Movies

The best songs – Rolling Stone

January 13, 2023

He never had a signature song as his peers and sometimes bandmates Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton have done, but the genres Jeff Beck has explored throughout his career chart changes in rock – and guitar rock – over decades. One of rock’s most physical technicians, seeming to love wrestling with his instrument, Beck made a name for himself with British pop Invasion. But not content to leave it at that, he turned to the popular blues-rock of the late 60s, then to the harder boogie and fusion of the following decade. The parameters changed, but his style remained constant: notes that could cut like a switchblade, but also revel in the melody of a song. Here are his greatest songs.

“Soulful Heart” (1965)

The two great fuzz guitar riffs of 1965 were recorded within weeks of each other, and Jeff Beck arrived first, laying down his decade-defining sitar line on this hit before Keith Richards pressed his own Pedal for “(I can’t get no) satisfaction.” For the solo, Beck simply picked up the verse’s melody — a move that worked just as well for him as it did for Kurt Cobain 26 years later. — B.H.

Yardbirds, “Jeff’s Boogie” (1966)

“You had to know ‘Jeff’s Boogie,'” Stevie Ray Vaughan once said. “And nobody knew it was really the Chuck Berry song ‘Guitar Boogie’.” full of blinding runs ahead of their time and pinging harmonics. — B.H.

The Yardbirds, “Walk Around” (from Explode1966)

There Are A Ton Of Unforgettable Moments In Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 Film Explode, one being the scene where David Hemmings’ character catches the Yardbirds in a club while trying to solve his photographed murder. Keith Relf rips the vocals while a young Jimmy Page plays along, but Beck gets frustrated with his amp and destroys his guitar. “When Antonioni said he wanted me to break my guitar, I had a fit,” he told us in 1971. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, that’s the thing about Townsend. “” He also remembers seeing the film for the first time: “I was completely embarrassed. I had a fucking tape in the picture, man! It’s hot under the lights, after all, breaking me with this tight pants. – A M

“Beck’s Bolero” (1967)

This insanely genius and deceptively brief proto-prog instrumental is the work of a vintage supergroup, featuring The Who’s Keith Moon on drums, future Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones on bass, frequent collaborator of Rolling Stones Nicky Hopkins on piano and Beck swapping guitars with Page, his Yardbirds bandmate and future Zeppelin mastermind. It starts with Page strumming an acoustic while Beck takes the melody to electric, before building into chiming psychedelia and a blast of all-time classic hard rock. — B.H.

Editor’s Choice

Jeff Beck Group, “I’m Not Superstitious” (1968)

When Led Zeppelin debuted, some rock fans (including rock critic John Mendelsohn, who notably trashed them in rolling stone), considered them an inferior rip off of the Jeff Beck group. Tracks like this powerful cover of Willie Dixon’s blues classic, first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf, help explain why, Beck shouting triumphantly over a stereo pair of wah-wah guitar tunes. — B.H.

Jeff Beck Group, “You Shook Me” (1968)

A year before Zeppelin got their hands on it, the band Jeff Beck cut a fuzzy version of Willie Dixon’s 1962 blues classic “You Shook Me” that featured future Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones on organ. “I was terrified because I thought they would be the same,” Jimmy Page said. “But I didn’t even know he did it, and he didn’t know we did it.” We’ll take Page at his word that his bassist didn’t tell him about it, and it has to be said that Jeff Beck’s take is clearly the best. – HER

Beck, Bogert, Appice, “Superstition” (1973)

The result of a jam session with Beck and Stevie Wonder, “Superstition” was recorded before Wonder’s own version on talking book, and it became the signature song of Beck’s short-lived trio with the Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert. It’s always a pleasure to hear Wonder’s monster clavinet part played by Beck’s guitar instead. — Comics

“Because We Ended As Lovers” (1975)

Beck’s skill as a technician often overshadowed just how emotional his playing could be, and there’s no better example in his catalog than his instrumental take on this 1975 Stevie Wonder ballad. Step by step. His guitar jabs cajole and end up crying. — Comics

“Blue Wind” (1976)

For a period in the mid-1970s, Beck reinvented himself as a fusion gearhead, working with producer George Martin and, at times, keyboardist Jan Hammer. Written by Hammer and included in 1976 Wiredthe incredibly rubbery, tumultuous “Blue Wind” demonstrated that Beck could fly up and down the fretboard as much as any of the leading fusion players of the day, but with added fury and sting. — Comics

Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart, “People Get Ready” (1985)

Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart took two very different paths when the original Jeff Beck Group disbanded in 1969, but they came back together 16 years later to cover Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” on Beck’s LP. Flash. Stewart said rolling stone in 2018 that his vocals and Beck’s guitar were a “heavenly chord,” and it’s very apparent on this cover, which ended their last studio collaboration. – HER

“A Day in the Life” (1998)

The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” is the kind of masterpiece that’s hard to cover in any meaningful way. An exception came on the obscure 1998 George Martin LP In my life, where Jeff Beck tackled the song without a singer, recreating the vocal melody on his guitar. It is a striking example of his virtuosity, and it was the high point of his concerts during the last quarter century of his career. – HER