This week in June of 1969 Jeff Beck released his second studio album: “Beck-Ola”, and the first album credited to the Jeff Beck Group.  The album peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 15 and is considered a major influence on the future of hard rock and heavy metal.

According to JeffBeck.com the album “cemented the Jeff Beck Group’s place in rock history as one of the prime architects of heavy metal. “It is what it is,” Beck said, recalling the album fondly, “just a snapshot of the situation at the time. The talent was there. We were pioneering heavy rock, big time.”

The album cover is a reproduction of Rene Magritte’s 1958 version of “The Listening Room”.  The apple to Magritte was a symbol for the tension between hidden and visible. Why this painting was chosen for the album remains something of a mystery, but it may just be an expression of adding something new and hidden, heavy metal, to something old and visible, pop and early rock.

The members of the Jeff Beck Group for this album included Beck, Ronny Wood, Rod Stewert, Nicky Hopkins, and Tony Newman, a super group of talent by any measure.

Source: JeffBeck.com. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, 1977. Rene Magritte Organization. Graphic: Beck-Ola Album cover, Epic Records, 1969.