Jeff Beck – Truth

 

This weekend, I rented the documentary -It Might Get Loud which is billed as a "Summit" of 3 players...Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White. I had read about this and was intrigued for Jimmy Page alone. My opinion of the movie is that Jack White tries too hard to impress everybody. The Edge is upfront about his talent and flat out says that's it's all about his rack of effects. Lastly, Jimmy Page shows up with a lifetime of playing and an arsenal of confidence. They all play something on their guitars from their individual careers. But, When Page plugs in to play "Whole Lotta Love", the other two glance at each other like Wayne and Garth as they are about to claim "Holy Crap! We are in the presence of Jimmy Page....WE'RE NOT WORTHY!" Page is very genuine when it comes to his love for his instrument and the music of his childhood as we see as he lights up while listening, talking about and playing air-guitar to it.

As I watched this "Summit", I wondered what it would be like to see the 3 Yardbirds guitarists get together and talk about their lives and careers before, during and after their prospective time in the band. Of course, those three are the trinity of English guitar players -Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

Jeff Beck is a name that most don't know. Do most people know that a little known Scottish born singer named Rod Stewart came to worldwide recognition with Jeff Beck? That's right...Rod Stewart. The same guy who pulled a Sinatra/Tony Bennett/Harry Connick turn at singing The Great American Songbook. The same Rod Stewart who asked us back in the disco era "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"  I became a fan of Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart through their individual associations with drummer Carmine Appice and the group Beck Bogert & Appice and Rod's solo band. That's a whole other story that I will probably touch on another time.

As the legend of Led Zeppelin grew in the 80's, I became enraptured with it all. So, of course, I read the book "Hammer of the Gods" and one of the stories told of how Page(with Zeppelin) recorded You Shook Me for the Zeppelin debut album just shortly after his former Yardbird bandmate-Jeff Beck had recorded the same song with his "group" featuring singer Rod Stewart.

I bought the Epic records double LP that featured the first two Jeff Beck Group albums- Truth and Beck-ola. I bought it while I was working at Dustys, dubbed off a cassette for myself and that tape was either in my car stereo or my portable tape player with headphones in my ears.  According to the liner notes in the 2005 remastered version, Jeff was aiming to have a "Way-out there Blues-rock band with an outrageous lead singer and a full-on power drummer. Amazingly enough, this album was released in 1968 which was the same year as Hendrix's Electric Ladyland and Cream's Wheels of Fire. It also preceded Zeppelin's first album by more than 6 months.

As I listen back to this album, I remember driving to and walking to my college classes listening to them with an added spring to my step as the album starts off with a reworked version of the Yardbirds song "Shapes of Things". If you've heard the original, this is a radical improvement. It's wild and free with a band consisting of Beck, Rod the Mod, Ronnie Wood on bass and Micky Waller on drums. This Track explodes from that start and grooves unlike the perpetually happy sing-song version of the Yardbirds. Micky Waller is as adventurous as Mitch Mitchell had been with Hendrix and Beck just plugs along with great ease on his instrument.

Track 2 is a funky bluesy number called "Let me Love you". There isn't much to say about this track but it has that all important groove with drums, tambourine and Wood holding everything together on Bass guitar. Jeff Beck sings along with Rod (both vocally and instrumentally) on the chorus which predates Page and Plant and their call and response of Zeppelin. The 3rd track is "Morning Dew" written by Tim Rose and is just a great showcase for both Stewart's vocals and Jeff Beck's prowess of the six string with wah-wah. But, it definitely has slow build with aspect of ligh and shade to compliment it.

Next is Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me' which would appear months later on Zeppelin's debut album. According to "1001 Albums", Jeff Beck was quoted later that "My Heart just sank when I heard 'You Shook Me'". Interestingly enough, Zeppelin's multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones plays the Hammond organ while Nicky Hopkins plays barrelhouse piano on this track.

.....Then Rod sings "Ole Man River" (from the musical Showboat) with the band plus JPJ on Hammond organ along with the Who's Keith Moon on Timpani. I remember loving the subtleties of this song as I listended to this on my car stereo as I pulled into the IGA in Kearney on a trip for groceries. I loved it so much, I found myself singing along in my best bass voice.

Side two of the album opens with an interesting acoustic instrumental guitar piece..."Greensleeves". I never knew that was the title of that song. As a church going youth, I knew it as the Christmas carol "What Child is This?"

Next is "Rock My Plimsoul" which is a bluesy shuffle with a guitar solo that sings as it pans from one speaker to another. Yet it seems vaguely familiar and similar to the blues standard "Rock Me Baby".

Then comes the instrumental song (that legend says) was a seed for the formation fo Led Zeppelin..."Beck's Bolero". This song featured Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page on guitars, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Keith Moon again on drums. In fact, (at 1:30) that is Moonie that screams as the whole band kicks the song from a spanish tinged march to a full on Rocking Band. "Blues Deluxe" is next and reminds us that Rod Stewart was once known as a great English Blues singer.

The Album finishes with a great version of Howlin' Wolf's "I Ain't Superstitious" which is another showcase for Micky Waller's drumming and Jeff Beck's expertise of the slide, the wah wah and delay. I always wanted to play this song (or any song) from this album with every blues combo I have drummed with since college. But, I've discovered that most guitarists are a little apprehensive about trying to duplicate Beck's playing.

I did however play in a blues trio that attempted to play Gary Moore's version of "Shapes of Things". It wasn't bad ....but it wasn't great either. I'll leave it at that.

After Rod left the Jeff Beck Group, Beck had another "Jeff Beck Group" with Cozy Powell on drums. He also did one album with bassist Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice. Then, he took a dramatic turn and decided to do instrumental Jazz -Rock albums...most notably "Blow by Blow" and "Wired". In the 80's, he did a total of 3 albums..."There and Back", "Flash" which reunited him with Rod Stewart for a cover of "People get Ready" and "Guitar Shop" with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas.

I have a copy of his recent live album from Ronnie Scott's in London. I haven't seen the DVD. But, I hear that features Eric Clapton sitting in for a song and Jimmy Page actually in the audience. Jeff also played Clapton's Crossroads festival in 2007 and according to Clapton's website is booked for the 2010 festival as well.

Clapton and Beck recently performed a series of dates together at MSG and from the YouTube videos I've seen, It just looked amazing. Now, they should call Page and figure something out with him too.