– The Jeff Beck Group – Live At Fillmore West – July 24, 1968 – KSAN-FM San Francisco –
Sadly, not a very long concert (30 minutes), but one of the earlier and better sounding representations of a band which proved to be wildly influential, heading up by a guitarist, long-considered one of the greatest in the world.
The Jeff Beck Group came about as a result of the disintegration of The Yardbirds. Splintered and heading toward dissolving (and morphing into Led Zeppelin), Beck struck out on a solo career, assembling a band which would eventually result in the stepping-off place for a number of artists and launches of meteoric careers.
The 1968 incarnation of the band featured Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on Bass and Micky Waller on drums. Rod Stewart would become a household name in his own right, where Ronnie Wood would eventually land in The Rolling Stones where he remains to this day. Waller went off to be a well-respected session drummer before forming his own band in the early 1980s, The Deluxe Blues Band before succumbing to liver failure in 2008.
This concert, broadcast live from The Fillmore West by pioneering underground FM Rock station KSAN, features The Jeff Beck Group during one of their first tours of the U.S., and was certainly a memorable occasion (having caught them during the Los Angeles swing of this tour), witnessing a band on the verge of exploding on the scene. This broadcast gives ample evidence why they were an almost instant success – and certainly proof that Jeff Beck had always been one of the most eloquent and expressive artists in Rock.
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This is by far the best “bootleg recording” of the Jeff Beck Group.Its even better than the Live at the BBC.Now I know why it’s on Bill Graham’s site; KSAN recorded it therefore many people have a copy.His selfish children won’t release anything unless it’s already available somewhere else.Its too bad the whole set wasn’t released;you can hear Jeff announce songs that don’t appear.Also another small note;Moby Grape was also on the bill……..I’d give my left arm to hear them at their all time best.
Thank god stations like KSAN and KMPX and a whole bunch of others all over the country at the time had the good sense to present these bands in a live setting. It’s provided an invaluable historic perspective on an artists growth, and the huge difference there often was between studio gigs and live gigs. The Beck concerts are enormously important because of what a tremendous and vital talent he was and continues to be. It’s also important to be able to present these concerts in the best possible sound, which is why I never run “audience recordings”. It’s my way of thanking them for changing lives.
While revisiting this page,which still doesn’t have any comments excepecting mine,I wanted to mention that Micky Waller was in a short lived band Silver Meter.It had Leigh Stevens on guitar who had moved to England after departing Blue Cheer and Pete Sears on Bass/keyboards before joining Jefferson Starship and other bands that I’m too lazy to look up.I saw them at Fillmore West,which I believe is on YouTube somewhere.I was very disappointed with the band considering the talent in the group.The singer just didn’t have a voice that I liked and the presentation was weak,even though they had good material,some provided by unknown Elton John.Leigh Stevens went on to play in a great band;Foxtrot,but they never got known outside of L.A.A demo recorded at Motown has never been released,so that’s that.
Comments tend to be sparse around here, which is a far cry from the way it used to be. I remember hearing about Mickey Waller in various bands for various lengths of time as well as Leigh Stevens. I guess it points up to the fact that chemistry is just about everything in a band – and the 60’s and 70s had no shortage of “looks-good-on-paper” bands who came and went in a flash. I would be interested in knowing more about the Foxtrot demos – I wonder where they are. Time to start sleuthing!
Where are the demos?In my friends car .George Michalski,played piano in Foxtrot,and I was lucky enough to see them in rehearsal and when they played at the Starwood and the Whiskey.George didn’t have a date when they were invited to play at Cher’s house for a party.That was when she was going with David Geffen,who now owns half the planet.He invited me,I flew down to L.A.and had the time of my life.I danced three songs with Joni Mitchell (the same week she was on the cover of Newsweek)and saw every movie star and television star that ever appeared on the Sonny and Cher Show.Oh,about the demos,George has them,and I heard them recently.The studio group was different as night and day from the “live band”.Although the demos are good,they’re too laid back for my liking.I remember them tearing the roof off places,and the demo is more tame.They had some great songs,why it never was released,I’ll never know.If you’d like to get in touch with George he has a website at Georgemichalski.com.Im in a band with him as I write this,played today.Tell him I sent you and maybe you could talk him into letting you put it on your site,if that interests you.