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Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck
One of the most inventive and influential guitarists of this or any other age, ex-Yardbird Jeff Beck was a contemporary and friend of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. From the mid-sixties onwards he pushed the Electric Guitar to its limits - and beyond. On the way he helped change the face of rock music while experimenting with R&B, funk, jazz fusion and rockabilly.
Hot Wired Guitar - The Life Of Jeff Back explores the fascinating life of Beck, using new and exclusive interviews with some of his closest collaborators to tell the real story of the Guitar legend.
Complete with full album reviews, rare photographs and an up-to-date discography, Hot Wired Guitar is the most complete and comprehensive account of the life and times of the man who took the Electric Guitar and showed the world just what could be done with six strings and "one hell of an attitude".
'A fulsome chronicle of one of the UK's best musicians' development... full of admirable gumshoe work by the writer.'- Record Collector
490 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 8, 2018
I'm a lifelong Jeff Beck fan, so buying and reading this book was a no-brainer, and I enjoyed every page. It's important, though, to know what this is and what it isn't.
What it is is a book about Beck's life in music, an almost encyclopedic account of just about every tour, influence, instrument, recording session, and collaboration in Beck's career, framed by his aspirations, tastes, and, at the beginning of the book, his childhood discovery of the guitar and almost desperate drive to acquire one and learn to play it. We learn about his friends in music, some of them, like Jimmy Page, lifetime collaborators, influences, and thorns in his side.
What it isn't is any kind of probing character study or psychological reflection on Beck as a person. Other than those childhood scenes at the beginning of the book and his relationships with other musicians, we don't find out all that much about Beck's personality, at least beyond what we already knew about his younger, prickly days and his later reputation as a humble, self-effacing, gentle soul. There's some space given to his fanatic attraction to hot rods, relatively little to his marriages and other significant relationships.
All that's fine with me -- I don't really care to have Beck's psyche dissected for me. I'd rather hear and learn about how he developed his one-of-a-kind style, how he navigated (sometimes truly by random steering, it seems like) through all the musical fads and styles from the late 50s through to today. That propelled me through the book. I discovered more than I ever knew about the artists and music that inspired and influenced Beck, and spent more money than I probably should have chasing down a lot of that music on iTunes, eBay, and Amazon.
This book satisfied an itch for me, to understand more about Beck's music, how he got to where he got (all the different places he's gone), and maybe a little bit of why, of all the great guitarists we've seen, he is so unique that you find yourself saying that this guitarist or that guitarist, well they're great, but they're not Jeff Beck.
I'd like to have something more critical to say, and I'm sure someone's going to find factual errors here and there (actually, I will mention that there are numerous typos in the book -- missing words, wrong words -- all the things that escape spellcheck), but this was a great learning experience for me.
What it is is a book about Beck's life in music, an almost encyclopedic account of just about every tour, influence, instrument, recording session, and collaboration in Beck's career, framed by his aspirations, tastes, and, at the beginning of the book, his childhood discovery of the guitar and almost desperate drive to acquire one and learn to play it. We learn about his friends in music, some of them, like Jimmy Page, lifetime collaborators, influences, and thorns in his side.
What it isn't is any kind of probing character study or psychological reflection on Beck as a person. Other than those childhood scenes at the beginning of the book and his relationships with other musicians, we don't find out all that much about Beck's personality, at least beyond what we already knew about his younger, prickly days and his later reputation as a humble, self-effacing, gentle soul. There's some space given to his fanatic attraction to hot rods, relatively little to his marriages and other significant relationships.
All that's fine with me -- I don't really care to have Beck's psyche dissected for me. I'd rather hear and learn about how he developed his one-of-a-kind style, how he navigated (sometimes truly by random steering, it seems like) through all the musical fads and styles from the late 50s through to today. That propelled me through the book. I discovered more than I ever knew about the artists and music that inspired and influenced Beck, and spent more money than I probably should have chasing down a lot of that music on iTunes, eBay, and Amazon.
This book satisfied an itch for me, to understand more about Beck's music, how he got to where he got (all the different places he's gone), and maybe a little bit of why, of all the great guitarists we've seen, he is so unique that you find yourself saying that this guitarist or that guitarist, well they're great, but they're not Jeff Beck.
