JEFF BECK

'Geoffrey Arnold ("Jeff") Beck' (born June 24, 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck in Wallington, Greater London) is an English rock guitarist. He was one of three guitarists -- the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page -- to have recorded with the band The Yardbirds.
Beck has never attained the sustained commercial success of his fellow Yardbirds guitarists (he is the only one who hasn't been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame individually or with another band). Much of his output has been instrumental, and his releases have spanned genres, ranging from blues rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and (currently) a blend of guitar-rock and electronica. This versatility has made it difficult for Beck to establish and maintain a broad following.
Beck's commercial releases have been sporadic since 1977. Stories about his temper, erratic behavior and tour-related incidents (even from musicians who are unabashed fans) have built his persona as a somewhat mad genius.
Nevertheless, Beck has gained wide critical acclaim for his work as a guitarist.^[1] He has won many Grammy awards in the category for best rock instrumental and played on some of the most influential releases in music history.

Contents

Biography

Early career with The Yardbirds

Jeff Beck Group

Beck, Bogert & Appice

Solo Albums

Later career

Influence

Technique and equipment

Discography

Appeared on

Trivia

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes

Biography

Early career with The Yardbirds

Like many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session guitarist. In 1965, following a gig with the Tridents, Beck was recruited to join the Yardbirds (after Eric Clapton had left the group for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers). It was during his tenure with the Yardbirds that they recorded most of their hits.
Stories about Beck's volatile temper began to circulate early. His perfectionism, coupled with the faulty equipment often in use during the 1960s, led to many stories about his willingness to take out frustrations on his equipment, though not in the form of smashing a guitar. The 1966 movie ''Blow-up'' contains a scene where the Yardbirds perform, and Beck becomes so enraged by equipment problems that he smashes his guitar. This scene was staged for the movie, as it was a re-creation of an actual event that director Michelangelo Antonioni witnessed at a concert of The Who.^[2]
In 1966, he shared the dual-lead guitar role with Jimmy Page. His time with The Yardbirds was short, allowing Beck only one full album, ''Roger the Engineer'' (1966); Beck left after 18 months, partly for health reasons.
While on the surface Beck seems to have departed the group because of his health, Jimmy Page, who had been invited into the band in 1966 by Beck himself, tells a different story:

Jeff Beck Group

The following year, after recording the one-off song "Beck's Bolero" (with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins, and Keith Moon), Beck formed a new band called The Jeff Beck Group, which featured him on lead guitar, Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Micky Waller on drums.
The group produced two albums, ''Truth'' (August, 1968) and ''Beck-Ola'' (June, 1969). Both albums are highly acclaimed, and considered by many critics to have inspired the heavy metal genre.
''Truth'', released five months before the first Led Zeppelin album, features a cover of "You Shook Me", a song first recorded by Willie Dixon which was also covered on the Led Zeppelin debut. While it sold well (reaching #15 on the ''Billboard'' charts) and received great critical praise, ''Truth'' did not equal the impact of the release by Page's new band. ''Beck-Ola'' while well-received, was less successful both commercially and critically. Resentment, coupled with touring-related incidents, led the group to dissolve.
After the breakup, Beck decided to continue working with Stewart, and team up with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, the rhythm section of the Vanilla Fudge. This project was sidelined when Beck suffered head injuries in a car crash, and left the music scene for over a year. Rod Stewart left to team up with Ron Wood and the Small Faces; and Bogert and Appice formed Cactus instead.
When Beck regained his health, he reformed a band with entirely new members. The new ensemble -- Bob Tench on vocals and guitar, Max Middleton on piano and keyboards, Clive Chaman on bass and Cozy Powell on drums -- although still known as the "Jeff Beck Group" featured a substantially different sound from the first lineup.
For the album Rough and Ready (1971), Beck wrote or co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks (the exception written by pianist Middleton). The album included elements of Soul, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz, foreshadowing the direction Beck's music would take later in the decade.
The follow-up, Jeff Beck Group, (1972) was recorded in Memphis, at the studio used by Booker T. & the M.G.'s; their guitarist, Steve Cropper, produced the album. The album, unsurprisingly, displayed a strong Soul influence. Five of the nine tracks were covers of American artists; one ("I Got To Have A Song") was the first of Beck's four covers of compositions written by Stevie Wonder.
Shortly after this release, Cactus broke up, leaving Bogert and Appice available. Beck dissolved the band in order to achieve his ambition to work with them, forming Beck, Bogert & Appice.

