Year: 2018
Director: Matthew Longfellow
One of, if not the, most talented, inventive and yet reclusive guitarists Britain has ever produced is the subject of this in depth documentary. Beck is interviewed at length in his home and while tinkering in his garage as he talks through his fifty-year career, picking out the highs and lows along the way. Although he covers everything you’d expect, he’s sometimes frustratingly elusive and vague with his answers, for example his last minute pull out from Woodstock still remains something of a mystery. Nevertheless, he seems an engaging, friendly, articulate guy, if one who prefers to keep his private life just that – there are no appearances by family members or close personal friends to be found here. What you do get is a good selection of archive footage from over the years, plus a series of tributes from luminaries such as Dave Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Ron Wood, and from former colleagues such as Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer. Highlights of the vintage performances include playing with Clapton at Ronnie Scott’s, jamming with Jimmy Page at The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and, tagged on to the end, five previously unreleased songs from a performance at Montreux in 2007, from which Eternity’s Breath particularly stands out Overall, a very interesting, watchable documentary – a little light on personal revelations though, and by the end, I didn’t feel I was really any closer to understanding what makes the enigmatic man behind the innovative music tick.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
Rockumentaries, the Classic Albums series.
I watched this a couple of nights ago after having recorded it from BBC4 ( it may still be on iPlayer). Yes, he is frustratingly vague at times, but I am as well when thinking back 50 plus years. It is well worth a watch and opened my eyes to his later work.
Is the DVD longer than the TV version? Sometimes they are cut down a bit. The R&R Hall of Fame clip is brilliant, isn’t it!
This interview is good. He talks about the movie and also expands a bit on the Woodstock thing Bargey.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/jeff-beck-interview-eric-clapton-stevie-wonder-yardbirds-w520353
I’ve started watching this on IPlayer. It’s great. The BBC do these kind of documentaries very well.
Beck is one of my favourite guitarists. So much feel and invention.
I thought he explained his Woodstock absence quite adequately. The band was beginning to fall apart and Woodstock was shaping up to be a huge event. He didn’t want that band to be his legacy, because he was about to move on. And Rod Stewart agrees that pulling out was the right thing to do.