I'd like to have something more critical to say, and I'm sure someone's going to find factual errors here and there (actually, I will mention that there are numerous typos in the book -- missing words, wrong words -- all the things that escape spellcheck), but this was a great learning experience for me.
November 20, 2021
Bill Haley was nearly 30 when he recorded Rock Around the Clock. Skiffle was the punk of its time. When Jeff first saw Gene Vincent take two guitar solos in the film “The Girl Can’t Help It, he said he thought, “This is where I belong. I knew I didn’t just want to be a strummer.” Of Beck’s Binson Echorec and Klemt Echolette, he said, “The crowds didn’t always want straight blues.” But sometimes, “the tape would snap hallway through the first number and all my tricks were gone.” At the start of his career with the Tridents, Jeff was regularly pulling crowds of 800 at Eel Pie. The Maestro Fuzz that Page showed Beck didn’t have enough sustain and Page approached Roger Mayer to design a new fuzz. Beck didn’t join John Mayall, because while Mayall insisted on not leaving the Blues, for Jeff, “that was integral to me.” Jeff brought aboard Rod Stewart because unlike Mayall, Stewart sang blues but also wanted to sing other stuff. Jeff Beck’s Truth was a group of songs whipped into shape on the road and recorded in four days. On Beck-Ola, Jeff was tired of his Gibson and switched to a ’54 Strat. Beck switched his steel saddles on his 1954 Esquire to brass.
Hendrix was discovered by the girlfriend of Keith Richards playing at NYC’s Cheetah Club and she told the Animal’s bass player who, after hearing Jimi play, became Jimi’s manager and flew him to London. Three days later, Jimi buys a 100-watt Marshall Stack, which is then used to record Hey Joe. For Beck, it was Hendrix’s “sheer physical assault on the guitar” and utter lack of onstage inhibition. When Hendrix finished playing Beck recalled: “I thought Oh Christ, all right, I’ll become a postman. It was like, ‘What the hell am I going to do tomorrow? Everyone I talked to said, ‘Have you heard Jimi Hendrix?’ and I was like ‘Yep, Thank you’…” Jimi later told Jeff upon meeting how he had stolen Jeff’s lick off a Yardbird’s song. Then they became mates. When Eric Clapton first heard Hendrix play, he asked Chas Chandler, “Is he always that f---ing good?” Jeff said, “Jimi made it possible for people to see what could be done with a guitar.” Roger Mayer designs the Octavia Hendrix uses for Purple Haze, Little Wing and Machine Gun.
Jeff on the 60’s and Vietnam War: “I never felt home with that – the headbands, the roses, the feet, the peace signs, all that bollocks. That wasn’t me at all.” Jeff on quitting using the Talk Box: “Peter Frampton ripped off my entire act with that bloody bag. I thought it was time to get rid of it.” Jeff played on Stevie Wonder’s Looking for Another Pure Love and Tuesday Heartbreak. When Jeff first heard the LP Spectrum he thought, “This is the s--- we need.” Jeff hired George Martin after hearing the Mahavishnu LP Apocalypse.
Scatterbrain was originally a finger exercise Jeff had made up. Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers was recorded in one take. “I don’t often play acoustic guitar, they are a pain in the ass and make you sound like a folk singer.” Jeff’s Goodbye Pork Hat (on Wired) was recorded in one take including the Singin’ in the Rain quote. Insight in Jeff’s guitar styles: “There were thousands of guitarists playing with their Les Pauls cranked up blaring loud all the time, I just needed to do something new.” Around fifteen years ago, Steve Stevens told me I should put Jeff Beck pickups in all my electrics in the bridge position, seven of my electrics are still setup that way. Seymour Duncan setup Jeff with the original Jeff Beck pickup (now available as the JB1) for Monica Lewinsky’s (oops, I mean Jeff’s) Blow by Blow LP.
One of Jeff ‘s sidemen said he “doesn’t know what the chords are half the time, he doesn’t read. But you know, when you can play like that, you doesn’t (sic) really need to know.” An author of The Pump said it was deeply influenced by “I am the Walrus” “It was like driving without speeding up. That’s very tricky to do.” Jeff isn’t into performing nostalgia, he wants something new. Learning Ornette Coleman, it was too late for Jeff to start, instead he wanted to focus on playing “from the gut… a spur of the moment type thing.” “The best time to play is when you are having fun, when you are really enjoying it.” “I could get more out of five fingers than just one pick.” “My postman will know who Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page are, but he won’t know who I am, and he probably plays a Strat.” Jeff foresaw that if he spent countless hours imitating Chet Atkins, that everyone would go, “Yeah, great, great copy of Chet Atkins.”