Beck, Bogert & Appice

The long-awaited lineup worked together for less than two years and released only one US album ''Beck, Bogert & Appice''. While critics acknowledged the band's instrumental prowess, the album was not well received, except for its cover of Wonder's Superstition. Beck left the group during recording sessions for the second album. (A double-album (''Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan)'' was eventually released in Japan.)
Beck, Bogert & Appice were, to some degree, victims of forces beyond their control. The lineup (a power trio featuring a superstar guitarist) prompted critics to compare the band to the Jimi Hendrix Experience Clapton's Cream and Page's Led Zeppelin. Since Beck and his bandmates were less gifted singers and composers than their counterparts, comparisons were unflattering.
Beck's auto accident -- and resulting delay in forming the group -- also shaped critical response. Had ''Beck, Bogert & Appice'' been released in 1970, its similarity in style and content to ''Beck-Ola'' would have been expected. Coming in 1973 -- after Beck had released two albums covering more diverse territory -- led many critics to believe the guitarist had taken a step backward.
However, Beck's dismissive public comments about the album, coupled with his next career move, suggest that he also had grown bored with the band's limitations and the blues-rock genre.

Solo Albums

In October 1974, Beck began recording instrumentals at AIR studios with pianist Max Middleton (from the second Jeff Beck Group), bassist Phil Chen and drummer Richard Bailey and George Martin producing and providing string arrangements.
The resulting album, Blow by Blow (1975), displayed Beck's technical prowess in a jazz-rock format. The album reached #4 on the charts (Beck's most successful release) and most critics also regard it as his best work.
Wired, which followed a year later, paired Beck with drummer-composer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jan Hammer. A more straightforward work jazz-rock fusion (sounding similar to the work of his two collaborators), ''Wired'' sold slightly less well, and also received less ecstatic reviews. A live album with Hammer was even less successful, with critics complaining that Hammer had eradicated the subtleties of ''Blow By Blow''
1980s There and Back, featuring three compositions from Hammer and five with keyboadist Tony Hymas, sold less, but received better reviews. Hymas's compositions, which sounded to some like space-age jazz, gave the guitarist a more open framework for his pyrotechnics.

Later career

In 1981 he made a series of historic, joint live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor Eric Clapton at the Amnesty International ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'' benefit shows. He appeared with Clapton on ''Crossroads'', ''Further On Up The Road'' and his own arrangement of Stevie Wonder's ''Cause We've Ended As Lovers''. Beck also featured prominently in the all-star band finale performance of ''I Shall Be Released'' with Clapton, Sting, Phil Collins, Donovan and Bob Geldof. Beck's contributions were seen and heard in the resulting album and film, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982. Another benefit show called the ARMS Concert for Multiple Sclerosis featured a jam with Jeff, Eric and Jimmy Page performing "Living on Tulsa Time" and "Layla". This is the only time all of the 1963-1968 Yardbirds lead guitarists appeared on stage together.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Jeff Beck recorded sporadically (due largely to a long battle with noise-induced tinnitus): ''There and Back'' (1980, featuring Simon Phillips, Tony Hymas, Jan Hammer and Mo Foster), ''Flash'' (1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer), ''Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop'' (1989, with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas), ''Crazy Legs'' (1993), ''Who Else!'' (1999), and ''You Had It Coming'' (2001). He also accompanied Paul Rodgers of Bad Company on the album '' in 1993. Jeff Beck won his third Grammy Award, this one for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for the track "Dirty Mind" from ''You Had It Coming''. The 2003 release of ''Jeff'' showed that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate. This style has been lauded by critics; Beck has skillfully fused an electronica influence with his blues/jazz past, with a sound mix which seems heavily influenced by the "brown" tone of subsequent guitarists like Van Halen and Joe Satriani. The song "Plan B" from this release earned him his fourth Grammy Award, again, for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance'.
Arguably the world's most famous record producer, if only for his achievements with The Beatles, is George Martin, who was deservedly knighted in 1996. But even a man of his great wisdom was thrown into confusion when, in 1975, he produced Jeff Beck's powerfully adventurous, jazz-tinged album Blow by Blow at AIR Studios in London's Oxford Street. Jeff was fastidious about over-dubs but never seemed to be happy with his solos.
A few days after a recording, when he'd had time to digest his own performance, he would telephone George and say "I think I could do a better one on this track", and they would return to AIR to try again. Jeff would play over and over until he was satisfied that he had performed his best. A couple of months went by and George received another phone call from Jeff: "I want to do this solo again." Bemused, George said: "I'm sorry, Jeff, but the record is in the shops!" ^[3]
In the past few years, Jeff Beck has performed on new albums by Les Paul, Cyndi Lauper, and Roger Waters. Beck also is featured on one track on Queen guitarist Brian May's last solo album, ''Another World''. He also appears on ZZ Top's album ''XXX''. Beck made a cameo appearance in the movie ''Twins'' starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.
Jeff Beck continues to perform shows on a regular basis, including opening for B.B. King in the summer of 2003, backed by Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas.
Beck's most recent tours in 2005 and 2006 have included Jason Rebello on keyboards, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Pino Palladino on bass (replaced by Randy Hope-Taylor due to Palladino's prior commitment to The Who). An ''Official Bootleg USA'06 '' from the tour has been released through Beck's site.
Jeff Beck also accompanied Kelly Clarkson as the guitarist for her cover of Patty Griffin's song, "Up To The Mountain", during the 2007 Idol Gives Back episode of ''American Idol'', receiving a standing ovation from the audience.

