Beck-Ola

Whether a member of the Yardbirds or a leader of a group, British guitarist Jeff Beck, who died last week at 78, was content to let vocalists take front and center stage.  But whether is was Keith Relf, Rod Stewart or Bob Tench singing out front, Beck's guitar was the star of the show.

 

Beck, along with fellow Yardbirds alumni Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, was one of what Creem magazine once dubbed the Unholy Three - the trio of British  guitarists that redefined rock and roll by taking it out of the realm of pop and taking into heavier territory.  But while Clapton remained a purist and Page turned amplified blues chords into heavy metal, Beck pursued the free-form, blues-based experimentalism commonly associated with Jimi Hendrix.  From the beginning, when he played the solo on the Yardbirds' recording of "Heart Full of Soul" (written by Graham Gouldman), he was driven to be innovative; he developed a sound on his guitar that emulated the Indian sitar and was like an accompanying voice for Keith Relf.   His pioneering work on the debut album of the first Jeff Beck Group, which featured Rod Stewart on vocals, created an array of sounds full of reverberation and feedback that set the template for blues-based rock that many thought Jimmy Page merely replicated on the first Led Zeppelin album.   

As a solo artist, Beck would occasionally bring in a singer but he mainly recorded instrumentals, preferring to let his guitar do the talking.  Beck already knew to make his guitar speak, and the sounds he emanated from it yielded memorable tracks.  At a time when guitar heroes are becoming harder to find in a pop world that has turned its back on guitar rock, it's worth revisiting Beck's vast catalog and (re)discover and appreciate what made him so great.  RIP. 😢