Doug Wimbish said, “For Jeff, the drummer is the key, he starts there and it gives him the fuel.” “Some guitarists want to be cool all the time. Not Jeff, f--- that s---. He gets excited and then you get excited.” Jeff solos on Malcolm McLaren’s “Call a Wave” and “House of the Blue Danube” (great tracks). On why Beck didn’t become a soloing speed demon: “Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of discipline. I wander off and do something else.” To play like Jeff, you obviously will go through making lots of mistakes while learning and perfecting which is why Jeff hates being filmed while learning and practicing. Jeff Gear: JCM2000 head / Pro-Co Rat / Maestro Ring Mod (featured on “Trouble Man”). Jeff uses a Future Sonics in-ears system to combat his tinnitus. The singer on Jeff’s great track “Dirty Mind” is Imogen Heap (the song won a Grammy in 2002). B. B. King played 342 concerts in just 1956. Jeff on practice motivation: “I have a guitar in every room, on every sofa and on every chair – just to remind me to get on with it.”
Hendrix was discovered by the girlfriend of Keith Richards playing at NYC’s Cheetah Club and she told the Animal’s bass player who, after hearing Jimi play, became Jimi’s manager and flew him to London. Three days later, Jimi buys a 100-watt Marshall Stack, which is then used to record Hey Joe. For Beck, it was Hendrix’s “sheer physical assault on the guitar” and utter lack of onstage inhibition. When Hendrix finished playing Beck recalled: “I thought Oh Christ, all right, I’ll become a postman. It was like, ‘What the hell am I going to do tomorrow? Everyone I talked to said, ‘Have you heard Jimi Hendrix?’ and I was like ‘Yep, Thank you’…” Jimi later told Jeff upon meeting how he had stolen Jeff’s lick off a Yardbird’s song. Then they became mates. When Eric Clapton first heard Hendrix play, he asked Chas Chandler, “Is he always that f---ing good?” Jeff said, “Jimi made it possible for people to see what could be done with a guitar.” Roger Mayer designs the Octavia Hendrix uses for Purple Haze, Little Wing and Machine Gun.
Jeff on the 60’s and Vietnam War: “I never felt home with that – the headbands, the roses, the feet, the peace signs, all that bollocks. That wasn’t me at all.” Jeff on quitting using the Talk Box: “Peter Frampton ripped off my entire act with that bloody bag. I thought it was time to get rid of it.” Jeff played on Stevie Wonder’s Looking for Another Pure Love and Tuesday Heartbreak. When Jeff first heard the LP Spectrum he thought, “This is the s--- we need.” Jeff hired George Martin after hearing the Mahavishnu LP Apocalypse.
Scatterbrain was originally a finger exercise Jeff had made up. Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers was recorded in one take. “I don’t often play acoustic guitar, they are a pain in the ass and make you sound like a folk singer.” Jeff’s Goodbye Pork Hat (on Wired) was recorded in one take including the Singin’ in the Rain quote. Insight in Jeff’s guitar styles: “There were thousands of guitarists playing with their Les Pauls cranked up blaring loud all the time, I just needed to do something new.” Around fifteen years ago, Steve Stevens told me I should put Jeff Beck pickups in all my electrics in the bridge position, seven of my electrics are still setup that way. Seymour Duncan setup Jeff with the original Jeff Beck pickup (now available as the JB1) for Monica Lewinsky’s (oops, I mean Jeff’s) Blow by Blow LP.
One of Jeff ‘s sidemen said he “doesn’t know what the chords are half the time, he doesn’t read. But you know, when you can play like that, you doesn’t (sic) really need to know.” An author of The Pump said it was deeply influenced by “I am the Walrus” “It was like driving without speeding up. That’s very tricky to do.” Jeff isn’t into performing nostalgia, he wants something new. Learning Ornette Coleman, it was too late for Jeff to start, instead he wanted to focus on playing “from the gut… a spur of the moment type thing.” “The best time to play is when you are having fun, when you are really enjoying it.” “I could get more out of five fingers than just one pick.” “My postman will know who Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page are, but he won’t know who I am, and he probably plays a Strat.” Jeff foresaw that if he spent countless hours imitating Chet Atkins, that everyone would go, “Yeah, great, great copy of Chet Atkins.”
