On Jeff Beck's Passing.

I am, for all my criticism, sometimes very severe, of Western Civilization, still remain intellectually and culturally largely a Western man, despite me being Russian and being proud of it, and there is no contradiction here. But, as with Russia in 1990s, who after shedding what, incorrectly, was termed in the West a "communism", suddenly recognized that there was a lot of truly good and worthy of preserving in Soviet experiences, the same could be said about the West. Yes, not everything, by far, what was produced by the West was evil, nor were many people who, in the end, gave us a magnificent culture, art, flourishing of the science, in the end--humanism is a Western idea in many respects rooted in Christianity. 

Looking today at a perversion and degeneracy which current Western culture is, we should keep in mind this simple truth--even through the counter-culture of the 1960s some wonderful artistic beauty was produced, and even rebellious rock'n'roll gave us music and artistic gems, not to mention the sense of human and artistic freedom, whose durability is not doubted anymore. As late John Lord of Deep Purple correctly observed: "We are as valid as anything by Beethoven." He nailed it, it is absolutely true. Jeff Beck was as valid as anything by Beethoven and he was one of the pioneers and a titan of the rock and blues guitar, while also remaining, what many people confirm, a very decent fellow. Look at Steve Vai today, who combines music genius and virtuosity with being a good man. 

These are people who left a profound mark not just on modern music (I do not consider blues, jazz and progressive rock a pure pop-music), but on culture itself and they touched very many people on each continent and broke cultural barriers. This is some accomplishment, both Tchaikovsky and Mozart would be proud of. And so, Jeff Beck joined today the pantheon of one of the most impactful musicians of all time in heaven, and there is nothing wrong with admiring this magnificent "product" of Western Civilization, because he was good. 

I love the vocalist of Jeff Beck's group. The boy has a great future. What's the name of his, something like Rod something Stewart. If he will continue to work on his vocals, he may eventually get a contract with recording company;))