BECK, JEFF - GROUP WITH ROD STEWART ( LP ) UK

BECK, JEFF -GROUP WITH ROD STEWART- - RADIO SESSIONS 1968

TRACKLIST 

SIDE 1:
1. You Shook Me
2. Shapes Of Things
3. Sweet Little Angel
4. Rice Pudding
5. Rock My Plimsoul
6. Don't Know Which Way To Go
SIDE 2:
1. You Shook Me
2. Let Me Love You
3. Morning Dew
4. Jeff's Boogie
5. The Sun Is Shining

 Musicians

Jeff Beck  – Guitar

Rod Stewart – Vocals

Ron Wood – Bass

Tony Newman – Drums (Side One, Tracks 1-5)

Aynsley Dunbar – Drums (Side One, Track 6)

Micky Waller – Drums (Side Two)

Side One

Tracks 1-5 recorded live for BBC Top Gear 17.09.68 and broadcast on 29.09.68 except for Track 5, broadcast 03.11.68

Track 6 recorded live for BBC Saturday Club on 04.07.67 and broadcast on 08.07.67

Side Two

All tracks recorded live at the Fillmore West, San Francisco on July 24th 1968 and broadcast on KSAN FM radio

Following on from the success of our previous release – Jeff Beck Radio Sessions 1967 (R&B 28) – this LP takes us into the following year through eleven well-recorded tracks, including four songs not included on the two studio LPs recorded by this incarnation of the Jeff Beck Group.

The talented but erratic Beck had found fame with the Yardbirds, where he replaced Eric Clapton and would in turn be replaced by Jimmy Page. After being fired from the Yardbirds in 1966 he tried a series of unsuccessful group line-ups until hitting on the winning formula of Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass plus a Spinal Tap-style succession of drummers.

By the summer of 1968 the UK and the US saw Beck very differently. In the UK Beck was known for a string of Mickie Most-produced pop singles. Most was not interested in the B-sides and as result tracks like Rock My Plimsoul, Beck's Bolero and I've Been Drinking Again outshone the rather flimsy A sides. By contrast in the US the Yardbirds had toured extensively so there Beck already had a reputation, American audiences regarding the Jeff Beck Group as a logical successor to power trios such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream.

In session for the BBC the band's blues roots were very much in evidence with impressive takes on B.B.King's Little Angel and Buddy Guy's Don't Know Which Way To Go. Tracks from the debut Jeff Beck Group LP Truth (July 1968) included Muddy Water's You Shook Me and a reworking of Shapes Of Things, which stemmed back to Beck's time as a Yardbird. The instrumental jam Rice Pudding would not appear on record until the second Jeff Beck Group LP Beck-Ola (June 1969). These tracks display the instrumental dexterity of the band – Beck's savage guitar finding a worthy adversary in Stewart's call-and-response vocals whilst Ron Wood was a dextrous and melodic bass player and Tony Newman provided a heavy beat. Don't Know Which Way To Go comes from an earlier session with Aynsley Dunbar drumming.

Rod Stewart places the breakthrough for the Jeff Beck Group as their first US tour. This commenced on June 14th at the Fillmore East, New York where they blew headliners the Grateful Dead offstage. By the time the Jeff Beck Group supported Moby Grape at the Fillmore West the following month Stewart had lost his initial stage fright and Beck, Wood and Waller (another drummer) were operating at maximum r'n'b.  The set opens with a taste of You Shook Me before seguing into Let Me Love You. Next is Morning Dew, credited by Stewart to "your Tim Rose": following a deceptively quiet introductionBeck lets rip with his wah wah pedal. Jeff's Boogie is a Yardbirds era instrumental which includes a rare Wood bass solo and the theme from The Beverley Hillbillies. The final song is Elmore James' The Sun Is Shining, also recorded by the Yardbirds and played here as a straight blues. On the night it was followed by Hi Ho Silver Lining, sung unenthusiastically by Beck: we have omitted this track partly because of lack of space and partly because it is a terrible song.

Beck's skills as a guitarist were not matched by his abilities as a band leader. The day before a US tour in February 1969 Beck fired Wood and Waller claiming their playing had deteriorated. He was forced to rehire Wood when his replacement only lasted one gig but from then on Wood and Stewart were looking for another situation, eventually joining the Faces in October 1969. Watching all this very carefully was Jimmy Page. To Beck's dismay Led Zeppelin's debut LP (March 1969) also contained a version of You Shook Me and with strong management from Peter Grant they moved into the gap in the US market that the Jeff Beck Group had created but been unable to fulfil. Stewart resented Beck turning down Woodstock: they were offered the gig but instead went back to London as Beck had heard a rumour that his wife was having an affair with the gardener. Thus ended the first and best Jeff Beck Group: not with a bang but with a whimper. The music on this LP gives a tantalising glimpse of what might have been.