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Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck

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Jeff Beck: Jeff Beck Group

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Oz, July 1972

SINCE HIS LAST album, Beck has brought in an outside producer, Steve Cropper, no less. Unlike Rough and Ready, this one features some real songs, ...

Audio interviews

Jeff Beck (2001)

Interview by Steve Newton, Rock's Backpages audio, 2001

The guitar great on his relationship with Jan Hammer; on his current live band and guitarist Jennifer Batten; on his latest album You Had It Coming; his use of modern technology; on getting his guitar sound; his memories of meeting Roy Buchanan back in the '70s; his admiration for John McLaughlin; suffering tinnitus, and his love of building hot rod cars.

File format: mp3; file size: 14.1mb, interview length: 14' 39" sound quality: ** (phoner)

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Jeff Beck: Alone In The Yardbirds

Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 17 December 1966

A YOUNG man named Jeff Beck — a very important and integral part of a group called The Yardbirds — nearly always stands alone. ...

BEAT EXCLUSIVE: Beck Exits 'Birds

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 14 January 1967

ACCORDING TO a reliable source closely connected with the Yardbirds, The BEAT has learned in an exclusive interview that Jeff Beck is no longer a ...

Roy Orbison, Small Faces: Finsbury Park Astoria, London

Live Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 11 March 1967

ORBISON THE STAR ...

The Small Faces, Roy Orbison, Paul & Barry Ryan, Jeff Beck: Finsbury Park Astoria, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 March 1967

A RIGHT phantasmagorical experience was created by the combined powers of the Small Faces and Roy Orbison at the opening of their tour at Finsbury ...

Jeff Beck: When The 'Big Break' Leads To Disaster...

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 25 March 1967

CHRIS WELCH GOES BEHIND THE GLAMOUR AND GLITTER OF THE POP WORLD TO FIND TRAGEDY ...

Jimi Hendrix, Four Tops, Jeff Beck et al: Singles Reviews

Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 25 March 1967

Catchy debut solo from Jeff Beck, and a typical but powerful Four Tops. Better showcase for Jimi Hendrix on his newie, and best yet from ...

Jeff Beck Not Nearly So Wicked As He Thinks He Is!

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967

JEFF BECK gets a somewhat perverse satisfaction from having a "wicked" reputation in the pop business. At his best, he is a talented, guitar-perfectionist with ...

Cream, Jeff Beck Group, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 8 July 1967

IT'S THE CREAM ALL THE WAY AT THE SAVILLE ...

Cream, Jeff Beck: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 July 1967

Cream — just beautiful! ...

"I Don't Suppose I'll Get Married — All I Want Is My Music" Says Jeff Beck

Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 26 August 1967

WHAT ARE the rewards of two years as one of the top guitarists in the pop business? ...

Jeff Beck, Ten Years After, Kiki Dee, Denny Laine: Has Jeff Recorded a Yuccchhh Ballad?

Report and Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 2 March 1968

THERE'S A great song around at the moment — a song that was number one in the U.S. charts. A song that's been recorded by ...

What Do The Fans Want From Me? Pleads Jeff Beck

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 9 March 1968

TO THOSE who remember the raving old days at the Richmond Crawdaddy with "geezers" hanging from the rafters in ecstasy whenever Eric "Slowhand" Clapton did ...

Grateful Dead, Jeff Beck Group, the Seventh Sons: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 16 June 1968

JEFF BECK GROUP CHEERED IN DEBUT British Pop Singers Delight Fillmore East Audience ...

Standing Ovation For Jeff Beck

Report by June Harris, New Musical Express, 29 June 1968

THE GREATEST thing happened in New York last Friday. On his first performance in this country, Jeff Beck became a star. Even in his Yardbird ...

NME Reporters Cover the Weekend's Major Event — the Eighth National Jazz and Blues Festival

Live Review by Keith Altham, Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 August 1968

STARS, SUNSHINE and a SHAMBLES ...

8th National Jazz & Blues Festival: Lazy Sunbury Afternoon...

