The album that moved Jeff Beck’s spirit: “A genius reinventing himself”
It’s easy for any artist to become jaded in the music business after a while. While it’s great to be able to play an instrument as a full-time job, seeing the inner workings up close sucks the fun out of performing when people realise it’s just a big commodity. Even though Jeff Beck is one of the exceptional guitar players who earned the right to do pretty much anything he wanted, he admitted that Music of My Mind by Stevie Wonder was the record that inspired him to play all over again.
When looking at how his career has shaped up, though, Beck didn’t really need to worry about having a massive hit single or becoming one of the most in-demand artists of his time. He was more than happy to make instrumental music, and his time as an album artist left many fans in shock at how much he could pull off without a proper singer.
Because looking at how Beck constructed tunes, it was still always about melody. He wasn’t an artist who was known just to take the bare bones of a chord progression and use it as an excuse to jam for an hour, so whenever he played a note, he made sure to make it count in the mix.
And while Wonder was more in tune with what a major label was looking for in a hit single, he had reached the end of his rope with Motown by the 1970s. He had been a cash cow as a child star, and after his contract was finally up, he had the creative golden ticket to branch out as long as it fit within the span of a vinyl album.
So, while Music of My Mind does have great tracks like ‘Evil’ and ‘Superwoman’, the long runtimes don’t make them the best contenders for lead singles in most A&R men’s minds. Whereas most industry executives could have been concerned by Wonder pulling a move like this, Beck thought that he was in the presence of greatness whenever he listened to the album.
When talking to Guitar World, Beck remembered being floored by Wonder’s performance, saying, “Hearing Music of My Mind just really moved my spirit. I was at someone’s house; I picked it up and played it. I couldn’t hear what they were saying for an hour. I was just completely mesmerized by the sounds coming off that record. I thought, There he goes – there’s a genius reinventing himself. And the thought that I’d be standing next to him in the studio one day was way beyond my dreams.”
Despite Beck bowing at the genius of Wonder, it didn’t take long for fans to realise that the two icons were speaking the same language whenever they played. Although Wonder had a little bit more of a sense of groove, hearing both him and Beck interpret ‘Superstitious’ is still a classic example of geniuses at work.
Then again, after being kept down for so long, Wonder’s choice to do right by himself and release the record that he wanted to make was probably inspiring to Beck when he went into the sessions for Blow by Blow. It’s normally a curse to give an artist total freedom, but when they know exactly what they want, even the finest acts in the world can play the studio like it’s an instrument.
