reverse headstock lol! rockstar fender custom shop kinda stuff i love it.
the call and response with his playing and rods singing is amazing
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On New Yearâs eve I was with some friends and they played a song by Anthony and the Johnsons, with lead singer Anthony Hagerty. That reminded me of the dance group Hercules & Love Affair, where he was a guest singer. Still such great musicâŚ
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people i know are mixed on this record, but i enjoy it from time to timeâŚthis was a good tour!
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From Adrian Belewâs FB pageâŚ
note: I wish I had more time to do this properly but being an active musician who is touring again beginning one month from now, this is all I have time for. otherwise I could write a treatise on this subject. should there be any minor points of contention please understand my lack of time for research, but as someone who LIVED THROUGH this era I remember it this way and feel I should pass this on to those not fortunate enough to have been there.
here in America in February of 1964 with the stunning arrival of The Beatles the world of popular music was turned upside down by the highly-spirited sound of something called âthe British Invasion.â The Beatles were everywhere and by far the most exciting thing anywhere!
in the Beatles wake pop radio (which was then a true lifeline for us teenagers) was filled with British pop bands. at the time I was 14 years old which made me a prime target of all the excitement and it dominated my daily existence.
bands like The Kinks, The Zombies, The Dave Clark Five, and The Searchers quickly ruled the airwaves. they were true âpopâ bands inspired by American artists such as Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and The Everly Brothers.
but there was another group of young english players who were inspired by black American blues artists. Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Johnson, et al.
The Rolling Stones were originally one of those blues band. but they soon changed their focus to pop radio. then came another english blues-based band turned-pop band, The Yardbirds.
according to wikipedia:
"The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The bandâs core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja, and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith. The band started the careers of three of rockâs most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazineâs list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including âFor Your Loveâ, âHeart Full of Soulâ, âShapes of Thingsâ, and âOver Under Sideways Downâ.
imagine that, the 3 British Rock God Guitarists of the 60âs all came from one band!!
but on the ground as an American teenager (now 15 years old and in my first teen band The Denems) hereâs how it looked: Eric Clapton left The Yardbirds before we had even heard of them! his heart was into the blues so he joined John Mayallâs Bluesbreakers. unbeknownst to us Eric recommended his friend Jimmy Page to the band and Page recommended Jeff Beck.
it would be a while yet before Clapton and Page reached our ears. from the first minute we heard Jeff there was no one else like him.
HE WAS THE FIRST.
Jimi Hendrix was yet to come (in 1967) as was Ericâs first band Cream and eventually Jimmy Pageâs Led Zeppelin.
Jeffâs influences included the blues but was also based on artists like The Shadows (Englandâs version of The Ventures) Les Paul, Chet Atkins, rockabilly guitarist Cliff Gallup, Ravi Shankar and indian music.
keep in mind indian music (and middle eastern music modalities) was virtually unknown in American but it was everywhere in England, a British colony from 1858 to 1947 and home to thousands of indian restaurants. The Beatles movie Help featured bits of indian music which is what inspired George Harrison to study sitar.
Jeff was the first player to incorporate eastern modalities into pop songs like For Your Love, Heart Full Of Soul, and Over Under sideways Down. but at the same time he had a vast vocabulary of American music to draw from.
I remember going over the Mike Wilshireâs house to listen to records after school each day. (I didnât have a record player.) Mike started the Denims (we eventually had to change the spelling) along with Terry Dalhover and Dave Behle. Mike was the bassist and singer and the most advanced musician I knew at the time. eventually he turned me onto the first Hendrix record and Bob Dylan!
one day I went over to Mikeâs. he had the single Over Under Sideways Down which was already a radio hit, but he said âlisten to the flip side!â it was an instrumental track called âJeffâs Boogie*.â I had never heard anyone play guitar like that! and it began my lifelong love affair with the master electric guitarist Jeff Beck.
keep in mind, I had not yet touched a guitar. I was still a singing drummer! so you see, from the very beginning he defined (for us young players) what it was to be a guitar player.
Jeff was what I call a âpure guitar playerâ meaning that is all he did. he didnât try to sing or be a âfrontmanâ or have a dynamic stage presence.
he played guitar.
someone who DID do all those other things was Jimi Hendrix. and he was magnificent at all of it. in my opinion, they are two different categories: guitarists who are songwriters and singers and guitarist who only play guitar (and I donât mean ONLY as a slight.)**
one final teenage story: one day I walked to the next street over in our neighborhood to John Reynoldâs house. John was the bassist/singer/writer for a great local band called The Bad Seeds. there was a rehearsal space/garage behind his house. the garage doors were open and there sitting on an amp playing guitar was a young man who looked like the blonde-haired Keith Relf (singer for the Yardbirds) but was playing just like Jeff Beck! none of us could believe his sound! his name was Seymour Duncan. he eventually moved to London and became good friends with Jeff.
lastly, I will posts a few personal memories I have of Jeff, hopefully next week.
*years later I realized Jeffâs Boogie was really a take on a Les Paul track whose name I canât recall.
** of course there are more than 2 categories for guitarists but this simplification is mainly to illustrate what I consider a critical difference between Jeff and Jimi.
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Brilliant. All 9+ minutes of it.
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Ah, the Filmore and WinterlandâŚThose were the days!
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love it!
putting aside all their humor, political messaging and trippy sounds, this group was no gimmick, and i enjoy their records relatively often! Woodstock iconic, so was their concert in Worcester, hereâs MontereyâŚ
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Missing Bill Russell today too. Kareem remains a national treasure. Love that man.
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Oscar Peterson, lots of great songs.
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