Doug Wimbish said, “For Jeff, the drummer is the key, he starts there and it gives him the fuel.” “Some guitarists want to be cool all the time. Not Jeff, f--- that s---. He gets excited and then you get excited.” Jeff solos on Malcolm McLaren’s “Call a Wave” and “House of the Blue Danube” (great tracks). On why Beck didn’t become a soloing speed demon: “Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of discipline. I wander off and do something else.” To play like Jeff, you obviously will go through making lots of mistakes while learning and perfecting which is why Jeff hates being filmed while learning and practicing. Jeff Gear: JCM2000 head / Pro-Co Rat / Maestro Ring Mod (featured on “Trouble Man”). Jeff uses a Future Sonics in-ears system to combat his tinnitus. The singer on Jeff’s great track “Dirty Mind” is Imogen Heap (the song won a Grammy in 2002). B. B. King played 342 concerts in just 1956. Jeff on practice motivation: “I have a guitar in every room, on every sofa and on every chair – just to remind me to get on with it.”
May 14, 2022
The one guitarist from whom we shall never read an autobiography rightly needs none. It is far more satisfying to listen to the music of Jeff Beck instead. With 50 years of recordings, even the devoted fan has his or her work cut out. That said, with Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck, rock chronicler Martin Power expands and fills prior work (notably, Annette Carlson’s succinct Crazy Fingers) to give readers the blow by blow, as it were, on the foibles and pinnacles of Jeff Beck’s plugged-in career. A Yardbird replacement for Eric Clapton, replaced then by Jimmy Page, Beck seemed fated to be forever bookended between the blues and rock giants. Still, the book is large, as is Power’s devotion to covering the commotion behind each of Beck’s moments put to posterity on vinyl, tape, disc, and now medialess streaming audio. Despite recurring phrase usage, as evidenced, Power displays a fine sense of variety in his writing style, a flair for sending the reader to the OED, and a keenness in relating a closeness to his subject. Equally fond of cars, guitars, etc., Power enjoys retelling the details of some of Jeff’s favorite instruments, showing a kinship with fans (and all rock fans in general) for understanding the intricacies of their subject. But Power is under no illusions. He knows words alone come not near to the expressive notes of a Fender, Gretch, or Gibson in the hands of his subject, nor can he fully account for the otherwise recalcitrant guitarist’s mindset or motivation. On the one hand, Beck spurns working with Rod Steward ever again, even as he welcomes the thought of backing the (now) pensioner for a tour. But Power is game, and gives us the facts, such as when Jeff pairs up with American Idol Kelly Clarkson for a duet, or trades licks in oneupmanship with Jan Hammer onstage, leaving us to wonder how a slippery six-string slinger makes a solo career without one top ten album. Powers does us a gifted job timing the ending with a current (2011) wave of popularity in his book’s namesake. If the book leaves you wondering what all the fuss is about, then I suggest you seek out a listen to the world’s second best guitarist. Of course, even the ever-modest Beck would say the first is Hendrix.
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January 7, 2020 I knew Jeff Beck, In Checking back on My history in 1977,78.
This book is very close to the way it was, that helped me know where i fit in at. I met Jeff When i was 18. He had finished the record " Blow By Blow, and " Wired " and was taking a break, when i became his friend and assisted him at his LA home. I wanted the chance to sing, anf Jeff recorded me in a studio. He really gave me a few chances, and experimented, i helped him write some songs. And he was up in his attic, with his fender amp, and giving me his history, and lessons about Rock n Roll life. Great to read this book.
I think it brings it more in perspective for me now.
JOAN BRYANT - Los Angeles, CA.
This book is very close to the way it was, that helped me know where i fit in at. I met Jeff When i was 18. He had finished the record " Blow By Blow, and " Wired " and was taking a break, when i became his friend and assisted him at his LA home. I wanted the chance to sing, anf Jeff recorded me in a studio. He really gave me a few chances, and experimented, i helped him write some songs. And he was up in his attic, with his fender amp, and giving me his history, and lessons about Rock n Roll life. Great to read this book.
