup:

Jeff Beck - Lead Guitar

Jimmy Page - Twelve String Guitar

John Paul Jones - Bass

Nicky Hopkins - Piano

Keith Moon - Drums

Now give a listen to their recording of the Jimmy Page composition, "Beck's Bolero" :

 

[LG]

Re: Jeff Beck

That's quite a line up Fox.

I never followed Jeff that much, same as Clapton I guess. I know they are both talented and legends within the guitarist world, but for some reason I just didn't collect much of their solo material. I have one Clapton CD, Slowhand, and Beck's Wired, that is all.

 

[Tattoo'd Lady]

Re: Jeff Beck

i love Jeff Beck, and Tal is a straight up stud on the bass, nuff said

 

[Sweaty]

Re: Jeff Beck

New album legend, free dvd with some copies too

 

[Foxhound]

Re: Jeff Beck

Organizers had hoped to get the Jeff Beck Group to play at Woodstock in the summer of 1969 but Jeff demurred. Evidently much of the band was so sodden with drink at the time that Jeff despaired of being able to dry out the band sufficiently to perform at the festival.

Jeff Beck is among the minority of rock stars who has never been known for substance abuse, not even alcohol. Evidently he's stayed very clean throughout his entire career.

He's known for his abrasiveness, however. He long ago developed a reputation for being touchy and a difficult fellow with whom to work.

There actually may be a correlation between the two phenomenon. Not having the escape mechanism of drugs or alcohol means one has to face reality head on. This could conceivably cause a fellow to be peevish with the world around him....

 

[runtfan]

Re: Jeff Beck

I saw Jeff Beck last night for my first time. Excellent Show !! I've always liked Jeff Beck, but never got intensely into him...I've got a few of his CDs and listen to them occasionally. My girlfriend and I decided just a few nights ago to go see him and I'm glad we did. He sounded great and it's fascinating to watch him play because he's so unconventional. He played a pretty wide variety of tunes. My favorite stuff, in general, was the loud, funky, rockin' stuff. He's got an incredible band with him - Narada Michael Walden on drums, Rhonda Smith on bass and occasional vocals, and I forget the keyboard player's name but he was good. He started off the show with a bang with a cover of Mahavishnu Orchestra's Eternity's Breath ( Narada Michael Walden was the original drummer on that Mahavishnu album) followed by Stratus by Billy Cobham, followed by Led Boots. He and the band played a little over 90 minutes and played a variety of fusion, funk, blues, and ballads. In addition to the opening trio of tunes, other highlights were a SMOKIN" cover of Sly Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" with Rhonda Smith and Narada Michael Walden on vocals and then closing the set with "A Day In The Life".
It was a really good, appreciative crowd and the band delivered.

 

[LG]

Re: Jeff Beck

Sounds like you had a great time Runtfan.

Fox I didn't know that about Jeff Beck that he never drank or did drugs to excess if at all. I would think his lack of tolerance for those around him who Did overindulge would definitely show. Still maybe he was just an insufferable lout who was great at playing guitar, and drinking etc. would have just made him more short tempered.

 

[Foxhound]

Re: Jeff Beck

Runtfan:

Good review. And it's about time you got into Jeff!



Lord Grendel:

While Jeff may have the occasional drink, I understand that he doesn't drink to excess - and completely avoids any other kind of recreational drugs.

Interesting about his character though. Evidently the other Yardbirds found him more than a bit intimidating despite his unprepossessing physical stature. They were all middle class prep school/college boy types while he was a brooding, unsmiling street thug. Look through old pictures of the Yardbirds and you'll be hard pressed to find one of Jeff smiling. The other Yardbirds unwittingly managed to aggravate the already touchy situation though. They had of course been in awe of Eric Clapton's talents. Therefore when Jeff joined they would "helpfully" suggest that Eric would have done it this way. To which Jeff would snap "Well Eric's not here! I am."

It's tough to say whether Jeff would have loosened up had he been a drinker. I've often wondered myself whether a certain uptight and rather abrasive feline might have grown up to be more laid back and sociable had he not decided to completely avoid alcohol just because drinking was something everyone else did.

 

[LG]

Re: Jeff Beck

He does seem a little "Highstrung" at times. Having lived on both sides of that one, moderation works for me.

I think Jeff did the right thing, after all many people still think some of Clapton's best work was when he was high in orbit during his heroin addiction phase, but I disagree, I think any musician or athlete or actor is at their best without any foreign substances in their veins.

Many artists are a pain to work with, Gene Kelley was an absolute perfectionist when he was making a movie, there were many cases where dancers simply quit because of his demanding nature, or had to quit because their feet were bleeding and damaged from all the repetitions to get it right.

 

[Foxhound]

Re: Jeff Beck

Strangely enough one of Jeff's personal epiphanies as a budding young guitarist came from of all things a track that I think of as an organ track:



He said that he didn't want to just play any old music then, he wanted to play music with "substance" like that of "Green Onions". He was perhaps reacting to the touch of jazz flavouring in "Green Onions". The jazz-fusion influence has been very evident in Jeff's releases since he first started his solo career.