The late Jeff Beck had a singular solo career and for many had been the number one rock guitarist in the world since the early ’70s. Prior to his going solo, his work as a member of the Yardbirds and his own Jeff Beck Group (featuring Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood) laid the foundation for his solo career. The band, however, that was the true bridge from group artist to solo artist was Beck, Bogert & Appice.
The trio only released one studio and one live album and, in comparison with the aforementioned Yardbirds and Jeff Beck Group who had made several albums and were quite well-known, Beck, Bogert & Appice has somehow been largely overlooked, forgotten, or unknown in some circles. With this new box set, all of that should now change and the group will receive the credit it so rightfully deserves.
First off, the trio was very much a group and not merely Beck and sidemen. Appice had been the second drummer in American group Vanilla Fudge, where he met Bogert (the other members were Vinnie Martel and Mark Stein) and proved to be the missing piece, as after his joining Vanilla Fudge the group went on to huge success.
The first meeting of Beck, Bogert & Appice was when Vanilla Fudge was offered a deal to do a Coca Cola commercial and their guitarist couldn’t do it. They asked Beck and he agreed, and so Beck joined Bogert, Appice, and Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge for the commercial. Vanilla Fudge and Beck shared some similar management and crossed paths in the later ’60s, including Bogert and Appice jamming with Beck in London.
The trio finally looked like it was going to come together after John Bonham (of Led Zepplin) gave Bogert and Appice Beck’s phone number, when Vanilla Fudge was touring with Led Zeppelin. With Vanilla Fudge and the Jeff Beck Group breaking up, the original lineup of the band was to also include Rod Stewart. The final official formation of Beck, Bogert & Appice would take nearly two years, as Beck had been in a serious car accident.
Part of his getting back in playing shape found him reforming the Jeff Beck Group, while Bogert and Appice formed a new band named Cactus. Beck, Bogert & Appice actually started out as part of the reformed Jeff Beck Group, with Bogert and Appice as the rhythm section. After a disastrous German show that saw the group’s equipment destroyed, the band eventually became Beck, Bogert & Appice.
When its one and only self-titled studio album was released in 1973 it was a major musical event. It also came out during the brief heyday of quadrophonic sound and was a must-have for quad audiophiles. That same year the group released Live In Japan and then, after the trio couldn’t get it together for another studio album, Beck released his watershed Blow by Blow album in 1974.
This new box set includes a double album of the Japan concert from 1973 and a double album of a 1974 concert from the Rainbow in London. The double albums are gatefolds, with the vinyl in poly-lined sleeves. It also includes a replica of the Japanese tour program, an oversized poster, and a hardback book. The contents are housed in an oversized sturdy box. Overall, it’s a beautiful package befitting the exceptional music and contents.
Starting off with the Japan show, the group shows off its rock trio power. What sets it apart from many of the hard rock and especially heavy metal bands to emerge after Led Zeppelin and the like, is its tasteful musicianship. Rather than resort to sheer power, volume, endless solos, and songs with no subtlety, the group brings a full force of rock power with the interplay of jazz musicians, a blues and boogie feel, and the kick of R&B and soul just underneath.
This is a group that does not rely on any gimmicks, false machismo or ego trips. Other than “Oh, To Love You,” the band performs the entire Beck, Bogert & Appice studio album on these discs. Along with another Beck, Bogert & Appice song, the group does a Yardbirds song and three Jeff Beck Group songs. “Superstition” was originally on both a Jeff Beck Group album (under a slightly altered name) and the Beck, Bogert & Appice studio album, in obviously different forms. The Stevie Wonder-penned song was initially given to Beck to record by Wonder, but it was such a great song, he recorded it first and it became a huge hit.
Tracks from the Rainbow concert double-album set have been extensively bootlegged over the years, in particular in the 1970s as part of a single-album set. The concert was broadcast live on FM stations as part of the 1974 Rock Around the World radio concert series. Some of the live tracks from the Rainbow concert—“Satisfied,” “Solid Lifter,” and “Jizz Whizz”—were intended for a second studio album. “You Shook Me” and “Rainbow Boogie” appeared on the Jeff Beck career-spanning box set Beckology.
There is an extensive use by Beck of the talk box guitar here, which guitarists like Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton would use to popular effect later on. “Lady” and “Livin’ Alone” are taken from the Beck, Bogert & Appice studio album. Listening to this live concert, one wonders what the group could have done if it could have continued on. There are traces of The Who and Cream, but more significantly of the jazz-fusion direction Beck would head into on his next albums.
The sound from both of these concerts is superb, but the Rainbow show really shines. This box is quite a treat for Beck fans and ’70s guitar rock fans, but most importantly, it highlights what a truly great band this trio was in its short time together. While maybe not quite as important as the one-off studio albums from Derek and the Dominoes and Blind Faith, Beck, Bogert & Appice is one of those groups that defined the heyday of ’70s guitar rock.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