I think it brings it more in perspective for me now.
JOAN BRYANT - Los Angeles, CA.
October 8, 2021
More about Jeff’s music than life actually
It’s a good book and I’m no literary critic but I was hoping for more stories about Jeff and his life than a complete history of who he played with,when and where. Still glad I read it but it’s not nearly as interesting as Life by Keith Richards. Don’t let my review sway you from reading it though. None the less, I’ve been a huge Jeff Beck fan ever since seeing him perform Blow By Blow Tour live in Tulsa back in 1974.
It’s a good book and I’m no literary critic but I was hoping for more stories about Jeff and his life than a complete history of who he played with,when and where. Still glad I read it but it’s not nearly as interesting as Life by Keith Richards. Don’t let my review sway you from reading it though. None the less, I’ve been a huge Jeff Beck fan ever since seeing him perform Blow By Blow Tour live in Tulsa back in 1974.
February 8, 2019
Probably way more than you want to know about Jeff Beck and yet, way less, too. You get every detail, but the guy lives pretty much between the lines. Beck rarely speaks for himself--didn't he participate? Author uses tons of stuff written by other people--where are the citations? 450 page bio--no index? Plus side: I have a very long list of music to listen to.
February 17, 2015
Excellent biography of the great guitarist. Interesting both in the level of detail, and in what it says about Beck as a person. He comes across as a somewhat driven personality, always wanting to try something new, and a great perfectionist.
November 15, 2019
Jeff Beck, The Once And Future King!
Excellent bio of the greatest rock guitarist of all time. I saw them all live: Hendrix, Clapton, Townsend, Richard, et al. Nobody topped Beck and this book tells you why.
Excellent bio of the greatest rock guitarist of all time. I saw them all live: Hendrix, Clapton, Townsend, Richard, et al. Nobody topped Beck and this book tells you why.
November 20, 2019
Well written and interesting
Jeff Beck is an iconic guitar player and this book does justice to his story. It spans from childhood to 2014, providing an almost complete picture of his life and career.
Jeff Beck is an iconic guitar player and this book does justice to his story. It spans from childhood to 2014, providing an almost complete picture of his life and career.
October 19, 2020
Fast account of a guitar legend's life... easy to read, it's entertaining, amusing and has a tasty music selection for the uniniciated... Recommended for any music fan.
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January 13, 2021It’s quite a feat of writing to make such an interesting subject into a boring unedited tome.
December 31, 2021
4.75!
June 14, 2023
I enjoyed reading about Beck's life and learning more about his music. I miss him so much.
October 9, 2013
First things first. Jeff Beck is my favorite guitarist. (Brian May is a close second.) I think he's the best who's ever lived, and that sentiment is shared by many, including many famous musicians. So I approached this book rather eagerly, hoping it would be a good read and that I'd learn a lot. And it did not disappoint.
Jeff Beck is one of the few musicians who can claim to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his years with the Yardbirds and once for his own solo career. I think that makes him pretty special. The thing that was special about the Yardbirds is they probably are the only group in history to launch the careers of three of the greatest guitar players ever: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. How Clapton and Page went on to glory while Beck toiled in relative obscurity has always been a mystery to me, but the author of this book reveals what happened. Basically, Jeff got bored every couple of years. After he left the Yardbirds, he formed his own "supergroup" with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood and his first solo album, Truth, was a masterpiece. His follow up, Beck-Ola, was good, but not great. He then split the band up and started working on his true love -- old hot rods. He basically split his time between cars and guitars the rest of his life. In the mid-70s, his classic Blow by Blow album came out to major critical acclaim. It was a jazz fusion album, which threw off his rock followers of previous years, but earned him new followers. His 1976 Wired album was also extra special. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. I first heard it in 1981 in my cousin's car. Beck teamed with Jan Hammer to do some truly special songs. Then he broke up his band again. Went out touring with Hammer's band for awhile, but didn't do anything for a few years, while Clapton and Page were raking in the dough. He came out with There and Back in 1980, which I think is a very good album and which did well in the US, but not his native UK, where he's never done very well. This was more rock-oriented again, leaving fusion behind. He then fiddled around playing on other people's albums for much of the '80s, content to do nothing major himself. In the late '90s, he was intrigued by techno, so incorporated elements of it into a new album, which did nothing, and then two more increasingly harder edged albums -- Jeff and You