My Beck Pages Article: 1972

Rod Stewart on Jeff Beck's Legend

Published in the US on January 1, 1972, Creem magazine’s five-page article “My Beck Pages” by Mac Garry (with photographs by Charles Auringer) featured Rod Stewart discussing his former bandmate Jeff Beck. The piece opened with Rod sighing: "He's such a good guitar player... wish he'd give himself a kick up the arse."

It described Jeff Beck as one of the truly legendary figures in rock, yet noted that for a couple of years his legend had been rusting up — memories, rumours, and fantasies distorting reality. Beck was usually depicted as either the amazing guitarist whose brilliance wiped out any competition, or the irritated bandleader racked by moodiness and indecision. To the current rock audience, he was a name floating around in search of a reputation, though his new album on Epic and new band (doing a brief American tour that autumn) might change some of that.

Rod Stewart didn’t mind talking about his old group and was able to clear a few things up.

Article Overview

Publication Details

Magazine: Creem (US).

Date: January 1, 1972.

Format: Five-page feature article by Mac Garry Photographs by Charles Auringer

Article Excerpt

Rod Stewart sighed: "He's such a good guitar player... wish he'd give himself a kick up the arse."

Jeff Beck is one of the truly legendary figures in rock but for a couple years now, his legend has been rusting up... memories, rumours and fantasies are starting to distort the reality.

Beck is usually depicted as either the amazing guitarist whose brilliance wiped out any competition, or the irritated bandleader racked by moodiness and in-decision. To the current rock audience, he is a name floating around in search of a reputation, though his new album on Epic and new band, which is doing a brief American tour this autumn, may change some of that.

Anyway, Rod Stewart didn't mind talking about his old group, so he was able to clear a few things up for us.

Though the records always seemed to fall somewhat short, the Jeff Beck Group (at its peak) of Beck, Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Mickey Waller was just totally unbeatable. They didn't manage to achieve superstar status in England (because they didn't get the chance to play there all that often) but they set America on fire: "Most of us were just dazed-even the straights.. devastating. passing an incredible new number off as a jam... they didn't come on as though they were playing for money, but like they were playing for people.. they were unbelievable." The printed praise was seemingly end-less, record sales were good, and con-certs sold out, but the group was buffet-ed by internal turbulence through most of its two and a half years.

A piece of Beck's history: The Yard- birds, which he joined (from the Tri-dents, and session work with Jimmy Page) in March 1965, when Clapton left to join Mayall, was his "15th group." (I can't remember where I read this, but it seems a little exaggerated in view of the fact that Beck brushes away his pre-Yardbird days as being of no consequence at all.) He named Ian Stewart, the Stones' roadie, as the person who originally turned him on to Chicago Blues and ideas of bottle-neck playing. As a matching-suited Yardbird, he played a Telecaster: "I don't think I'd play anything else now." But within months he had switched to a Les Paul. His publicized "likes" and influences ranged from Howlin' Wolf to Julie Lon-don, via Cliff Gallup (of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps), and his plans for the future included a solo recording of "Summer...