Jeff Beck - ...and on guitar (1977)

Geoffrey Arnold Beck was born on 24 June 1944, and as a teenager he learned to play on a borrowed guitar, while making several attempts to build his own instrument. While still attending Wimbledon College of Art, he was playing in a succession of groups, including Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages during 1962, when they recorded 'Dracula's Daughter'/'Come Back Baby' for Oriole Records. In 1963, after Ian Stewart of The Rolling Stones introduced him to R&B, he formed the Nightshift, with whom he recorded a single, 'Stormy Monday'/'That's My Story', for the Piccadilly label. Other groups followed, including The Rumbles and The Tridents, and he acted as a session guitarist on a 1964 Parlophone single by the Fitz and Startz entitled 'I'm Not Running Away'. In March 1965, Beck was recruited by The Yardbirds to succeed Eric Clapton on the recommendation of fellow session musician (and original choice for the job) Jimmy Page. The Yardbirds recorded most of their Top 40 hits during Beck's short but significant 20-month tenure with the band, but he only appears on one of their albums, the legendary 'Roger The Engineer' in 1966. In June Page joined the Yardbirds, at first on bass and later on second lead guitar, but this dual lead-guitar line-up only lasted a short while, as Beck was fired during a US tour for being a consistent no-show. 
Now at a loose end, he recorded a couple of singles for Mickie Most, and then formed the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. The group produced two superb albums for Columbia Records, 'Truth' in 1968, and 'Beck-Ola' the following year, and it was about this time that Beck started to collaborate with oher astists. In May 1969 The Jeff Beck Group recorded some songs with Donovan for his seventh studio album 'Barabajagal', and a slightly retitled 'Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)' / 'Trudi (Bed With Me)' made the UK Top Twenty. Some of the songs recorded at that session were held back, with 'Homesickness' eventually appearing on 1971's 'HMS Donovan', and most of the other tracks being added to the CD re-issue of 'Barabajagal'. Also in 1969, Beck and Stewart were visiting a US recording studio where Frank Zappa's protégés The GTOs were recording an album, and they were persuaded to join in. Beck added some guitar to a couple of tracks, and Stewart also sings on 'Shock Treatment'. 
In 1970 Vanilla Fudge recorded a couple of adverts for Coca Cola, which included Beck on guitar, probably because of his connection with Carmine Appice, who he would later form a group with. A couple of years later Stevie Wonder was recording his 'Talking Book' album, and invited a select group of musicians to help him out, including Ray Parker Jnr., David Sanborn, Buzz Feiten, and Beck. The agreement was that Beck would get involved in the sessions in return for Wonder writing him a song, which turned out to be the classic 'Superstition', which they wrote together. Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, due to the combination of the trio's debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy's prediction that 'Superstition' would be a huge hit, Wonder released the song as the album's lead single months ahead of Beck's version. Oddly enough, despite Beck co-writing the song, he didn't play on Wonder's version, only appearing on 'Lookin' For Another Pure Love', where you can hear Wonder say 'Do it, Jeff' during the solo. 
Over the next couple of years Beck contributed his guitar to recordings by Pete Brown, prog-rockers Badger (formed by Tony Kaye after he left Yes), US singer/songwriter Michael Fennelly (ex The Millenium and Crabby Appleton), and British/African jazz-fusion band Zzebra. In 1975 he produced the debut album for British jazz-rockers Upp, playing uncredited guitar on it as well, and doing the same production/guitarist job on the follow-up 'This Way Upp' in 1976. That same year he was invited to play on Stanley Clarke's third solo album 'Journey To Love', and Clarke wrote 'Hello Jeff' for him as a showcase. In 1976 Beck played on Billy Preston's self-titled album, although his solo is somewhat diluted as Preston carries on singing over it, but his work on Narada Michael Walden's 'Saint And The Rascal' is just sublime. The album closes with the most obscure track here, where he played guitar on the 1977 album 'Dorian', by Kenneth Dorian Passante, a veteran of the glam-rock scene and pals with Jobriath, and who financed the album himself, roping in Beck along the way. If there's one thing Jeff Beck is known for its spanning the genres, and this album is no exception, so enjoy his pop, rock, prog, soul, jazz-rock, fusion, and glam-rock guest appearances from the early to mid 70's.    

Track listing

01 Homesickness (from 'HMS Donovan' by Donovan recorded 1969, released 1971)
02 Shock Treatment (from 'Permanent Damage' by The GTO's 1969)
03 Coca Cola Commercial (with Vanilla Fudge 1970)
04 Lookin' For Another Pure Love (from 'Talking Book' by Stevie Wonder 1972)
05 Spend My Nights In Armour (from 'Before Singing Lessons' by Pete Brown 1973)
06 Watch Yerself (from 'Lane Changer' by Michael Fennelly 1974)
07 White Lady (from 'White Lady' by Badger 1974)
08 Put A Light On Me (from 'Panic' by Zzebra 1975)
09 Get Down In The Dirt (from 'Upp' by Upp 1975)
10 Hello Jeff (from 'Journey To Love' by Stanley Clarke 1975)
11 Bad Case Of Ego (from 'Billy Preston' by Billy Preston 1976)
12 Saint And The Rascal (from 'Garden Of Love Light' by Narada Michael Walden 1976)
13 Destination Nowhere (from 'Dorian' by Dorian Passante 1977)