Jeff Beck Biography

Beck was to return to the charts the following year with the single smash (and present-day karaoke favourite) 'Hi Ho Silver Lining', but this was far more a case of a manager wanting to cash in on his star potential than Beck really finding any musical gratification or self-expression. In fact, Most had really had to push Beck not only into recording the song but also into providing the vocals, and to this day Beck is so unhappy with the record (despite it reaching number 14 in the UK), that he describes it as '...like having a pink toilet seat hanging round my neck for the rest of my fucking life.'

Better things lay in wait, however. Teaming up with the practically unknown singer Rod Stewart, drummer Mick Waller, pianist Nicky Hopkins, and jack-of-all trades Ronnie Wood, Beck formed the Jeff Beck Group, whose first album effort, 'Truth', was released in 1968. Described by the legendary rock critic Charles Shaar Murray as '...an enduring, genre-defining masterpiece,' it set the template for heavy rock for the coming decade, and as it had pre-empted Led Zeppelin's first album release by several months, Beck's group could definitely be said to have shown the way for what was to come after. Indeed, 'Truth' contained a shorter, and in many ways superior version of Willie Dixon's 'You Shook Me', with John Paul Jones on Hammond organ, and months later Zep were to have their own version on their debut album. Coincidence? Pull the other one.

On 'Truth', what was on display was not merely a guitar great pushing boundaries, but a stellar vocal talent in the form of Stewart, and an unbelievably tight band. However, if the album lacked one thing, it was original material - Beck viewed himself as the interpreter of songs rather than as a writer, and admitted later that for the band to have holed themselves up and try to write some material would only have resulted in fisticuffs. This could in some part have explained the presence on the album of curios such as the traditional song 'Greensleeves', as well as a highly unlikely version of 'Ol' Man River' (featuring Keith Moon on timpani).

Mickie Most was pushing the band hard, with a major US tour itinerary to contend with in 1969. Reasoning that a second album was needed (and perhaps sensing that the white heat they were generating might not last for ever), he booked a modest amount of studio time, and in a mere four days their second album 'Beck-Ola' (1969) was recorded. The sleeve notes are an overt admission that the group was still not focussed on writing anything new:

'Today, with all the competition in the music business, it's almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't - however, at the time this album was made, the accent was on heavy music. So sit back and listen and try and decide if you can find a small place in your heads for it'.

Fair enough, the group hadn't written much, but what they had composed - heavy, riff-laden tracks such as 'Spanish Boots' and 'Rice Pudding' - were pretty hot stuff. Furthermore, their cover versions - the standouts of which here were the two Elvis numbers, 'All Shook Up' and 'Jailhouse Rock', were pretty knockout too. The accent, as Beck put it, was certainly on heavy!

However, the energy and power of the band on record was matched by the ferocity of the relationships between them off stage. It couldn't last, particularly as their management were far more focussed on marketing Led Zeppelin by this point. Wood and Stewart went off to join the Faces in 1970, and the group was no more. A serious car crash caused the guitarist to take some time out, but by 1971 he had formed a new Jeff Beck Group, featuring names such as Cozy Powell behind the drums and Bobby Tench on vocals. Unfortunately, poor sales of their albums 'Rough and Ready' (1971) and 'Jeff Beck Group' (1972) soon led to Beck having a rethink, and after dissolving this group he teamed up with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice to form a trio.

The threesome lacked a vocalist, which harmed sales irrevocably (not to mention critical opinions) of their 1973 album release. They parted ways, and Beck took some time out. He was not to return until 1975, with the George Martin production 'Blow By Blow'. Martin will no doubt have helped immeasurably on the innovative cover version of the Beatles 'She's a Woman', and the all-instrumental fusion album was certainly a major critical (if not commercial) success. By 1976, Beck had teamed up with yet another collaborator, this time in the shape of the keyboard whizz Jan Hammer, and their 1976 release 'Wired' continued Beck's push towards electronic fusion, jazz and funk. And although this album contains none of Beck's own material (as he relied on his collaborators for that), the standout track, a cover of Charles Mingus's 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' has come to be one of Beck's best remembered and loved recordings.

After a lengthy tour with Jan Hammer's group, Beck returned to England and quit the scene for three years. He teamed up again with Hammer for the 1980 release 'There and Back', after which he took another lengthy lay-off from music. His next album saw him working with the disco producer Nile Rodgers on 'Flash' (1985). Unsurprisingly, Rodgers steered the album into pop territory, but with some success - in particular, Beck's version of the Curtis Mayfield classic, 'People Get Ready', featuring Rod Stewart's vocals, was a memorable effort. In addition, the track 'Escape' earned him a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental.

Beck retreated into the shadows once again, until 1989, when 'Guitar Shop' was released, featuring Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas. A powerful blend of heavy rock drumming, synths and Beck's melodic and metallic guitar, the album achieved that all-too-common feat of being a hit with the critics (netting another Grammy for best instrumental) but only a moderate sales success. The group toured the album, but upon returning home Beck had one eye on retirement - or perhaps on spending more time restoring his classic cars. For someone blessed with the kind of dexterity most guitarists could only dream of, Beck actually takes a somewhat maverick approach to looking after them, really, thinking nothing of mucking about with his angle-grinders and welding gear rather than wrapping up his greatest assets in cotton wool!

1993 saw the release of 'Crazy Legs' with the Big Town Playboys, a collection of Gene Vincent covers, in tribute to Vincent's guitarist, Cliff Gallup (one of Beck's heroes). He resurfaced after another, even lengthier hiatus with 1999's 'Who Else', with an ear-splitting array of techno beats underpinning Beck's guitar wizardry on several tracks - and the heavy being provided by machines rather than by a man with some drumsticks, as it had been in 1969! In what could certainly be considered a rapid turnaround, in Beckian terms at least, it was only two years before another album was released, 2001's 'You Had it Coming', which saw him further exploring electronica, and pursuing that previously mentioned goal of sounding distinctly un-guitarry. And by 2003's 'Jeff', he had even decided to start working rap into his repertoire, collaborating with Saffron on the third track from the album, 'Pork-U-Pine'. In fact, the lyrics to this could serve as a pretty neat statement of beck's career, particularly considering his dislike of his own vocals - 'If the voice don't say it, the guitar will play it.' And Beck certainly has that rare gift of being able to communicate through his instrument, and truly to make it sing.

• Jeff Beck Discography