Jeff Beck: Top 30 Songs

Jeff Beck Top 30 Songs

Jeff Beck was born on June 24, 1944, in Wallington, Surrey, England. He died on January 10, 2023 at age 78. He is considered one of the best and most influential guitarists of all time, being credited with how his experimentation with feedback, distortion, and fuzz tone opened the door for psychedelic rock. All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine called him “as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix.” He became well-known as a guitarist with the Yardbirds from 1965 to 1967 before forming his own group, The Jeff Beck Group, which lasted from 1967 to 1972. The next year he recorded an album with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, both of Vanilla Fudge. He then became a solo artist, largely recording instrumental albums. He only released three solo albums in the 1980s, but in 1984 he worked with The Honeydrippers, a one-time supergroup which also featured Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and Nile Rodgers. In the ‘90s, he played guitar on a number of projects, including Jon Bon Jovi’s solo album Blaze of Glory (1990), Roger Waters’ Amused to Death (1992), Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes (1993), and Paul Rodgers’ Muddy Water Blues (1993). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds in 1992. He was inducted a second time as a solo artist in 2009. He won eight Grammys from 1985 to 2010. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists. Spotify Podcast: Check out the podcast Remembering Jeff Beck, 1944-2023, based on this list. Debut: January 18, 2023, at 7pm CST. New episodes based on Dave’s Music Database lists are posted every Tuesday at 7pm CST.

Awards:

Top 30 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.) DMDB Top 5%: 1. Shapes of Things (Yardbirds, 1966) 2. Heart Full of Soul (Yardbirds, 1965) DMDB Top 10%: 3. Rockin’ at Midnight (The Honeydrippers, 1984) DMDB Top 20%: 4. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (Yardbirds, 1966) 5. People Get Ready (with Rod Stewart, 1985) 6. Over Under Sideways Down (Yardbirds, 1966) 7. Beck’s Bolero (Jeff Beck Group, 1967) 8. I Ain’t Superstitious (Jeff Beck Group, 1968) 9. I’m a Man (Yardbirds, 1965) 10. Ol’ Man River (Jeff Beck Group, 1968) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 11. Down So Long (live with Sting from Live for Life, 1986) 12. Freeway Jam (1975) 13. ‘Cause We’ve Ended Up As Lovers (1975) 14. Hi-Ho Silver Lining (1967) 15. Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot) (Donovan with the Jeff Beck Group, 1969) 16. Plynth (Water Down the Drain) (Jeff Beck Group, 1969) 17. Tallyman (1967) 18. I’ve Been Drinking (Jeff Beck Group, 1968) 19. Manic Depression (with Seal, 1993) 20. She’s a Woman (1975) 21. Evil Hearted You (Yardbirds, 1965) 22. Love Is Blue (L'Amour Est Blue) (Jeff Beck Group, 1968) 23. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (1976) 24. Like a Rolling Stone (with Seal, 2012) 25. Going Down (Jeff Beck Group, 1972) 26. Gets Us All in the End (1985) 27. Still I’m Sad (Yardbirds, 1965) 28. Train Kept A-Rollin’ (Yardbirds, 1965) 29. A Day in the Life (1998) 30. Scatter Brain (1975) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jeff Beck DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jeff Beck Group DMDB Encyclopedia entry for The Yardbirds Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 1/17/2023; last updated 1/19/2023.

 

Robert Plant helms the Honeydrippers on a retro-rock covers EP

Volume 1 The Honeydrippers

Released: September 24, 1984 Charted: October 20, 1984 Peak: 5 US, 56 UK, 11 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, world: 1.3 (includes U.S.) Genre: rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. I Get a Thrill (Ruby Toombs) Sea of Love George Khoury, Phil Phillips) (10/13/84, 3 US, 3 CB, 4 RR, 1 AC, 11 AR, 56 UK, 1 CN, 5 AU) I Got a Woman (Ray Charles, Renald Richard) Young Boy Blues (Doc Pomus, Phil Spector) Rockin’ at Midnight (Roy Brown) (10/13/84, 25 US, 28 CB, 23 RR, 38 AC, 8 AR, 18 CN) Total Running Time: 18:07 The Players: Robert Plant (vocals) Jimmy Page (guitar) Jeff Beck (guitar) Paul Shaffer (keyboards) Nile Rodgers (guitar, co-producer) Wayne Pedzwater (bass) Dave Wecki, Keith “Bev” Smith (drums)

Rating: 2.929 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)

About the Album: Supergroups don’t get much bigger than this. Led Zeppelin fans were overjoyed to see Robert Plant and Jimmy Page reunite. In addition, Jeff Beck – who Page replaced in the Yardbirds – showed up as well to get classic rock guitar fans swooning. Nile Rodgers, formerly of Chic, leant his production talents as well. While initially associated with Chic and Sister Sledge and other disco acts, he had started branching out to other pop and rock acts like David Bowie, Duran Duran, and Madonna. This EP of R&B covers came about at the request of Atlantic Records’ boss Ahmet Ertegun. With a couple of solo albums in the classic rock vein and his “monolithic Zeppelin” AMG only a few years behind him, this project surprised some of Plant’s fans. However, he’d “always harbored deep, abiding love for early rock & roll” AMG so this “unabashedly retro-rock project” AMG shouldn’t actually be that startling. “Plant excelled on Rockin’ at Midnight but landed an accidental US hit when DJs began playing the band’s version of the 1959 smoochie Sea of Love.” Q The latter has “a certain sense of pastishe…in how…[it] is drenched in oceans of strings…but that’s part of the charm of the record.” AMG Some might find it “even campy, but there’s a genuine warth in Plant’s performance...and his…Honeydrippers…have a great time running through these handful of oldies.” AMG Plant has said it “is his personal favorite project that he ever recorded.” WK

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Robert Plant DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jimmy Page AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Q Mark Blake, Q magazine, Sept. 2010, p. 133. WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 9/27/2010; last updated 5/20/2022.