Influence

Beck was one of the first electric guitarists in the 1960s to experiment with electronic distortion (most notably in The Yardbirds' 1966 album, ''Roger the Engineer'') and helped to redefine the sound and role of the electric guitar in rock music. Beck's work with The Yardbirds and The Jeff Beck Group's 1968 album Truth were seminal influences on heavy metal music, which emerged in full force in the early 1970s. Jeff Beck is still highly influential with many modern guitarists, who cite him as a major influence on their playing. Examples include Jimi Hendrix, Brian May (who calls him "The Guv'ner"), the late Mick Ronson (who said Beck was his guitar idol), Slash, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Technique and equipment

Unlike some guitarists, Jeff Beck does not rely heavily on electronic effects. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using his fingers and the vibrato bar on his signature Fender Stratocaster, although he frequently uses a wah wah pedal both live and in the studio.
Along with Fender Stratocasters, Beck occasionally plays Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily Fenders and Marshalls. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a Fender Esquire guitar through Vox AC30's. On the "Truth" and "Beck-Ola" albums there is also extensive use of the wah pedal, of which Beck is often cited as being a pioneer. He has also played through a variety of fuzz pedals and echo-units along with this set-up. He most famously used the Pro Co RAT Distortion Pedal.
Recently, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Esquire as well as his Artist Signature series Stratocaster, which emerged in 1991 with features such as a massive neck shape (deep '50s) and Fender Gold Lace Sensor pickups. This guitar was based on the Strat Plus, except for the addition of a Gold Lace Sensor Dually pickup, which resembles a humbucker in the bridge position with a coil-split push button. Other features included a roller nut, locking tuners and a 2-point pivot tremolo bridge. 2001 saw major changes to the guitar, reflecting Beck's requirements. The Lace Sensors were replaced with Fender's dual-coil ceramic Vintage Noiseless pickups while a thinner neck with a smooth contoured heel took the place of the previous deep U-shaped neck. Custom Shop versions of the artist's personal instrument debuted in 2004. The guitar features a rosewood fingerboard and is available in Olympic White and Surf Green. Although most people are not aware of it, he had an ox blood (dark red) Gibson Les Paul/Custom he used for about 10 years ie 1968-1978.

Discography

As the Jeff Beck Group:

★ ''Truth'' – 1968 #15 US

★ ''Beck-Ola'' – 1969 #15 US

★ ''Rough and Ready'' – 1971 #46 US

★ ''Jeff Beck Group'' - 1972 #19 US
As Beck, Bogert & Appice

★ ''Beck, Bogert & Appice'' - 1973

★ ''Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan'' - 1973
Solo:

★ ''Blow by Blow'' – 1975 #4 US

★ ''Wired'' – 1976 #16 US

★ ''Jeff Beck With the Jan Hammer Group Live'' – 1977 #23 US

★ ''There and Back'' – 1980 #21 US

★ ''Flash'' – 1985 #42 US (Winner 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance)

★ ''Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop'' – 1989 #49 US (Winner 1990 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance)

★ ''Who Else!'' – 1999 #99 US

★ ''You Had It Coming'' – 2001 #110 US

★ ''Jeff'' – 2003

★ ''Live At BB King Blues Club'' - 2006 (recorded 09/10/2003; originally sold only through Sony's online store in 2004)

★ '' Official Bootleg USA'06 '' (originally sold through Beck's site)
With Big Town Playboys:

★ ''Crazy Legs '' - 1993
Compilation:

★ ''Beckology'' - 1991

Appeared on

★ Brian May's "The Guv'nor" from the album ''Another World''

★ Stevie Wonder's ''Talking Book''

★ Imogen Heap's ''Speak for Yourself''

★ Roger Waters' ''Amused to Death''

★ Mood Swings' song Skinthieves''

★ Tina Turner's ''Private Dancer''

★ Jon Bon Jovi's solo album ''Blaze of Glory''

★ Paul Rodgers song "Good Morning Little School Girl"

★ Stanley Clarke's 1975 album ''Journey to Love''.