Live Review by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 17 August 1968

PLAGUED BY DISASTER AND COUNTLESS SETBACKS, THE SUNBURY FESTIVAL PRESENTED SOME OF THE BEST MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT EVER SEEN. RM WAS THERE. ...

Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Jeff Beck, The Nice, Jerry Lee Lewis et al: Eighth National Jazz And Blues Festival, Kempton Park

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968

Music triumphs, despite rain, accidents and the rockers ...

Jeff Beck: Truth (Epic)

Review by Gary Lucas, Cogito, 23 August 1968

THE YARDBIRDS have the dubious distinction of being the group that every major English guitarist has left. Perhaps their best asset was the one who ...

Top Tunes: The Jeff Beck Group

Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 26 October 1968

ON JUNE 15, 1968, the Jeff Beck Group made its first American appearance at the Fillmore East in New York and was a smash hit. ...

The Jeff Beck Group: Marquee Club, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 25 January 1969

JEFF BECK'S band blew a solid set at London's Marquee Club last week to a packed house and proved why they have been so successful ...

Jeff Beck: When Jeff Was Scared To Go On Stage

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 1 February 1969

JEFF BECK is a complicated person. He can appear lazy, sullen and difficult. He has an expressive face that appears to give away his every ...

Platter Chatter

Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, March 1969

New Albums from Jeff Beck, Freddie King et al ...

The Rolling Stones, Plastic Ono Band et al: New Singles

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 5 July 1969

ROLLING STONES: 'Honky Tonk Women'/'You Can't Always Get What You Want' (Decca). An important single for the Stones, but a disappointment for us . ...

Newport Jazz Festival 1969: New Records & Not All That Jazz

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 19 July 1969

NEWPORT, R.I. — On paper at least the experiment of adding rock music to the Newport Jazz Festival 1969 came from the purest of motives. ...

The Jeff Beck Group: Beck-Ola (Columbia SCX 6351 stereo)

Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 30 August 1969

Beck up-dates Elvis oldies ...

Jeff Beck

Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, December 1969

JEFF BECK at the moment seems to be wandering in a musical "no-man's-land". He is faced with the unenviable task of forming a new group ...

Jeff Beck: Strange Scene at Tamla

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 August 1970

...reports Mickie Most ...

Nicky Hopkins: Have Piano, Will Travel

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 3 April 1971

Michael Watts talks to sessionman supreme NICKY HOPKINS ...

The Sounds Talk-in: Jeff Beck

Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 1 May 1971

IT'S BEEN a long wait but you've got a new group now. How long has it been together? ...

Jeff Beck Is Back in Action

Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 24 June 1971

  LONDON — For some time, Jeff Beck had the reputation for being the epitome of English white-blues smartie-pants guitarists. A breed of questionable ethics, it ...

Jeff Beck, Flash Cadillac, Wet Willie: Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 1 November 1971

New Jeff Beck Group in Long Beach Concert ...

My Style of Cock: Being An Interview With Kim Fowley, In The Company Of Jeff Beck

Interview by Howard Parker, Chris Rowley, International Times, 1972

"IF YOU CAN’T get cunt, you want to be a rock ‘n’ roll Something so you can get it, and when you have it you ...

Jeff Beck, Heaven: London College of Printing, Elephant and Castle, London

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 11 March 1972

IN SPITE of heavy criticisms of audiences recently the one at London College of Printing, Elephant and Castle, on Friday night to see Jeff Beck, ...

Jeff Beck: Jeff Beck Group

Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 8 June 1972

Should you ever find yourself in the mood to be bored comatose, simply hop on the next jet to Hollywood, where this writer will gladly ...

Jeff Beck: Jeff Beck Group (Epic)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 July 1972

Beck doesn't make it ...

Jeff Beck/Blue Oyster Cult/Flash/Argent: Gaelic Park, New York NY

Live Review by Jon Tiven, Phonograph Record, October 1972

BLUE OYSTER CULT had a real bad time at the big park and oh boy did they know it...one of the guys backstage connected wit ...

Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 1)

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972

Page and Zeppelin, Stewart, the old band and the new... ...

Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 2)

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 November 1972

Beck, Page and bad vibes ...

Call Mickie Most 'The Hitmaker'

Interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, 21 December 1972

Mickey Mouse? What can I say about him? When making an album with the band laying down a track in the studio, Mickey is always ...

Rod Stewart: The Scarecrow Harlequin

Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973

STRANGE AS it may seem, there was a time when Rod Stewart used to hide behind Jeff Beck's amplifiers and only come out front if ...

The Complete Works of Ronnie Wood

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973

REMEMBER A BAND called the Birds? Nope friend, I do not mean the Byrds, Bobby Dylan's old honchos from Los Angeles, nor am I alluding ...

Jeff Beck The Dare-Devil

Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973

WHEN HE'S playing nice, you couldn't possibly hope to hear more creative or more exciting rock guitar playing than that of Jeff Beck. He was ...

Jeff Beck

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1973

AMONG GUITARISTS, Jeff Beck has few peers. Bubbly, elusive, humoresque guitar work has been his trademark since his first performances with The Yardbirds over half-a-dozen ...

Jeff Beck…In Retrospect

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, December 1973

JEFF BECK IS one of those characters who is so brilliantly erratic that he is constantly set-ting the music (and journalistic) world on its ear. ...

Jeff Beck: Music And Cars And Sex…

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974

A DIGESTIVE BISCUIT is poised, somewhat uneasily, a few inches away from Jeff Beck's celebrated nasty leer. ...

British Psychedelia: More Zits Than Hitz…

Guide by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975

It's dream-time in Compilationsville once again, amigos. This week CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY does his worst to induce EMI into issuing Volume Two in his discocartography ...

Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck: Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 10 May 1975

NEW YORK: The pairing of John McLaughlin and Jeff Beck proved to be a guitarist's delight at the Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday and Thursday ...

Jeff Beck: Blow By Blow

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1975

JEFF BECK SEEMS finally to have figured out that his is not going to replace the great '60s group which bore his name and featured ...

Jeff Beck: Another exclusive in which Beck reveals his true colours

Interview by Jon Tiven, International Musician & Recording World, July 1975

JEFF BECK'S reputation as the world's greatest guitarist, the planet's most erratic musician, and the Universe's most elusive character precedes him. With a career full ...

Jeff Beck, The Mahavishnu Orchestra: Winterland San Francisco CA

Live Review by Joel Selvin, Rolling Stone, 3 July 1975

JEFF BECK seems determined to be taken seriously as a significant rock instrumentalist, stepping out from behind his British pop star facade. Not only his ...

Ron Wood

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, December 1975

DURING THE musically bountiful years of the late Sixties, the Jeff Beck Group emerged; it was an outfit of undisciplined nature and unabashed energy. ...

Jeff Beck: Return Of The Lone Axe Hero

Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 May 1976

Jeff Beck: The Roundhouse, London ...

Jeff Beck: Wired (Epic)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976

Rock'n'Roll? Nah, that's kids' stuff ...

Jeff Beck: Exclusive! Jeff Sez Nothin'!

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 July 1976

Our story opens in the flashing chrome and glass edifice that constitutes Columbia Records in New York. Their International Department have invited Sounds to attend ...

Jeff Beck: Wired (Epic PE 33849)

Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 29 July 1976

All Wired Up: Beck's Best Yet ...

Jeff Beck: Live Wired Beck

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 11 September 1976

OF ALL the guitar heroes to emerge from the British blues boom of the mid-Sixties, Jeff Beck has been the most slippery to follow. There ...

Jeff Beck: Wired (Epic PE 33849); Jan Hammer Group: Oh,Yeah? (Nemperor NE 437)

Review by Bruce Malamut, Crawdaddy!, October 1976

BECK HAMMERS OUT JAZZ-OLA ...

