THERE & BACK

I have coined a term I want to share with you -- Guit'aria'ists. From Guitara a subset of instrumentals that are all about a small number who sing with six strings ( sometimes with more ). Rarely are these songs, per se, in that there are no, or very few, words -- or lyrics are incidental. Regardless of being an articulate fellow Jeff Beck favors talking through a guitar.

I was there in 1980 at the Paramount in PDX. Bought the new release. I already owned BlowBy Blow & Wired and had been a limited listen to the Yardbirds ( I would later learn that what I did like was all about Jeff ) This is an, "Oh wow, what a great afternoon" -- walking around with headphones just smiling at the world album.

This is a must have for Jeff Fans. Each album is a glimpse into the mans head. Each one is a bit different than what came before. Each is topical and represents THAT time.

My ears were ringing after the concert -- overdriven amps clipping. . . From this I know that Jeff has stunted his hearing like a lot of musicians. It is a credit to his producers and engineers that capture him clearly . . .

I have more Beck than any other artist except possibly various pieces & versions of J.S.Bach.

No two Beck releases are in the same vein until the last four or so and opinions differ.

What Miles Davis is to Jazz-Fusion . . . Jeff Beck is to Rock-Fusion. And no, there are no clear divisions -- that's why its Fusion!

Arguably he is the instigator of modern qua modern riffing in performance and it might be said that he . . . was in the vanguard of psychedelic rock, but . . .

There are other arguments that he is first to go off into distortion by intent -- hmmm, no. Dick Dale was first. He was first into 50 watt Fender amps. He was first to crank it to too loud. But he was never the virtuoso that Jeff Beck is.

Like Neil Young, Jeff Beck took one of the first great leaps away from 'folk' rock into straight ahead rock and was surfing the first wave of Brit-Rock fret-boardists working up to heavy metal -- hence distortion as a feature not a bug. Contrasting here with Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and Southern California Surf Music *in general*.

Is is doubtful that anyone who considers themself to be a fan of guitarists would not Place Jeff Beck in the all time Top 5 when considering his contribution. There are many who can contend with a single hit or two and fewer still with a comparable number of notable albums of similar significance -- No One has a body of work on guitar like Jeff Beck. . . Yet...