JEFF BECK: Convalescence (Or Growing Up?)

Though many of his fans would no doubt love to hear the words pronounced, Jeff Beck is not God. And though many of his past associates, promoters and quite a few music writers would love to read that he is indeed the arrogant asshole that they call him, the fact is that anyone who's come into contact with the lanky, legendary English guitarist of late has probably become a bit amazed that he isn't one iota like the stories people are spreading about. He still isn't the most outwardly congenial gentleman on the planet* but...

Anyway, travelling with Beck for a few stops on his recent U.S. tour allowed anyone with an open mind the opportunity to view a veteran rock star who's been able to see past all the peripheral hoopla on the scene and is now struggling with the very basic questions of who he is, what he's doing, and where he's going. Those are questions most folks normally tackle when they're leaving school and entering the so-called "real world," but as Beck and any number of other scenemakers will admit, the rock world is one of the easiest places to duck the responsibilities of aging.

"I guess that when that happened I began to grow up," Beck reminisced about his now-notorious automobile accident. "1 had a four-inch gash in my skull," he continued, "and the doctors thought it was serious enough to keep me in the hospital for a while. The accident changed a lot of things about my thinking—if nothing else it made me slow down for a while."

"Slowing down" as, Beck terms it encompasses a number of things. For one, it deals with professionalism, a word frequently heard in the rock business* but usually treated as but a lofty ideal. Not by Beck, though—in fact one would be hard put to find a musician who cares more about the presentation of his craft. "Back in the old days" (a reference, of course, to the Yardbirds, Rod Stewart and myriad others in the now-legendary tale), "I used to just bash about onstage all the time—like I had the urge to kill when I went out there and I really believed in acting it out. Now I'm much more conscious of what I'm doing and ho\V important it is that I really play well... well enough to give people what they've paid their money to see."

I had a four-inch gash in my skull. It made me slow down for a while.

The people Beck now surrounds himself with also reflect his growing sense of maturity. His manager-lawyer Ernest Chapman seems to be a steadying influence on the once unstable Beck, and his road crew is now comprised of hard-working veterans who have been with Beck for years and make his well-being on the road almost their sole concern. It all makes for a very small, compact group of folks who know what they want and quietly work to go about getting it.

"I've made it a point to stay off of the scene," Beck admits in what to some may seem the understatement of the year. "Especially the American £ scene, because there's just too much worthless stuff spinning around there, I things that could only end up messing 2 me up. Too many bands there are just cranking out the same tired old rock cliches—if I got mixed up with outfits like that then I'd end up living and dying (my commercial life) with them.

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What's Beck Playing With?

Guitar freaks may be disappointed— Beck's got no arsenal. Most of the work on the LP was done with either a 1955 Les Paul Standard (unaltered) or a Fender Stratocaster circa 1956. "A few of the really high, whining things were done on a Tele [caster], though," Beck intimated.

On the road Beck carries the Paul and the Strat—no more, and in Cleveland he didn't even have that after a touple numbers. Seems the Fender began malfunctioning in play, so in the typical Beck fashion (or shall we say untypical in light of his avowed maturation), he threw it down onstage, shattering the body into three fairly equal pieces. Though they're trying to patch the damn thing up (geez, these guys really don't spend much money!) no replacement had been acquired two days later, and Beck was using axes borrowed from local stores as backups on tour stops.

As for amplification, on& small postCBS Fender Champ amp is run fullblast into two Marshall 100-watt PA heads (adds a little dirt to the sound according to Beck) then into Marshall cabinets and then the master PA. Pedals? Beck uses "em but "only "cos we get "em free." To be specific:

1 Colorsound Tone Bender (adds distortion) ,

1 Colorsound Octave Divider (adds a lower octave)

1 DeArmond Wawa/Volume Control

1 specially-made volume booster

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 53.

"I think that as a musician I've got something to say, 50 I stay away from the hustle and bustle of things as long as I think it's safe to so that all the other people can come and go. Then I try to weave my stuff in-between theirs."

Beck weaving his music in between the trashier efforts of the less-gifted— that seems a fair assesrhent of his current artistic state of mind, especially in light of his responsewhen asked if he considered his current album and tour as a transition in his career. Would he continue to be a rock and roll star or would he make a conscious movement to be recognized as a master musician? Johnny Thunders or Joe Pass?

"Well, I don't think the choice, is really that radical—to me the New York Dolls have had nothing to do with my music at all—but it's obvious that the decision has to be made as to which direction ope is going to progress. I'm really happy with the way the album Blow By Blow is going now—it's encouraging to know that someone will buy an album with nice chords and listen to the work that went into the album rather than* picking up something that just rattles off an endless bit of standard rock and roll phrases and cliches."