Had It Coming, both of which I really like and both of which didn't do very well. It seems like the public had forgotten him. Then he changed management. In 2007, he was contracted to play 5 straight nights at London's infamous Ronnie Scott's club, where attendees included Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Brian May, and John Bon Jovi. He teamed with my favorite bass player, the 21 year old prodigy Tal Wilkenfeld and their chemistry was obvious. They really played well together. Seeing the DVD of those shows brought me to purchase her solo album, and I haven't been disappointed. The DVD of the Ronnie Scott's performance sold over a million copies and he was back. He did a Les Paul tribute, which was also captured on disc and sold, I believe, quite well. In 2010, he released his first new album in some time, Emotion and Commotion, which had some female vocalists on it, like Imelda May and Joss Stone, both great singers. The album hit the charts at number 11 its first week out and it sold well. He went on tour, and I was fortunate enough to see him with my cousin at his show in Atlanta. It was amazing. He was 66 and could still play better than anyone. He's still touring, although I don't know how many more albums will be forthcoming. He's won 8 Grammy awards, he's met the Queen, he's in the R&R HoF twice. What more could you want, right? He's a legend, and this book was an enjoyable read and quite revealing about many things. If you're a music fan, a blues or jazz fan, a fan of early metal, or a Jeff Beck fan, then this book is definitely for you. You won't be disappointed.
Jeff Beck is one of the few musicians who can claim to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his years with the Yardbirds and once for his own solo career. I think that makes him pretty special. The thing that was special about the Yardbirds is they probably are the only group in history to launch the careers of three of the greatest guitar players ever: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. How Clapton and Page went on to glory while Beck toiled in relative obscurity has always been a mystery to me, but the author of this book reveals what happened. Basically, Jeff got bored every couple of years. After he left the Yardbirds, he formed his own "supergroup" with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood and his first solo album, Truth, was a masterpiece. His follow up, Beck-Ola, was good, but not great. He then split the band up and started working on his true love -- old hot rods. He basically split his time between cars and guitars the rest of his life. In the mid-70s, his classic Blow by Blow album came out to major critical acclaim. It was a jazz fusion album, which threw off his rock followers of previous years, but earned him new followers. His 1976 Wired album was also extra special. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. I first heard it in 1981 in my cousin's car. Beck teamed with Jan Hammer to do some truly special songs. Then he broke up his band again. Went out touring with Hammer's band for awhile, but didn't do anything for a few years, while Clapton and Page were raking in the dough. He came out with There and Back in 1980, which I think is a very good album and which did well in the US, but not his native UK, where he's never done very well. This was more rock-oriented again, leaving fusion behind. He then fiddled around playing on other people's albums for much of the '80s, content to do nothing major himself. In the late '90s, he was intrigued by techno, so incorporated elements of it into a new album, which did nothing, and then two more increasingly harder edged albums -- Jeff and You Had It Coming, both of which I really like and both of which didn't do very well. It seems like the public had forgotten him. Then he changed management. In 2007, he was contracted to play 5 straight nights at London's infamous Ronnie Scott's club, where attendees included Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Brian May, and John Bon Jovi. He teamed with my favorite bass player, the 21 year old prodigy Tal Wilkenfeld and their chemistry was obvious. They really played well together. Seeing the DVD of those shows brought me to purchase her solo album, and I haven't been disappointed. The DVD of the Ronnie Scott's performance sold over a million copies and he was back. He did a Les Paul tribute, which was also captured on disc and sold, I believe, quite well. In 2010, he released his first new album in some time, Emotion and Commotion, which had some female vocalists on it, like Imelda May and Joss Stone, both great singers. The album hit the charts at number 11 its first week out and it sold well. He went on tour, and I was fortunate enough to see him with my cousin at his show in Atlanta. It was amazing. He was 66 and could still play better than anyone. He's still touring, although I don't know how many more albums will be forthcoming. He's won 8 Grammy awards, he's met the Queen, he's in the R&R HoF twice. What more could you want, right? He's a legend, and this book was an enjoyable read and quite revealing about many things. If you're a music fan, a blues or jazz fan, a fan of early metal, or a Jeff Beck fan, then this book is definitely for you. You won't be disappointed.
