Jeff Beck Crazy Fingers

I came late to Jeff Beck unfortunately so never saw him on stage. After reading all the praise given to his playing after his death, I was intrigued enough to look for a book about him. This is quite short, but well written and follows his varied path to where he ended up, which was in a place of great admiration from fans and peers alike. It's not authorised, but there's nothing in it to annoy his real fans, with a lot of information. It's not too technical either, and well worth the money. Recommended.

I couldn't say that Jeff Beck is `the greatest guitarist on the planet' because I don't believe that there is any such thing. There are simply the elect handful whose talent, skill and above all discipline have allowed them to become true master musicians, who have transcended or even redefined the limitations of their instrument. What is beyond doubt is that Beck has played a critical role in the story whereby the electric guitar has become an instrument in its own right, rather than just a louder guitar. One with a capacity for expressiveness to rival that of any other instrument, and indeed which has allowed musicians of the late 20th Century to penetrate into regions of emotional and dramatic power that were essentially inaccessible to purely acoustic instruments. What is also the case is that Beck is a supreme stylist, having evolved a broad range of techniques with which he has inspired countless imitators, but seems never at a loss to find new tricks to pull from up his sleeve. It's also true that the man is a musical chameleon like no other, never standing still long enough for a label to be hung around his neck, or to pick up the kind of mass audience that so many of his friends and cohorts have enjoyed.Annette Carson's book about the life and extraordinary times of the great man is terrific fun, not least for the light it shines on the whole burgeoning rock'n'roll scene to which Beck was so central. Packed with revelatory anecdotes, the one that left the biggest impression being how the first Led Zeppelin was a clandestine session involving Beck, Page, Rod Stewart, a singer Beck had picked up at a motorway service station, and a disaffected Keith Moon. John Paul Jones was dragged in when a similarly disaffected Entwistle bottled out. Moon prevaricated, things moved on, and thus history took the course we know it to have taken. The name, Lead Zeppelin, was in fact a Moonism, being a sort of larger Lead Balloon. Lead became Led to avoid mispronunciation. Just one of many amazing stories in this great little book. But alongside the history and anecdote the book really achieves what a biography should do and so often fails to. Namely, to paint a compelling portrait of its subject. By the end of the book we feel we know Jeff very well, and he comes across as a man full of finely balanced contradictions which are all there to be heard in the music, or rather all the different kinds of music which he has been driven to explore. Alongside the strutting and arrogant guitar hero, fierce and defiant, there is a second soul who is almost too sensitive for the world. Though Jeff never succumbed to the drugs endemic to the rock and roll lifestyle, which ravaged so many of his friends and colleagues, the demands of touring and simply of being the kind of musician he is all conspired to make a bumpy road for Jeff. He is a man who has clearly had to stay in close touch with his subconscious in order to honour and cultivate his very exacting muse. This has led to a career in which so many times he has felt the need to turn left, when the world and showbiz logic would dictate he turn right.I must say, when the book arrived I was a little disappointed that it only covered the years up to 1995, as I am one of those who really took up with Jeff since Blow by Blow onwards, and who is really enjoying the extraordinary variety of influences he is expressing and paying homage to in his current work. Nonetheless, once I got stuck in I found myself amongst a cast of names and characters whom I'd grown up loving or loathing in my own crazy and now far distant youth. For a short while this great little book made me feel young again. Nice one, Annette.

There always seems to read about this man, surely the absolute greatest guitarist ever.The master of the Stratocaster who surely is the envy of other players but held in very high regard throughout the music industry.The writer has been involved in his career on the ofiice side of things,she writes from experience,admiration and study of the great man.What we have here is a book that adds several facts to certasinly what I've read before, and an insight to his personal side as well as his career. As you read about his session work for others it's amazing just how many truly amazing sessions he's been involved in over the years, plus his own albums as well as his years with the groundbreaking Yardbirds, listen to those sides again Beck was way ahead of others around him then, and has continued a career of stunning and original music. This is a book that should be read by any fan of JB's or anyone who loves the sound of the electric guitarwell played. Go back to the Jeff Beck Group days,two brilliant albums and a band that included Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. There is so much to enjoy here and it'll get you to pull those albums out again and get those you may have missed first time around (yes you canm still get all of them). Highly recommended, it may be called Crazy Fingers, but Genius Fingers is nearer the truth but with his passion for American hot rods, its not all just bneen music, but it's an amazingly big part of it.

Having purchased two albums in the mid 70's 'Blow By Blow' and 'Wired' (which I still have)I bought this book to take on holiday and I can tell you that it was a really interesting, well written and engaging book from start to finish. For those guitarists among you (like me), this book also touches on Jeff's guitars with just the right amount of details.All in all a great book for anyone interested in Jeff Beck - highly recommended.

i enjoyed the book but i really got tired of being told i dont know how many times how great .what a genius .how does he do that how does he play like that .can he really play so good ! it got irritating and boring .if you can get thro those accolades .then its good .jeff beck is truly one of the greats .he has always inspired me .and he helped me thro my nightmare schooldays .the stuff he did with the yardbirds .! then the jazz rock .! truly the man is an inspiration .

absolutely brilliant read above expectations will read this book over and overtakes you back to the good old 50s & 60s