Jeff Beck/The Jan Hammer Group: Live; Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues, Play 'Em As You Please

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977

BECK IN Ongoing Fusion Situation (he blows it). Bloomfield Simply Plays The Blues (he makes it). ...

Jeff Beck & Jan Hammer: More Lively Than Wired

Interview by Fred Schruers, Circus, 9 June 1977

Jeff Beck Explodes With The Jan Hammer Group Live ...

Jeff Beck: Beck's Blah-Blah

Interview by John Tobler, New Music News, 3 August 1980

JOHN TOBLER Meets a Vintage Guitar Strangler ...

Jeff Beck: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 10 March 1981

OVER THE past few years Jeff Beck has given the impression of someone wilfully squandering a brilliant career. Having established himself as one of the ...

Jeff Beck

Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, The Guitar Greats (BBC Books), 1983

AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST once described Jeff Beck as having an oversized heart and soul, which elevates him above most other guitarists and compared him in ...

Jeff Beck: Rough 'n' Ready

Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, The History of Rock, 1983

When Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds in 1965, disillusioned with the commercial route they were taking, it seemed unlikely that the group would be able ...

Jeff Beck: Twenty Years of Rock And Roll Power

Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, January 1985

IT'S BEEN a long time since anybody's heard from Jeff Beck. With the exception of the ten-date ARMS tour of 1984, his last time on ...

Jeff Beck: Ambitious in his artistry

Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 22 March 1986

The reclusive Jeff Beck is back with a new single, released on Monday. Interview by David Sinclair ...

Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

The following excerpts are from a book I wrote in 1978 titled The Beck Book, a documentary detailing the life and music of guitarist Jeff ...

Jimmy Page: Of Yardbirds And The Shapes of Things to Come

Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, July 1986

For a short time in the late sixties, Page and Beck were in one of the most happening bands to ever come out of England. Some say ...

Jeff Beck: Just Say NO!

Interview by David Sinclair, Q, October 1989

FOREVER PORTRAYED as a moody, maverick, Jeff Beck has blazed an erratic trail littered with the detritus of broken guitars and broken bands. ...

Jeff Beck & Stevie Ray Vaughan: Guitar Slingers Shoot It Out

Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Rolling Stone, 30 November 1989

Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan go head-to-head on U.S. tour ...

Jeff Beck: Beckology

Review by David Sinclair, Q, March 1992

IN 1990, IN A REGULAR feature called "The Experts' Expert", The Observer canvassed a cross-section of guitarists (David Gilmour, Hank Marvin, Brian May and others) ...

Beck Is Back

Interview by David Sinclair, Rolling Stone, 1 April 1993

WHEN THE English rock stars of the 1960s eventually wearied of life on the road and in the metropolis, the ones who still had any ...

Jeff Beck on Keith Moon

Interview by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, 1996

WORD for word, anecdote for anecdote, insight for insight, Jeff Beck was probably the best interview I conducted for my Keith Moon biography. ...

Mickie Most (1997) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages transcripts, May 1997

This is a transcript of Johnny's audio interview with Mickie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Who Else But Jeff Beck?

Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Experience Hendrix, 1999

IN 1985, WITH A NEW single, "People Get Ready," reuniting him with vocalist Rod Stewart for the first time since 1969, Jeff Beck was lined ...

The Jeff Beck Interview

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, April 1999

WHEN JEFF BECK WALKS INTO A PUBLIC SPACE, PEOPLE TURN and stare. They're seeing a fit-looking 50-something with stubble and an archetypal rock'n'roll haircut, wearing ...

Last Night A Record Changed My Life: Jeff Beck on Gene Vincent And The Blue Caps (Capitol, 1957)

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 2001

"I FIRST HEARD IT sitting in an armchair in our living room. 1957. I was 12. My sister Annetta, who's four years older, had bought ...

No fret: Jeff Beck plays the game his way

Profile and Interview by Fred Shuster, The Tennessean, 1 March 2001

Creative spirit for guitarist restless, but still going strong ...