January 28, 2014
A brilliant moment in mock-rock history is when Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel describes for an interviewer how the volume knob on his amplifier is customized to go all the way to 11 for those times 10 just isn't enough. When the Spinal Tap film debuted in 1984, guitarists the world over saw the immediate homage to Jeff Beck. Even Beck himself picked up on the Beck-ish references to ego-driven guitarists with their dismissive humor and hot-rod past-times. When making the movie, actor/writer Christopher Guest had any number of archetype guitarists to imitate but he knew that to really do it in a way that guitarists would "get," only the droll personality and long-but-not-too-long straight hair of Beck would suffice. He doesn't have the household cache of his contemporaries Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, but guitarists all know the truth--and have for decades--Beck is the man!
While other guitarists of the era aligned themselves with various bands or singers to stake their claim on pop history, Beck soldiered through the 1970s making primarily instrumental albums that were assigned the dreaded label of "fusion." Others perhaps became better rock stars, but Beck simply became a better guitarist and outgrew the competition. But his no-vocalist approach kept him off the top of the charts which contibuted to the fact that there have been very few book-length attempts to tell Beck's story.
Correcting this grievous omission is author Martin Powers who has delivered previous rock-related books on Queen and Metallica. So let me get right to the problem with Power's effort: he is seemingly the owner of the largest collection of Beck quotes, magazine articles, CDs, 45s, LPs, EPs, DVDs, bootlegs, and Youtube links on the planet, and he was absolutely committed to referring to each and every one of them in this 487-page tome. It's both exhaustive and exhausting.
Powers does not write badly. All the sentences make sense and the paragraphs flow into the next. But he seems more comfortable being a play-by-play delivery boy rather than a craftsman of context and subtlety. Each chapter is essentially a narrative of every appearance and session Beck made during the time in question--with several descriptions of which guitars were played through what amplifiers. I'm sure somebody out there prefers this kind of writing over all others--I am not that person. I would prefer my author to inject some artful expertise into the life details of a man who surely must be a more interesting figure than is revealed here. Powers eventually proved he is capable of this task, but he waited 485 pages before taking his shot and by then I just didn't give a damn.
Now Powers may think, "I'm simply delivering the details and it's up to the reader to assign their own feelings without my manipulation," but I'm not going to excuse him for offering up nearly 500 pages of data-driven bullet points. Creating the kind of biography I'm expecting for my favorite guitarist of all time is hard--damn hard--and Powers came up short by writing a book far too long. Sometimes 11 is just too much.
While other guitarists of the era aligned themselves with various bands or singers to stake their claim on pop history, Beck soldiered through the 1970s making primarily instrumental albums that were assigned the dreaded label of "fusion." Others perhaps became better rock stars, but Beck simply became a better guitarist and outgrew the competition. But his no-vocalist approach kept him off the top of the charts which contibuted to the fact that there have been very few book-length attempts to tell Beck's story.
Correcting this grievous omission is author Martin Powers who has delivered previous rock-related books on Queen and Metallica. So let me get right to the problem with Power's effort: he is seemingly the owner of the largest collection of Beck quotes, magazine articles, CDs, 45s, LPs, EPs, DVDs, bootlegs, and Youtube links on the planet, and he was absolutely committed to referring to each and every one of them in this 487-page tome. It's both exhaustive and exhausting.
Powers does not write badly. All the sentences make sense and the paragraphs flow into the next. But he seems more comfortable being a play-by-play delivery boy rather than a craftsman of context and subtlety. Each chapter is essentially a narrative of every appearance and session Beck made during the time in question--with several descriptions of which guitars were played through what amplifiers. I'm sure somebody out there prefers this kind of writing over all others--I am not that person. I would prefer my author to inject some artful expertise into the life details of a man who surely must be a more interesting figure than is revealed here. Powers eventually proved he is capable of this task, but he waited 485 pages before taking his shot and by then I just didn't give a damn.
Now Powers may think, "I'm simply delivering the details and it's up to the reader to assign their own feelings without my manipulation," but I'm not going to excuse him for offering up nearly 500 pages of data-driven bullet points. Creating the kind of biography I'm expecting for my favorite guitarist of all time is hard--damn hard--and Powers came up short by writing a book far too long. Sometimes 11 is just too much.
January 4, 2022
At more than 480 pages long Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck is the in-depth look at the iconoclastic guitarist that all fans of heavy rock and blues guitar will have been waiting for.
