GROUP Therapy

In 1968, Jeff Beck found success on his own terms, with his own group. What came after would be infinitely harder.

- CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI

MICKIE MOST WAS a producer and manager who, by the dawn of 1967, had scored hits with the Animals (“House of the Rising Sun”), Herman’s Hermits (“I’m Into Something Good”) and Donovan (“Sunshine Superman”). Beck’s impact on the Yardbirds hadn’t gone unnoticed by Most, and he quickly set about signing the guitarist with an eye toward turning him into a pop star.

It was in this guise that Beck released his first solo records “Hi Ho Silver Lining” and “Tallyman,” which reached number 14 and 30, respectively, in the U.K. mid-year. He followed them up with an instrumental version of “Love Is Blue,” a song that had been an entry in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest before going on to become one of the biggest hit singles of the year for Vicky Leandros. Released on February 16, 1968, Beck’s version scored a respectable 23 on the charts.

But the guitarist had little stomach for becoming a pop star. Eric Clapton, his predecessor in the Yardbirds, was turning rock on its head with Cream, while his successor, Jimmy Page, was revving up the Yardbirds into a hard rock act that would soon become Led Zeppelin. Meanwhile, no one could touch Jimi Hendrix. Even as he recorded “Love Is Blue,” Beck had begun putting together a group of his own. He’d already found his lead vocalist, Rod Stewart, who’d performed with Long John Baldry and keyboardist Brian Auger in Steampacket, a British blues band put together by Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky. Stewart had contributed backing vocals to “Tallyman” and sang lead on its flipside, “Rock My Plimsoul.”