“As low as I could get”: Jeff Beck on the musical low point of his career
Nothing that Jeff Beck ever played ever felt like it was done on accident. Throughout his time with The Yardbirds up until his stint being one of the biggest fusion guitarists in the world, Beck was always in communion with his instrument, always looking to twist the guitar in a way that no one had ever seen before. Then again, there were times when he could slip up, and the guitar legend remembered thinking that this record was about the lowest point that he ever got to during his career.
Considering how much he put into his craft, it’s a wonder why many guitarists haven’t stolen more from what Beck had done. He was always one to look after his instrument and make strange sounds that no one had ever thought of, but that kind of ingenuity should be what everyone thinks to do on their instrument.
After all, the electric guitar is a relatively new invention on this earth, and there’s still a wealth to be gained from it aside from pumping out the same bluesy licks for hours on end. And even when Beck felt that he was playing it safe on records like Blow By Blow, the results were still a litmus test for any guitarist to try to open up doors that Jimi Hendrix had merely suggested for the rest of us.
Even though all roads tended to lead back to the blues with Beck, he knew that some of his songs had the potential to take rock in a new direction. There was still plenty of ground to cover, but looking back on where he took his sound on Guitar Shop, Beck remembered not liking what he heard when he was making it.
Despite having some of the greatest musicians at his disposal, like Terry Bozzio, there tends to be a lack of cohesion on the album compared to his other releases. Even though Wired remains one of his most free-flowing records, there are places on the album where things begin to build towards something, but then he decides to use the next song to go off on a completely different tangent.
Beck certainly hadn’t lost his signature touch by any stretch, but even standing next to his fellow guitar gods like Steve Lukathur, he remembered the whole album being the darkest time for him creatively, saying, “The idea was to get Steve involved with his wacky humour, but at that time I was about as low as I could get. He did lift me a bit, but it was a temporary thing. It probably would have been better to just let me wallow in my misery for a while. There was some good stuff. Don’t get me wrong. I just wasn’t hearing that little birdie whispering in my ear going, ‘This is the stuff.’ If that doesn’t happen, I’m done.”
Then again, that feeling shouldn’t be discounted when looking at any artist’s best work. The song might be coming together on paper, but if it feels soulless when a band tries to perform it live, it’s better to scrap things and let the music sound like it’s coming from a genuine place instead.
Because when looking at his discography, Beck was never one to put out music for the meat market. What he created had to be of a certain quality, and Guitar Shop didn’t have the same kind of songs that jumped out for him in the same way that his previous classics had.