After rising to prominence of one of the three guitar players (the other two were Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page) in the Yardbird, Beck’s storied career saw him indulge in all manner of musical adventures, wowing audiences around the world with the command of his instrument, and his love for all types of music from rockabilly, to blues, jazz, rock, ambient sounds and the jazz-rock fusion that was to define his output in the 1970s. From forming the band that put Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart on the road to stardom, to turning down the chance to play at Woodstock, to being a definite influence on the making of Spinal Tap, we learn a lot about Beck.
Martin Power has interviewed many of Beck’s contemporaries and bandmates during the research for the book, which gives a fully rounded look into Beck’s life on and off the road. We learn about his hobby and love of restoring old cars, his long-running associations with musicians, and his at times truculent behaviour when projects didn’t go the way that they could have.
As a guitarist’s guitarist, someone who was a friend of Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton the book looks at his many defining techniques, his command of the guitar, and the many instruments he used and abused throughout his career.
The book is packed full of details, about Beck’s attitude to music, especially his own, and how he never seemed to be happy with it, regardless of how it was received (groundbreaking albums like Blow by Blow, Wired, and Guitar Shop won awards, and are still pretty big sellers decades after they were released). It looks at his long list of awards, and his collaborations with any number of musicians, from Jon Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Niles Rodgers, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart and studio musicians such as Max Middleton, the late Cozy Powell, and the musicians who accompanied him on tour, or who wrote the music from him, such as Tony Hyams, Simon Philips and Jan Hammer, there is a lot for the fan to take in, and marvel at.
We also see the influence that his brand of music had on heavy metal and the long-haired rockers of the 1980’s he followed his example as the ultimate gun-slinging guitar hero. There is a look at the instruments that Beck helped to define, from his first homemade guitar to the various signature models that Fender have made for him over the years.
Jeff Beck has packed a lot into his life and career, which has been led by his muse, rather than economic forces, giving the listener music that is both technically demanding, but knows the importance of a good groove. Now well into his Seventies, Jeff Beck’s career is still going, with a tour planned for 2022. A guitarist, ever pushing forward, refusing to rest on his considerable laurels, Hot-Wired Guitar is a fine look at one of the most revered purveyors of instrumental music that is still playing and developing, decades after he first came to prominence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2017
Extraordinary: Much like Levon Helm's "This Wheels On Fire" this was a book I wish had never ended. Jeff Beck is one of my primary guitar influences since I began playing in 1967. He was awesome then and is even more awesome now at age 72; Hard to believe with the gymnastics that he puts that Stratocaster through.
The book is well-researched and well-written and does not appear to leave a lot of stones unturned.
There are many great Strat players out there, but the only one that demonstrated that kind of ownership and mastery over their guitar was perhaps Jimi Hendrix. But even with that, Jeff is the Master of the Caster.
The book is well-researched and well-written and does not appear to leave a lot of stones unturned.
There are many great Strat players out there, but the only one that demonstrated that kind of ownership and mastery over their guitar was perhaps Jimi Hendrix. But even with that, Jeff is the Master of the Caster.
October 3, 2016
An enjoyable if far from flawless biography of the immensely gifted Jeff Beck.
It's very focused on his music and othee sessions he's taken part in and light on Beck as an individual. His formative years are covered briefly, and the influence of his two serious accidents on his outlook and behaviour is only shallowly considered.
Having said that this filled a lot of gaps in my understanding of Beck which reflected the low profile he had in the UK for many years.
Another slight spoiler are a number of small factual errors which occur throughout (e.g. Elton John's eponymous album was not his debut). Ultimately these don't impact too heavily on my enjoyment of the book.
It's very focused on his music and othee sessions he's taken part in and light on Beck as an individual. His formative years are covered briefly, and the influence of his two serious accidents on his outlook and behaviour is only shallowly considered.
Having said that this filled a lot of gaps in my understanding of Beck which reflected the low profile he had in the UK for many years.
Another slight spoiler are a number of small factual errors which occur throughout (e.g. Elton John's eponymous album was not his debut). Ultimately these don't impact too heavily on my enjoyment of the book.
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May 3, 2013Enjoyed this book a lot. Not just an account of jeff's career but also an insight into the scene in the early days. Very informative.
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