Posted on 01/13/2023 12:32:59 PM PST by Drew68
Many consider Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page to be the trifecta of British rock guitarists yet while Page and Clapton went on to great fame and fortune, Beck trailed behind, hugely respected among fellow musicians as a "guitarist's' guitarist" but never really racking up a string of hit songs or Classic Rock radio staples.
Beck was simply content to do his own thing. And often, doing his own thing meant turning down fat paychecks with offers to join huge bands (The Rolling Stones, twice) and instead, playing the music he wanted to play whether rockabilly one album, jazz another, or guitar-infused electronica the next.
That was Jeff Beck.
Good player, but not as talented at being involved in the actual creation of memorable music.
Seems similar in his lone wolf ways to the Thin White Duke (David Bowie). Another guy sorely missed.
RIP
How can you forget putting Peter Green on your list!?
Green was, and remains, the guitarist’s guitarist.
Some may be as good. None were better. Don’t hold the shortness of his career against him. When he was leading Fleetwood Mac they outsold the Beatles and Rolling Stones COMBINED.
It’s one of the reasons why he’s your favorite guitar player’s favorite guitar player.... which is one of the reasons why much of his work is unlistenable to me. My son, a professional guitarist, loves him.
This guy claims to be a journalist.
Here is the first sentence of his article:
As a young music journalist, Jeff Beck was on the short list of icons who I really wanted to interview.
The poor sentence structure here is such that Jeff Beck was identified as the young music journalist - not the author.
Proper English would be:
“Jeff Beck was on my short list of icons who I really wanted to interview when I was a young music journalist.”
OR
“As a young music journalist, I had Jeff Beck on my short list of icons who I really wanted to interview.”
You would think being a journalist would require basic knowledge of written English, particularly in the opening sentence of an article he wrote.
Back in the late 70s we wore out our copies of Blow by Blow and Wired.
I ended up buying them again on Vinyl years later. They still reside in my record cabinet today.
I am listening to Freeway Jam right now on my phone via Spotify.
Wrong, Beck was in a class by himself. Any actual guitarist would tell you that. As Rick Beto put it “he was one of one. His phrasing and note was sense unreal.
You sure about that? He left in 1970 and Fleetwood Mac's albums were not big sellers outside of the UK in that time.
You are right, Peter Green was maybe best player that very few can name sort of like Randy California of Spirit. Beck was in class by himself but those two never got the recognition they deserved.
Good article and describes Jeff pretty well. I saw him at pivotal points in his career.
His sound and touch is what set him apart. No one could sound like him and he created his own style and sound. He was able to make his guitar sound similar to a harmonica.
Jeff was a grandmaster on guitar and a one of a kind.
I agree. I am not a guitarist, but I have heard him pull amazing sounds from his instrument. However, he wasn’t as melodic as Clapton, and didn’t have the musical vision or the ability to lead a superlative band like Jimmy Page. I just hope Jimmy, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones can put aside their differences to make music together before one of them leaves us.
Misplaced modifiers are always fun. I also don’t like the subjective “who” as a direct object.
(Why can’t our subjects keep their hands off our objects? Ahh, the human condition.)
You need to check out UPP Featuring Jeff Beck
UPP feat. JEFF BECK - Down In The Dirt (1974 UK TV Performance)
https://youtu.be/NzDqqxKnW3o
I hate to break it to you, . . . so I won’t.
It'll never happen.
It's been over fifteen years now since their triumphant reunion at the O2 show and they haven't performed together as Led Zeppelin since. Page is 79 now and Plant has largely retired to his estate in the English countryside of Shatterford, having not released any new music since 2017. Following the O2 show in November of '07, Plant had shown no interest in continuing further with Led Zeppelin, much to Page's frustration.
Green just didn't have the impact that the others did. He's largely regarded only for his small body of work with John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac before LSD-induced psychosis sidelined his career. And while he continued to perform and release new music up until his death in 2020, his legacy would always be that small handful of recorded work he did in the late 1960s.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.