Doin’ That Crazy Thing (no label)
LuAnne’s Club, Dallas, TX – July 17th, 1968
(79:36): 1st Set, You Shook Me, Let Me Love You, I Can’t Hold Out, Beck’s Boogie, Sweet Little Angel, Shapes Of Things, Hi Ho Silver Lining. 2nd Set: Beck’s Bolero, Rock My Plimsoul, Oh Pretty Woman, Morning Dew, Mother’s Old Rice Pudding, The Sun Is Shining, I Ain’t Superstitious
Doin’ That Crazy Thing revisits one of the more interesting and impressive Jeff Beck tapes in circulation. The July 17th show at LuAnne’s in Dallas sits between the US debut shows in New York that June and right before his first visit to the Fillmore West in San Francisco and before the release of the first Jeff Beck Group album Truth.
The tape captures both sets in their entirety. It’s very clear, powerful, and detailed and is one of the most vivid documents from his first US tour. The small venue helped with the clarity and the polite audience enables the music to be the focus in the recording. The first silver pressing of this tape can be found on Tour De Force (Gold Standard GS71768). The stereo leans heavily on the left channel but this release tries to balance it as best as it can and largely succeeds.
The first couple notes of “You Shook Me” are missing. The opening is segued with “Let Me Love You.” The first tour-de-force of the shows comes with “Beck’s Boogie.” Beck plays snatches of “Over Under Sideways Down” and the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme in the song’s improvisation. “Shapes Of Things” again contains snatches of the Yardbirds hit. Beck tells the audience to clap in rhythm for the final song of the first set “Hi Ho Silver Lining.” Beck takes the vocals for this song like on the single. It is very poppy and out of place in contrast to the psychedelic explorations of the other songs.
The second set starts off with the “Beck’s Bolero” instrumental. The Tim Rose cover “Morning Dew” sounds mesmerizing in this arrangement and is the highlight of the set. The ten minute long “Mother’s Old Rice Pudding” contains a short drum solo. The evening comes to a close with “I Ain’t Superstitious.” Overall this is a nice improvement over Tour De Force and is an essential title to own.
1 Comment
I just happened to A/B this show and the one fairly recently released by Godfather as Miami Heat and they seem to be the same show, so I wonder what the correct date and location really is: the one provided here and on Tour de Force-Dallas 7/68 or the one on Miami Heat and the title I have it on (Like A Hurricane Plimsoul from about 15 years ago)-Miami 11/68? And who came up with the false date and locale (whichever it may be?).