★ Stanley Clarke's 1978 album ''Modern Man''.

★ John's Childrens single "Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get" b/w "But She's Mine" (rel. Feb 1967) as uncredited session musician.

★ Reunited with former Yardbirds bandmates in 1984 with the group Box of Frogs

★ Donovan's "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)"

★ Malcolm McLaren's album ''Waltz Darling'', released in 1989, on the songs "House Of The Blue Danube" and "Call A Wave".

★ Mick Jagger's "She's the Boss"

★ ''

★ Kate Bush's 1993 album ''The Red Shoes''

★ Appears in the movie ''Twins'' with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger

★ The soundtrack to the movie ''Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (Beck was once quoted as saying that after he saw Peter Frampton use the guitar mouth tube (talk box), he gave it up).

★ The 2003 Yardbirds' reunion album ''Birdland'' - on track "My Blind Life"

★ Cyndi Lauper's song "Above The Clouds" from her 2005 album ''The Body Acoustic''

★ played guitar solo in Pavarotti's rendition of "Caruso"

★ Rod Stewart's album "Camouflage" on three tracks, also appears in video for the song "Infatuation"

★ Toots and the Maytals 2004 album "True Love" on the song "54-46."

★ American Idol on 24 April 2007 for the Idol Gives Back special, with Kelly Clarkson, playing "Up to the Mountain", originally by Patty Griffin

★ Murray Head's "Voices" (1981)

★ Guitarist for Hans Zimmer's Days of Thunder Instrumental Score.

★ His song "Hot Rod Honeymoon" was on the soundtrack for the video game Gran Turismo 4

Trivia

★ While Beck and Jimmy Page played together in The Yardbirds, the trio of Beck, Page and Eric Clapton never played together in the group all at the same time. The three guitarists did play on stage together at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983 in honour of Ronnie Lane.

★ Beck's girlfriend Mary Hughes is name-checked in The Yardbirds song "Psycho Daisies".

★ He appears in the movie ''Blow Up'' with The Yardbirds.

★ He appears in the movie ''Twins'' with Nicolette Larson.

★ Beck plays an instrumental version of Lennon/McCartney classic "A Day in the Life" on Sir George Martin's album ''In My Life'' (1998).

★ Beck and Jimmy Page have known each other since Page was 11 years old.

★ Beck is a vegetarian.

★ Stevie Wonder originally wrote "Superstition" for Beck. However, Stevie's manager insisted that he record it before Beck did.

★ When not touring or recording, Beck rarely plays guitar. Instead, he spends most of his time working on his classic Jaguars or building hot rods.

★ Beck was asked to join The Rolling Stones but declined before Ron Wood took the job.

★ Jimi Hendrix considered Beck a close friend.

★ Honorary member of the Henchmen Motorcycle Club.

★ Beck did a co-headline tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989.

★ He was interested in playing lead guitar for Iron Butterfly when the group reformed in 1968 after a brief split. Before deciding upon Erik Brann, the band also considered Neil Young and Michael Monarch.

★ Beck appears on John McLaughlin's ''Promise''.

★ Pink Floyd originally considered Beck to replace Syd Barrett after the latter became difficult to work with. However, Beck declined and David Gilmour was chosen instead.[1]

★ Beck's group plays with Donovan on the song, "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love is Hot)"

★ Beck was to play a song with Guns N' Roses in Paris in 1992 but couldn't perform due to ear problems. He did rehearse on stage with them though.

★ Beck rarely uses a pick while playing.

★ Jeff has played on the rare blues album Guitar Boogie with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page

★ Jeff was due to play as featured guitarist on Mo Foster's first solo album ''Bel Assis'' but days before the recording was due to start Jeff injured his thumb working on one of his beloved hot-rods. He was replaced at the last minute by Gary Moore.

See also

★ List of rock instrumentals

Further reading

★ Jeff Beck: Crazy Fingers, Carson, Annette, , , Backbeat books, 2002, ISBN 0-87930-632-7

★ Christopher Hjort and Doug Hinman (2000): ''Jeff's Book: A Chronology of Jeff Beck's Career, 1965-1980: From the Yardbirds to Jazz-Rock'', Rock'n'Roll Research Press ([2], [3])

External links

★ Jeff Beck at Epic Records

★ Jeff Beck homepage

★

Notes

1. Top ten guitar players
2. Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who
3. Foster, Mo: Seventeen Watts?: The Birth of British Rock Guitar, Sanctuary, 1997