Jeff Beck

[Dreamer]

Here is a serious anthology for anyone interested in checking Beck's evolution through the years:

 

 

http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/f3/40/5934024128a0daba73c98010._AA240_.L.jpg

 

List of contents here:

[Dreamer]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fc/Jeff_Beck_performing.jpg/180px-Jeff_Beck_performing.jpg

 

Jeff Beck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Geoffrey (Learoy) Arnold "Jeff" Beck (born June 24, 1944) in Wallington, Surrey England is a British rock guitarist who played in a number of influential bands in the 1960s. Beck never attained the commercial visibility that some of his contemporaries did. However, he has gained widespread critical acclaim, especially in the guitar playing community. What is more, his lack of visibility allowed him to remain on the cutting edge, rather than being pigeon-holed into a certain style. He is noted as a musician who has mastered many genres, including blues rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion. Most recently, he has absorbed the influence of techno, creating a groundbreaking blend of heavy guitar rock and electronica.

 

Early career with The Yardbirds

 

Like many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session guitarist. In 1965, Beck joined The Yardbirds (after Eric Clapton had left the group for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers). It was during Jeff's tenure with The Yardbirds that they recorded most of their hits. In 1966, Jeff shared the dual-lead guitar role with Jimmy Page. Beck's tenure in The Yardbirds was a short one; he left after 18 months, partly for health reasons.

 

Jeff Beck Group

 

The following year, Beck formed a new band, The Jeff Beck Group, which featured him on lead guitar, Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Mick Waller on drums. The group produced two albums, Truth in 1968 and Beck-Ola the following year. These two albums are highly acclaimed, and are considered by some to be the earliest precursors to heavy metal, predating the initial Led Zeppelin albums. Owing to friction within the band, Stewart and Wood left the group in 1969 to replace Steve Marriott in the The Small Faces (this new lineup, joining Ronnie Laine, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones would shorten their name to just "The Faces"). Wood later joined The Rolling Stones.

 

Fusion

 

After the failure of the second Jeff Beck Group (it disbanded in 1972), Beck formed the power trio Beck, Bogert, and Appice, with Carmine Appice on drums and Tim Bogert on bass. This group, too, failed to attract much critical attention and soon split up, although they did have a minor hit with a version of Stevie Wonder's Superstition (Beck later played lead guitar on Wonder's Talking Book album). In 1975, Beck did a solo, all-instrumental jazz fusion album entitled Blow by Blow which received unexpectedly positive critical reviews and substantial sales, reaching number 4 in the U.S. charts. It was followed up by a collaborative effort with former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer on the 1976 Wired album, which also received critical acclaim.

 

Later career

 

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jeff Beck recorded sporadically: Flash (1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer), Guitar Shop (1989), Crazy Legs (1993), Who Else (1999), and You Had It Coming (2001). 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. The song Plan B from this release earned him his fourth Grammy Award, again, for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance'.

 

In the past few years, Jeff Beck has performed on Les Paul and Cyndi Lauper's new albums, and played guitar on Roger Waters' album Amused to Death. Beck also is featured on one track on Queen guitarist Brian May's last solo album, Another World

 

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), redefining the sound and role of the electric guitar in rock music and anticipating what Jimi Hendrix shortly thereafter took further. 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.

[Tone Taster]

they left out the "There and Back" album - 1980

 

That's the one w/ Simon Phillips.

 

The one w/ "The Pump"

[DaleH]

A clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzohZsgYvrE

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Originally posted by Caputo:

they left out the "There and Back" album - 1980

 

That's the one w/ Simon Phillips.

 

The one w/ "The Pump"

The one w/ "The Final Peace"

[skipclone 1]

A cohort of mine who had been a producer in L.A. ( The L.A.`s Wasted Youth album `Reagan`s In`-that was his) pointed to one of Beck`s more recent CDs-maybe it was `You Had It Coming`, with the black and white, off-center photos of Beck basically sitting around and said, `I mean, come on. The music`s fantastic but the guy obviously doesn`t care about slick packaging. It kind of reminds me of another brilliant musician who maybe wasn`t exactly a `people person` but despite some notable critics (thank you Mr. Marsalis, you can sit down now) is widely acclaimed by musicians and non-musicians while doing it just the way he wants.

[Eric Iverson]

Jeff Beck? A fine player, with a very unique approach!

 

I also loved seeing him on Martin Scorsese's Blues series, with Tom Jones of all people. Playing without huge amps and tons of effects, but you could hear a fine musician at work!