Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 17, 2018

Let’s put aside for a moment that Jeff Beck incorrectly spells his full name Geoffrey (that’s a joke for those wondering). Despite that obvious faux pas, Jeff never quite seems to get the respect he’s just as obviously due. In doing a little (completely non scientific) survey of friends whom I asked to name the “best” guitarist (without specifying jazz, rock, or any other idiom), I got a smattering of Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and even a passing John McLaughlin or two, but absolutely no Jeff Beck. Even the venerable Rolling Stone with one of their endless “lists” of the “greatest” in this or that category and/or instrument gave Beck fifth place in its aggregation of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (I always wonder about these “all time” lists — are they subject to change if some new virtuoso “suddenly” shows up?). Beck hasn’t even gotten much respect on the Blu-ray front, with a handful of releases that include Jeff Beck: Live at the Hollywood Bowl , Jeff Beck: Live in Tokyo, Jeff Beck Rock & Roll Party: Honoring Les Paul and Jeff Beck: Performing This Week... Live at Ronnie Scott's. Forsaking the concert video format that is featured on the foregoing releases, Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story takes more of a biographical approach which may remind some of the old Behind the Music series.

While there’s probably nothing (or at least not much) in this piece that will surprise the ardent Beck fan who knows the general outlines of Jeff’s life, there’s still some really great content to be had, including a chance to see Jeff at work in his home garage tooling around with his incredible collection of vintage cars. In fact, the entire documentary features his pegboard tool wall as a kind of framing device, with “fake” license plates documenting various eras of Beck’s life serving almost as introductory title cards (see screenshot 6 for just one example). (Jeff's collection of vintage vehicles could give Jay Leno a run for his money.)

A huge assortment of notables (no pun intended) are on hand to deliver talking head assessments, and Jeff’s celebrity fans in this regard include a who’s who of famous guitarists and other instrumentalists, including Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and Joe Perry (to name just three). Even some of these people comment on how Jeff has arguably never been as appreciated by the “masses” (as one of them puts it) as his talents might indicate, but that lack of public recognition doesn’t really diminish his incredible achievements, which are amply cited throughout this engaging piece. Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story moves more or less chronologically through Jeff’s life, beginning with some sweet childhood memories of his piano playing mother and then moving on to his youthful infatuation with his own handmade guitar.

The documentary covers all the big moments in Beck’s rather incredible career, including his early collaborations with the likes of Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, both of whom are here to offer heartfelt reminiscences. But there are some really cool little factoids buried in seeming sidelines. One vignette talks about Beck’s now legendary solo on Stevie Wonder’s “Lookin’ for Another True Love” (a solo where even Stevie calls out Jeff’s name mid-solo, perhaps in awe), but then gets into Jeff’s involvement in the creation of “Superstition”. I frankly had never heard this before, though I was aware of Jeff’s “cover version” with Beck, Bogert and Appice (which is sampled here). It’s “little” moments like these that give Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story some of its most memorable information, however slight it may be.

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer (mostly ) in 1.78:1 (some archival footage tends to hover more around Academy Ratio, as can be seen in a couple of the screenshots accompanying this review). As tends to be the case with these documentaries cobbled together from a wide variety of source material, there's a somewhat heterogeneous appearance on display here. All of the contemporary interview segments look nicely sharp and well detailed, though the palette can be just a little tamped down at times. There are snippets from at least a couple of the other Beck Blu-rays cited above, and even here video quality can vary at least slightly. The archival footage can frankly look pretty rough quite a bit of the time, with old school video anomalies like ghosting.

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story features LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio options. As tends to be the case even with some Eagle Rock concert videos, the disc is authored to default to the stereo track, and truth be told because this is by and large a talking head experience, there isn't a whale of a lot of difference between the two. Even some of the (at times quite brief) snippets of performance or other music uses don't really offer tons of immersion, perhaps because they are so short a lot of the time. One way or the other, fidelity is fine and all comments come through loud and clear. The disc does offer a glut of subtitles, including English.

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Live at Montreux 2007 (1080i; 21:00) offers LPCM 2.0 audio and features the following tunes:
  
  
• Eternity's Breath
• Freeway Jam
• Nadia
• Led Boots
• Blue Wind

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Still on the Run: The Jeff Beck Story may not offer any big new revelations about its title musical hero, but it is consistently interesting and it certainly offers a wide array of commentators discussing Jeff, his music and his basic approach to life (this is one putative superstar — however underappreciated — who doesn't seem to take his celebrity very seriously). Beck fans will almost certainly enjoy this, but it may even be liked by anyone with a fondness for virtuoso musicianship in any genre. Recommended.