Jeff Beck: Blow by Blow/Wired

Review by Simon Warner, PopMatters, 26 March 2001

IN THE ANNALS of British rock guitarists it is hard to escape the spectre of Clapton, Page and Beck, a great triumvirate, linked not just ...

Jeff Beck: Who wants to be a guitar hero?

Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 8 September 2002

WHEN FRANK ZAPPA'S son Dweezil showed up in London recently toting – or touting – the Fender Stratocaster torched by Jimi Hendrix at the 1968 ...

Jeff Beck and guests: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 17 September 2002

WHATEVER YOUR take on rock guitar heroics, Jeff Beck's three-night South Bank residency was certainly the most miscellaneous gig of the year, and a logistical ...

Jeff Beck, The White Stripes and friends: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, November 2002

THE SHORT version: Jeff Beck is still the champ. The long version: American humorist Fran Lebowitz once wrote words to the effect that vegetables do ...

Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page: The Guv'nors

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 2004

"Big loud chords, fuck-off guitar sound — we started it all. GOOD MORNING!" chimes Jeff Beck. "Now it's time to do something new and unexpected!" ...

Jeff Beck: Ronnie Scott’s, London

Live Review by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, 28 November 2007

LOOKING BARELY a day older than his classic mid-1970s album covers — all scarecrow black hair, Red Indian necklace, sleeveless T-shirt and toned biceps — ...

Jeff Beck: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 29 November 2007

IT IS DINNER time in Soho, but Ronnie's seems set for a fusion version of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. ...

School of Rock: Monterey to Altamont

Guide by Barney Hoskyns, iTunes, 2008

BETWEEN 1966 and 1970, there was a seismic change in British and American pop. Within a few short years "pop" became "rock", and teenagers who'd ...

Jeff Beck: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, February 2008

LOOKING BARELY a day older than his classic mid-1970s album covers — all scarecrow black hair, Red Indian necklace, sleeveless T-shirt and toned biceps — ...

Jeff Beck: Solo Voyager

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Sunday Times, 7 February 2010

The guitarist has left many famous bandmates to pursue adventures in jazz and electro, but now rejoins with Eric Clapton. ...

Jeff Beck

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, April 2010

"EVERY TIME I hear a really attractive chord sequence, I'm on my way again," says Jeff Beck. "I think, what can I do with this?" ...

Jeff Beck/Eric Clapton: Madison Square Garden, NYC

Live Review by Kris DiLorenzo, Rock's Backpages, 29 June 2010

I DON'T KNOW who started that "Clapton is God" business. God is clearly Jeff Beck. ...

Jeff Beck talks about Rod Stewart and answers some questions for Classic Rock

Interview by Max Bell, Classic Rock, January 2011

JEFF BECK confirmed to Classic Rock that the two old buddies would renew a partnership that first saw light in the late 1960s when the two rock ...

"The new chaps are only about 19 and full of enthusiasm": The birth of Led Zeppelin

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Trampled Under Foot' (Faber & Faber), September 2012

In this excerpt from his oral history Trampled Under Foot: The Power and Excess of Led Zeppelin, Barney Hoskyns charts the formation and ascent of ...

Got Dem Ol' Home Counties Blues Again, Mama: How the Surrey Delta shaped British rock from the early Stones to Led Zeppelin

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Times, 3 September 2012

RIPLEY... EPSOM... WALLINGTON. The names hardly resonate in the way that Clarksdale or Greenville or Natchez do. Yet in their way these Surrey towns are ...

Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck On Tour: Where Cars Meet Guitars

Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 30 September 2013

ON PAPER, it seems like at odd pairing for a joint tour: Brian Wilson, Head Beach Boy and pop-music chronicler of sunny California life, with ...

The £7m fingers: how Jeff Beck became a guitar hero by saying no

Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 22 July 2016

Kate Mossman talks to Jeff Beck about escaping Eric Clapton's shadow, dodging fame, and why he can't go and see Pat Metheny. ...

see also Beck, Bogert and Appice

see also Rod Stewart

see also Yardbirds, The

see also Tal Wilkenfeld

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