And on Wednesday it was the turn of Jeff Beck to leave us too early. He was one of that group of English exponents of the electric guitar which sprang up in the early to mid-sixties. But Beck was the electric guitarist’s electric guitarist.

Sadly he never gained the commercial success on his own account to match his status with his peers. He really only had the one hit and that track, Hi-Ho Silver Lining, wasn’t representative of Beck’s musical tastes.

I featured that hit here and his single Tallyman here. As the Jeff Beck Group he also had a hit with Donovan and the song Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love is Hot.)

His earliest brush with fame came with The Yardbirds. His guitar was a major part of their psychedelic sound.

This clip of the group performing Over, Under, Sideways, Down has a remastered stereo edit laid over the footage.

The Yardbirds: Over Under Sideways Down

Geoffrey Arnold (Jeff) Beck: 24/6/1944 – 10/1/2023. So it goes.

You may remember back in the dim distant past of this category’s genesis I mentioned a competition at my workplace for favourite 60s hit. Hi Ho Silver Lining came second but not the original version by The Attack. Rather it was Jeff Beck’s recording that was voted in.

The Attack: Hi Ho Silver Lining

And here’s a footnote to why the above is now the lesser known version of the song:-

David Arden attacks the hyping of Hi Ho Silver Lining

And for comparison purposes here’s the reverse-hyped version.

Jeff Beck: Hi Ho Silver Lining

More psychedelia-tinged Donovan from a bit later in the decade than Sunshine Superman. Pity the video isn’t synched – but then it sounds as if the record has been laid over a TV performance.

Donovan: Hurdy Gurdy Man

This one is more straight-forward rock though, if full of nonsense lyrics.

Donovan and the Jeff Beck Group: Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)

The Shadows were a bit before my time though they were a kind of Saturday night variety televisual backdrop to my childhood.

But I do know that they were important and that without them there might have been no Beatles, no Clapton, no Jeff Beck, Peter Green, Jimmy Page etc etc.*

It’s only right to mention, then, the passing of bassist Jet Harris.

Terence (Jet) Harris. 6/7/1939 -18/3/2011. So it goes.

*This is maybe overstating the case a little as some of these might have come to prominence anyway but there is more than a grain of truth in it.