70's Classic Albums Discussion (now featuring: ZZ Top)

[bl5150]

All I remember about this one is that I have it on one of those 2-on-1 cassettes with Wired.  I certainly can't recall disliking it so should revisit.

[Kwyjibo]

This one and Guitar Shop are the only two Jeff Beck records I like, everything else didn't grab me save for the occasional song here and there.

[Stadler]

I like Truth and Beck-ola better, but that, Wired and There And Back are pretty good.   He's always sort of better when he has a foil to bounce off of though.

[The Walrus]

No lie, I thought the artist Beck was Jeff Beck this whole time. I thought I knew a Jeff Beck song (Waking Light) but it's by Beck. Dafuq. Is this what TAC feels like all the time? 

[Stadler]

No lie, I thought the artist Beck was Jeff Beck this whole time. I thought I knew a Jeff Beck song (Waking Light) but it's by Beck. Dafuq. Is this what TAC feels like all the time? 

To me, that's like confusing instant Lipton Iced Tea with a Long Island Iced Tea made with top shelf vodka, gin, rum and Don Julio tequila.

[Cool Chris]

No lie, I thought the artist Beck was Jeff Beck this whole time.

Funny, I was going to say something like this. I ultimately found out they were different people, but I couldn't distinguish them in any meaningful way outside of one being a virtuoso guitarist and one did that stupid Loser song.

[Podaar]

I had my first listen to Blow by Blow this morning and I dig it. Previously, I've not thought JB was all that great but this has changed my mind. 

[pg1067]

If I've ever heard any song on this album I don't know it, but I feel like I need to listen to a song called "Constipated Duck" just for the name.  I know of the song "Freeway Jam" because it was transcribed in one of the first issues of Guitar for the Practicing Musician (Feb. 1984) and was republished in the first "Classics" edition (winter 1987).  Jeff Beck was one of those guys who was always mentioned among the guitar greats, but I never knew (and still don't really know) anything he had done.

When I first heard about Beck, I assumed it was Jeff Beck performing under his last name only or was a group he formed.

[KevShmev]

I had my first listen to Blow by Blow this morning and I dig it. Previously, I've not thought JB was all that great but this has changed my mind. 

 

[King Postwhore]

My cousin is gaga over Beck.  I've liked Blow by Blow a lot but never bought it.

[TAC]

No lie, I thought the artist Beck was Jeff Beck this whole time. I thought I knew a Jeff Beck song (Waking Light) but it's by Beck. Dafuq. Is this what TAC feels like all the time? 

 

Yeah, pretty much!

[bl5150]

C'mon Tim...............lift your game.

This was the perfect opp for a classic TAC Review.


Blow By Blow blows 

[TAC]

 

[Stadler]

I love Jeff Beck (Truth is a classic LP) but I'll be the first to admit that he's a genius plagued by bad decisions.  He's not a writer in the way that Van Halen or Hendrix is, he's an interpreter (more like Page in that way) but he's always seemed to be a half-step off.  Instead of Plant, he has Rod Stewart, who's great, but not Plant.  Instead of getting in with a Bruford/Wetton (like Fripp) or an Emerson/Palmer (like Lake) he's sort of off in cool jazz land or with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice (great musicians, but not Bruford, Wetton, Emerson, or Palmer).   Into the 80's, he sort of veered off again into I'm not sure what I'd call "Flash", but it was great PLAYING that just SOUNDED atrocious. 

If you have any doubts about his abilities, though, get the live album he did at Ronnie Scott's with Tal Wilkenfeld and Vinnie Colaiuta. 

[Kwyjibo]

If you have any doubts about his abilities, though, get the live album he did at Ronnie Scott's with Tal Wilkenfeld and Vinnie Colaiuta.

Funny how tastes work, but I would never recommend that record. Imo Jeff's mostly just noodling along with only some basic resemblance to the original melodies and his jamming isn't really that interesting. Of course Wilkenfield and Colaiuta provide a serious groove, but her bass solos are of the type I just can't stand, just more noodling on top of the noodling.

[Stadler]

That's not an unfair criticism, but his albums are all very... dated, for lack of a better word.  Truth is a muddy, 1970-era hard blues/rock record, and it sounds it.  Stewart is almost overmodulated at times, and it's a dense record.   Blow By Blow is a mid-70's jazz-ish record, and sounds it.  Some of it sounds like background music for the Rockford Files.  Flash is ... I don't know what Flash it, but it SOUNDS like 1985.

At least that Ronnie Scott's record is a more pure sounding record.  It's very immediate, and you get a good feel - noodling or not - what Beck REALLY sounds like. 

[KevShmev]

I saw the DVD at a friend's a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Never bought it myself, though.

Wired, the follow-up to Blow by Blow, is nearly as good as it predecessor, and in the same style, for anyone interested.

[Kwyjibo]

The thing with Jeff Beck is, that I love his playing style, his phrasing, his sounds, how he can make each note sound different and make it count. But he's not a song writer, he needs collaborators and sometimes he has good ones and sometimes not so good ones. A lot of his records suffer from that imo.

[pg1067]

I love Jeff Beck (Truth is a classic LP) but I'll be the first to admit that he's a genius plagued by bad decisions.

Bad decisions?

I'm not a fan and know very little of his work outside of the Yardbirds, but the guy has had a successful 50-plus year career as a musician, presumably playing music he loves, has played with pretty much everyone who is anyone in the rock world (from Mich Jagger to Stanley Clarke to Kate Bush), has twice been inducted into the RRHOF, and is generally regarded as one of the all-time guitar greats.  I wish I had mad "bad decisions" such as these.

