Jeff Beck Group (album)
Encyclopedia
Jeff Beck Group is the fourth studio album by The Jeff Beck Group
and the second album with the line up of Jeff Beck
, Bobby Tench
, Clive Chaman
, Max Middleton
and Cozy Powell
. The album was produced by Steve Cropper
and often referred to as the Orange Album, because of the segmented orange at the top of the front cover.
. Some of the songs they worked on were already in their stage act and unlike Rough and Ready they also recorded five cover songs for this album, including a new version of Ashford & Simpson
's "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You" and Carl Perkins
's Sun Records
release, "Glad All Over" (1957). The Cropper
and Beck
collaboration "Sugar Cane" was one of several songs written whilst in the studio. At an "end of recording party", Beck was congratulated by Don Nix
on his version of "Going Down", which Nix had written for Freddie King
the previous year was released in the US on 1 May 1972. The UK release was held back until 9 June the same year and tours of the UK and the US followed. There were no singles taken from this album.
wrote that "the performance far exceeds that of the material", whilst David Hughes wrote in the Disc Music Echo that "..the mood and tempo changes and you are hooked to the end". However Rob Mackie from the Record Mirror
reflected that there was "no clue that you listening to the band led by one of Britain's best ever guitarists". Others, such as Charles Sharr Nurray, writing for the OZ
had even less favourable things to say about the album.
The Jeff Beck Group
The Jeff Beck Group were an English rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy sounding blues and R&B was a major influence on popular music.- The first Jeff Beck Group :...
and the second album with the line up of Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, Bobby Tench
Bobby Tench
Robert Tench , also known as Bob Tench, Bobby Tench and Bobby Gass is a British vocalist and guitarist. Originally a bass player he began singing with Gass influenced by artists such as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles...
, Clive Chaman
Clive Chaman
Clive Chaman was born in Trinidad and is a UK-based bass guitarist and session musician.After appearing on Ram John Holder's 1969 London Blues album, Chaman became a member of the second Jeff Beck Group in 1971 until they disbanded in 1973 when he joined Cozy Powell's band Hammer...
, Max Middleton
Max Middleton
David Maxwell "Max" Middleton . He is an English composer and keyboardist and was originally a docker on the Liverpool docks. Middleton is known for his work on the Fender Rhodes Electric piano, the Minimoog synthesiser and his percussive playing style of the Hohner Clavinet...
and Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell
Colin Flooks , better known as Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands.-Early history:...
. The album was produced by Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
and often referred to as the Orange Album, because of the segmented orange at the top of the front cover.
History
During January 1972 the second Jeff Beck Group flew to the US and joined Beck at TMI Studios in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. Some of the songs they worked on were already in their stage act and unlike Rough and Ready they also recorded five cover songs for this album, including a new version of Ashford & Simpson
Ashford & Simpson
Nickolas Ashford , and Valerie Simpson , were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists....
's "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You" and Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
's Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
release, "Glad All Over" (1957). The Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
and Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
collaboration "Sugar Cane" was one of several songs written whilst in the studio. At an "end of recording party", Beck was congratulated by Don Nix
Don Nix
Don Nix is a songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "obscure", he is a key figure in several genres of Southern rock and Soul, R&B, and the Blues...
on his version of "Going Down", which Nix had written for Freddie King
Freddie King
Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...
the previous year was released in the US on 1 May 1972. The UK release was held back until 9 June the same year and tours of the UK and the US followed. There were no singles taken from this album.
Reviews
Billy Walker writing for the music paper Sounds found the album "not to the standard of Rough and Ready", however Chris Welch from Melody Maker wrote,"This is the boldest Beck guitar we've heard for a long time. His style might not be to everybody's taste. It sounds almost sardonic at times almost personal. Beck's Skill at timing and cliff hanging suspense at the tail end of phrases is brilliant and his backing licks are almost as interesting...great stuff!".Roy Carr from New Musical Express
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
wrote that "the performance far exceeds that of the material", whilst David Hughes wrote in the Disc Music Echo that "..the mood and tempo changes and you are hooked to the end". However Rob Mackie from the Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...
reflected that there was "no clue that you listening to the band led by one of Britain's best ever guitarists". Others, such as Charles Sharr Nurray, writing for the OZ
Oz (magazine)
Oz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London...
had even less favourable things to say about the album.
Track listing
- "Ice Cream Cakes" (Beck)
- "Glad All Over" (Aaron SchroederAaron SchroederAaron Schroeder was an American songwriter and music publisher.-Biography:Born Aaron Harold Schroder , he graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H...
, Sid Tepper, Roy Bennett) - "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With YouTonight I'll Be Staying Here with You"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" is a song written by Bob Dylan from his 1969 album Nashville Skyline. It was the closing song of the album. The song was the third single released from the album, after "I Threw It All Away" and "Lay Lady Lay", reaching #50 on the US Billboard Hot 100...
" (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) - "Sugar Cane" (Beck, Steve CropperSteve CropperSteve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
) - "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You" (Valerie Simpson, Nickolas Ashford, Brian HollandBrian HollandBrian Holland is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland. That songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound and numerous hit records by artists such as Martha and the Vandellas, The Supremes, The Four Tops,...
) - "Going DownGoing DownGoing down may refer to:* Going Down * Going Down , a novel* Going Down , written by Don Nix and originally performed by Freddie King, a mainstay of blues and rock musicians...
" (Don NixDon NixDon Nix is a songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "obscure", he is a key figure in several genres of Southern rock and Soul, R&B, and the Blues...
) - "I Got to Have a Song" (Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Don Hunter, Lula Mae HardawayLula Mae HardawayLula Mae Hardaway was the mother of blind soul musician Stevie Wonder...
, Paul RiserPaul RiserPaul Riser is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the other "Brothers", as his career has been overlooked and overshadowed by the...
) - "Highways" (Beck)
- "Definitely Maybe" (Beck)
Band members
- Jeff BeckJeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
: guitar - Bobby TenchBobby TenchRobert Tench , also known as Bob Tench, Bobby Tench and Bobby Gass is a British vocalist and guitarist. Originally a bass player he began singing with Gass influenced by artists such as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles...
: vocals - Clive ChamanClive ChamanClive Chaman was born in Trinidad and is a UK-based bass guitarist and session musician.After appearing on Ram John Holder's 1969 London Blues album, Chaman became a member of the second Jeff Beck Group in 1971 until they disbanded in 1973 when he joined Cozy Powell's band Hammer...
: bass - Max MiddletonMax MiddletonDavid Maxwell "Max" Middleton . He is an English composer and keyboardist and was originally a docker on the Liverpool docks. Middleton is known for his work on the Fender Rhodes Electric piano, the Minimoog synthesiser and his percussive playing style of the Hohner Clavinet...
: keyboards - Cozy PowellCozy PowellColin Flooks , better known as Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands.-Early history:...
: drums
Reissues
- Epic 31331 (1990)
- Epic MHCP584 (2005)
- Sony 4710462 (2006)
- Sony Japan 961 (2007)
- Sony Japan MHCP584 (2008)