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History of Boomer Music - brought to you by Keith Blake

 
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck was born in Wallington, Surrey, England, in 1944. He formed early bands called the Deltones and the Tridents, which made little chart impact, but helped build his reputation as a lead guitarist.

Then he joined the Yardbirds, replacing Eric Clapton as lead, and was front-man for the group through its most successful and creative period. During his time with the Yardbirds they recorded their hugely successful singles “Heart Full of Soul,” “I’m a Man”, “Shapes of Things” and “Over Under Sideways Down”.

Beck left the Yardbirds in 1967 and launched his career as bandleader. He was replaced by another British guitar icon, Jimmy Page. The Yardbirds underwent many personnel changes before eventually being reborn as Led Zepplin, while Beck embarked on his solo career.

His first solo hit was “Hi Ho Silver Lining,” which reached #17 on the

UK Charts and featured Beck on lead vocals as well as guitar. The song is one that still is sung by many a Boomer when it is played at sixties parties, but Beck himself doesn’t rate the song. “I didn’t like the song. It was ghastly, stupid,” he said in an interview in the 1990s.

After a while he realised he needed a group where he could showcase his guitar talents and not have to sing lead vocals as well. He formed the Jeff Beck Group, which included future superstars Rod Stewart and Ron Wood.

With Beck on lead, Wood switched from guitar to bass player for the band. The Jeff Beck Group was a grouping of real talent, and also contained pianist Nicky Hopkins and drummer Mick Waller. Waller was later replaced by Tony Newman and as a group they recorded albums “Truth” (1968) and “Beck-Ola” (1969).

With so much talent it was inevitable the group would have some internal friction and with so many giant egos loose, they parted ways just before their booking at the Woodstock Festival. Wood and Stewart went on to greater fame and fortune with the Faces, while Wood eventually joined the Rolling Stones and Stewart pursued solo stardom.

In 1975 Beck recorded his masterpiece, the all-instrumental “Blow By Blow”, under the direction of Beatles producer. George Martin. “Blow by Blow” broke into the Top Ten in America, an amazing feat for a guitar instrumental and brought Beck his greatest success as a solo artist. Beck adopted a more intense, hard-edged style on “Wired”, the follow-up album to “Blow by Blow”, which was also produced by Martin.

In 1998 George Martin asked Beck to perform a Beatles track of his choice for Martin’s Album “In My Life”, a collection of Beatles tracks by a variety of artists hand picked by Martin. Beck chose “A Day in the Life” and performed it as an instrumental with the crescendos built up with hard hitting guitar riffs, multiple-layered. Well worth a listen, the hairs on your neck will stand up for this performance!

Jeff Beck still tours regularly and in 2009 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his own right as a solo artist adding to his inclusion with the Yardbirds.


Boomer Music Archives

1954 - Elvis Presley
1958 - Ricky Nelson
1959 - The Drifters
1957 - The Beatles

 
 
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