[Stadler]

I get your point, but no one is confusing Hendrix or Page or Gilmour with a So-Cal hipster trading in post-modern irony. 

Does he have a Stairway To Heaven, a Comfortably Numb, a Purple Haze?  Nope. 

But if you know the story of the Yardbirds, and the immediate aftermath of that, you know that "Truth" was SUPPOSED to be his "Led Zeppelin I", but it was usurped by Page, Plant, et al.   Those are his peers. 

I'm not saying he's bad; I love the guy (and even LIKE Flash, even though I keep ragging on it) but he's not the first guy named when you talk about the great rock guitarists of the late 60's/early 70's/80's. 

[Kwyjibo]

He's more of a musician's musician, (almost) every guitar player knows him and praises him. The general public doesn't know who Jeff Beck is, he's lacking that big hit that others had. And even here he gets confused with that other artist named Beck.

[Stadler]

Yeah.  What he said.  ^^^ 

[KevShmev]

I would agree with that assessment.  Even to many who remember him from the Yardbirds, he has seen as by far the least successful of the three (behind Page and Clapton).  Not only does he not have that one big song that "everyone" knows, but does he have anything that is played on classic rock radio? I don't think I ever heard him played on the radio back in the day.

[Cool Chris]

....does he have anything that is played on classic rock radio? I don't think I ever heard him played on the radio back in the day.

This came to my mind as well. I cannot recall one song of his getting any airplay in my market.

[hefdaddy42]

If you have any doubts about his abilities, though, get the live album he did at Ronnie Scott's with Tal Wilkenfeld and Vinnie Colaiuta.

This for sure.  Great project.

But Blow by Blow is awesome, too.  Probably my favorite Beck album.

But I don't think he should be compared to guys like Page or Hendrix.  He didn't have hit songs, he had great albums/projects.  The better comparison would be to some of the other jazz/fusion players like Al Di Meola or John McLaughlin, IMO.

[KevShmev]

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours



Outside of their 80's hits, I didn't really get into this band until I saw the live show, called The Dance, on VH1 in the late 90's, and was then able to appreciate their 70's material more.  This is obviously a classic, and one of the highest selling records ever.  Timeless classics like Don't Stop, Go Your Own Way and The Chain are good tunes and have all aged well, and I am really fond of deeper cuts like Second Hand News (if track 1 can be considered a deep cut) and Gold Dust Woman, the latter of which is my favorite from this record.  Good record from a good band.

[Kwyjibo]

I think I know Go Your Own Way but can't really comment on Fleetwood Mac other than that some of tbeir 80s hits got on my nerves really quick.

[New World Rushman]

....does he have anything that is played on classic rock radio? I don't think I ever heard him played on the radio back in the day.

This came to my mind as well. I cannot recall one song of his getting any airplay in my market.

I remember hearing 'Led Boots' off of Wired on the radio when it came out. It's a great track and the only one of his I would probably recognize when played.

[Podaar]

Rumours was a light rock album that was important to me when it came out but I don't ever find time to listen to anymore. I may have heard these tunes too many times, me thinks.

Gold Dust Woman is the real stand out to me.

[The Walrus]

I missed this thread over the weekend. Rumours is an awesome record. It's the only Fleetwood Mac album I know, and mainly because my mom had it on cassette and would play it in the car when I was a little kid, so it takes me back. I can't believe it's their eleventh album though. To put out a record of such quality that far into your career - 11 records in 9 years - is insane, what a different time it was.

A cousin of mine who's a few years older than me tried listening to Rumours several years ago because her husband kept hounding her to listen to some of the all-time great classic rock albums and she just didn't get it, which still makes me sad. I figured Rumours is an album most people can enjoy regardless of whether or not they're a rock fan.

[Stadler]

Fleetwood Mac is light rock, but it's the gift that keeps on giving.  Some of the little throwaway licks from Lindsey Buckingham are GOLD.  Plus the songcraft is almost unparalleled.  The only thing I can do without is some of the more sappy Chrissie McVie songs.

[romdrums]

Fleetwood Mac: The dad rock band your mom likes.

Any time I think of this record, or someone mentions this record, the overwhelming thought I have is coke.  These guys did so much of it while making this record that it must have funded a coup or two in Colombia. 

[Stadler]

There are a lot of records that deserve the sort of reputation they have, but for some reason, this one is different for me. I just don't get some of the common wisdom about it.   I mean, most of it is true (Stevie herself will tell you that "GOLD dust" is poetic license, and in fact, the "dust" was very white and very powdery) but this record is so much more. 

Some of that "light rock" or "dad rock" was a basic necessity, a gloss over work that would otherwise be suffocating or maudlin, given the personal relationships in the band at the time.  I can't imagine breaking up with my long-time girlfriend, then asking her to sing "Go Your Own Way".  Or having been broken up, her asking ME to help elevate "Gold Dust Woman". 

I don't know if it's my "favorite" (in fact, I know it's not) but it might be the most IMPRESSIVE record in my collection.

[Harmony]

Say what you want about Dreams, Go Your Own Way, and Gold Dust Woman.  For me, this album is all about Second Hand News and You Make Loving Fun. 

[Cool Chris]

Definitely a landmark in 70s rock and deserving of all the accolades it receives.