San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
JEFF BECK, JOHNNY DEPP COLLABORATION IS A MAJOR MISFIRE
Electric guitar master Jeff Beck has deftly accomplished myriad feats of six-string magic over the years, as befits a dazzling musical wizard whose fans have ranged from onetime recording partner John Mclaughlin to the young
Jimi Hendrix.
Alas, even Beck isn’t capable of making Johnny Depp disappear. Such an accomplishment would immeasurably improve “18,” this unlikely duo’s first (and, one hopes, last) joint album.
Beck, a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, met three-time Oscarnominated
actor Depp — an avocational guitarist and vocalist — in Japan in 2016. The two began recording what became “18” in 2019.
Given Depp’s marginal musical skills as an at-best average rhythm guitarist and even less able vocalist, it is easy to see why he would be eager to team up with the legendary Beck. What Depp’s allure might be to Beck is difficult to determine, although Beck offered a key nonmusical reason in a recent news release, stating: “Every time we’re together, it’s nonstop laughter.”
Nonstop laughter does not, unfortunately, make for memorable music. The only chuckles “18” might inspire are the kind that accompany head-shaking and eyebrow-raising bewilderment.
Beck, as he has demonstrated since rising to prominence with The Yardbirds in England in the mid-1960s, has a sound and style all his own. His impeccable tone, exquisite phrasing and deeply felt playing are matched by his imagination, exacting command of dynamics and oh-so-nimble touch, whether caressing a note or soaring into the stratosphere.
Depp — who dominated headlines and the Internet earlier this year during his contentious libel case against his former wife, Amber Heard — has none of Beck’s attributes.
His rhythm guitar playing is passable at best, although not especially audible here (which may be a good thing). His vocals, which are pompously recited almost as often as they are sung, are negligible.
It’s a mystery, then, why anyone thought it was a sound idea to have Depp team with Beck to perform almost unlistenable versions of The Everly Brothers’ “Let It Be Me” and Janis Ian’s “Stars.”
Depp’s falsetto on his and Beck’s rendition of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “Ooo Baby Baby” isn’t awful, just bland and sterile, which may be worse. But it’s still better than his mangling of Marvin Gaye’s epic “What’s Going On,” which ignites only when Beck’s shimmering guitar work “sings” the lead vocal parts.
Things improve dramatically on Beck’s luminous instrumental versions of Irish uilleann pipes virtuoso Davy Spillane’s “Midnight Walker” and two Beach Boys’ gems, “Caroline, No” and “Don’t Cry (Put Your Head On My Shoulder).”
The album’s nadir comes on one of the two songs written by Depp, “Sad Mother (Expletive) Parade,” on which his affected, electronically altered vocals at times sound like a very drunk Lou Reed attempting to rap. The caustic lyrics are intoned with such hipsterish pretention that maybe this is what Beck meant when he referred to “nonstop laughter.”
Less funny is the Aug. 5 disclosure that the lyrics to “Sad Mother (Expletive) Parade” — which is credited to Depp and Beck — contain lines that appear to have been taken, almost word for word, from “Hobo Ben,” a 1964 poem by Slim Wilson that was published in a 1974 book. Wilson then recorded “Hobo Ben” as a song in 1976.
In response to press inquiries, a representative for Beck and Depp released a statement regarding the apparent similarities: “We are reviewing the inquiry relating to the song ‘Sad Mother (Expletive) Parade’ on the ‘18’ album by Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp. If appropriate, additional copyright credits will be added to all forms of the album.”
With or without any plagiarism, a cynic might ponder if Depp paid (that is, underwrote) the production costs to make “18” as a way to get co-billing on an album with Beck. Even if this largely dispensable album quickly disappears, which seems likely, Beck may end up paying for it — at least in terms of his musical credibility — for some time to come.