Interviewing Beck is a much easier task than most imagine. Though obviously a bit nervous (as I guess most are when they're forced to talk about themselves in front of a microphone), Beck nonetheless fields questions with a large measure of poise, framing his answers deliberately so as to gain maximum mileage from each phrase. He prefers to talk about music—not people—and questions about the myriad musicans he's played with are more than likely answered with little more than an abrupt change of tone and subject or a distant, disinterested stare. Two "cats" with whom Beck has played he pretty much refuses to talk about at all. Their names are Tim Bogart and Carmine Appice.

People who are about to speak with Beck are discreetly warned not to breach the subject of BB&A. "It's simply not a topic for conversation" is how it w&s put to me, but a couple of observations pretty much blew the cover on Beck's true feelings about the matter. One groupie in Chicago, wasting little time or effort in making her moVe at the star, began to froth at the mouth as to how "absolutely stupendous" the short-lived power trio was. "Nah," Beck weakly retorted— again with that distant gaze—"that was a mistake." And then there was Beck's own admission—without any names being mentioned, of course, that the whole thing was born not entirely out of reasons musical. Yes, Beck says, BB&A was conceived with the idea of "copping big bucks.h

"When the economy in England started sliding a while back," Beck says quite calmly, "and it looked like I'd really have to start worrying, I looked around and I saw that many of my colleagues were making . literally millions. Not pocket change but real millions. Me, I'd probably wind up on the street if I didn't start working soon. Well, that's when I wised up. They were existing on the nucleus of what I'd started—getting rich on my ideas."

Well, BB&A came together with the idea of being the ultimate supergroup and died falling all over themselves. Nothing's being held against Messrs. Bogart and Appice, Beck was heard to say; in fact there never really was any "official" parting of the ways. "It was $ort of like "yeah, we'll jam sometime 'next week" " said ope insider—"except that next week never came."

Beck isn't as concerned about money since |he BB&A escapade and the success of Blow By Blow. "I've got some financial security now," he sheepishly admits. "Hell, we never spend any money anyway," Chapirian^ chimes in. Sooooooo, it's on with the music, and only the foolhardiest of fools wouldn't adrriit that geez, -that's really changed greatly. Blow By Blow has next to no relationship to the Yardbirds, the Stewart/Wood band, and BB&A, and only the most peripheral relationship to the activities of-what's come to be known as "the Bo*b Tench band." Gone are the obvious rock rhythms, the screeching dissonances, and the sometimes obliterating overmodulation. Instead, it's a decidedly more soulful brew—no vocals, a much more prominent bottom, an accent on melody and out-and-out funk.

"This record," says Beck, "is simply the result of where I now am musically—my mus!ic has changed, I like to think that it's grown. I don't play "Rock Around The Clock" like Bill Haley anymore—I've heard other, younger guitarists do things that realty turn me on and their stuff has pushed all the older stuff out .Life goes on, you know, you can't be playing all the old stuff all the time."

As for the contention voiced by some that Beck need3 a singer to push him into his best playing, well, "at first nobody gave a shit about Rod Stewart I had to carry things then by myself" he says. "With this band Jeff has no choice but to be up front," adds Chapman, "if he lays back absolutely nothing will happen—all the shows will be a disaster."

So in concert Beck stands tenter stage, says little in the way of banter to the audience, and proceeds to let fly with a veritable Civil Defense wail of notes. "I guess I could really drive "em wild out there if I were to wear a gold suit, use an Echoplex and play "I Ain't Superstitious," " he once remarked offhandedly; though disappointed not to hear the likes of "Goin" Down" the crowds invariably prove him wrong. Folks like the new «■ Beck and his Music—"it seems so much^more legitimate," one fan told me, arid when Mr. B. kicks into overdrive they go bananas; Sets aren't short but they are concise—a few numbers from the new album, reworked classics on the order of "Raines Park Blues" and "Definitely Maybe," and for good measure a footstompin" jam built around Stanely Clarke's "Vulcan Princess." There are encores every night.

"You know, I really don't care for white rock," Beck said late one evening, and if anything this new music he's perfecting proves it. It borrows from many influences, owes much in particular to Freddie Stone (still far and away Beck's favorite axeman) and seems destined to stand" fully on its own . Needless to say Beck likes it a lot.

"I guess this one is my favorite of all the records I've cut—there's sure more music on it—and even though I'm Still looking for what I really want I'm quite satisfied with it." If fans want to love it, that's fine with him, if not, well, that's the way it goes. ¶