There was always only one Jeff Beck. And here’s the thing — he was a musician whose style and genre knew no limits or boundaries, yet somehow it was always unmistakably Jeff Beck.
Just like Chevy, Ford and Chrysler there was always the big three in rock: Clapton, Beck and Page. I certainly spent more time with Jimmy Page, but Beck was always the best.
He’s got a bunch of albums on quadraphonic vinyl, and I have a few. They’re pretty special. But today I’m going to talk about the only Beck album I rushed out to buy: 2000’s You Had It Coming.
Living in the Ottawa Valley at the time, one of my favourite record stores up the highway in Ottawa — the long gone Record Runner — had regular ads on the local TV station. The ads always featured their new release of the week and a clip of music from it. The one pushing the new album You Had It Coming got my attention and seemed to be on often. At the time I didn’t know the song title, but it turned out to be Earthquake — and it blew my mind and then stayed there.
The song is heavy, crunchy and kind of industrial-sounding. You know, like Ministry or Nine Inch Nails. It is not what I would have expected. This was bold, fresh and right up my alley. I was excited and delighted that one of the big three was doing something so cool. That there was something Beck was doing NOW I could show to friends, rather than something from 20 or 30 years ago.
This was the era of Clapton’s Unplugged album and the boring Pilgrim. Page had put out the lame Outrider but was mostly focused on romps with Robert Plant and The Black Crowes. Neither of them was as quietly (loudly, though) inventive as Beck.
I did the three-hour round trip to Record Runner specifically to get You Had It Coming, and cranked it several times all the way home. It is a savage and beautiful album. Beck in his full glory — getting sounds out of a Stratocaster which nobody else could create, or maybe even imagine. His guitar licks are often lyrical, sometimes harsh, and never go unnoticed. There’s no “buried in the mix” with Jeff. He soars on this album, which to my ears at the time sounded like he had a young girlfriend or something.
It opens with the song I heard in the ad — Earthquake is an industrial-sounding instrumental headbanger. It’s so cool and will lead to speeding tickets. The song was written by Jennifer Batten, Michael Jackson’s touring guitarist and a popular session musician. Beck — who often had bands made up of women — toured with her as well.
The other prominent woman on the record is Imogen Heap, who sings two of the tracks — a sick cover of Muddy Waters’ Rollin’ And Tumblin’ and the Grammy-winning Dirty Mind. The latter is female sexuality turned up to 11. It features Heap’s vocals, but is technically an instrumental. That’s what it won a Grammy for. The critic-lauded electronic pioneer had only just released her debut album and later toured this album with Beck.
The other standouts on the flawless You Had It Coming include a cover of Nitin Sawhney’s Nadia, the raucous Loose Cannon, and the sparse, beautiful Blackbird — an original, not the overdone Beatles track. The record sounds fantastic — very clean 2000s sound but with amazing and monstrous dynamics. It’s produced by Andy Wright, who is commonly associated with Simple Minds, Eurythmics and Simply Red.
Sadly, the album doesn’t exist in a vinyl pressing. Perhaps Beck’s passing will change that. Now there’s a waiting list I’d sign on to.
It’s so hard to believe he’s gone. He’s always been there — practically ageless, restoring hot rods, sporting the same Nigel Tufnel haircut since 1965 and relentlessly making music primarily to please himself.
I made a playlist of my Beck favourites. Hurt your speakers with it.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
