Happy New Year! The press release says it all;
JEFF BECK RELEASES ‘EMOTION AND COMMOTION’ NEW CD FOR NEW LABEL RHINO 13 January 2010 Jeff Beck has completed his first studio album in 6 years. Recorded at Sarm Studios in London, the album was produced by the award winning team of Steve Lipson and Trevor Horn. The album is due on 12 April. It will be his first for his new label, Rhino and is called ‘Emotion and Commotion’. In 2009 Jeff performed all over the world to sold out shows in every city. In April Jeff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the 2nd time, by fellow luminary Jimmy Page. This was followed immediately by the release of the critically acclaimed ‘Performing Live at Ronnie Scott’s’ DVD and CD, now platinum in a number of countries. In October 2009 Jeff and his band performed an amazing set at Madison Square Garden in New York at the 25th Anniversary Concert of the Rock Hall of Fame which was broadcasted on HBO in the US. On the first night, Jeff was reunited with Stevie Wonder and performed ‘Superstition’, a song that had originally been written for Jeff. For the 2nd night, Jeff was joined by Sting, Buddy Guy and Billy Gibbons, closing his set with an extraordinary rendition of the Beatles track ‘A Day in The Life’. At the beginning of December, Jeff’s performance of ‘A Day in The Life’ from the Performing Live at Ronnie Scott’s DVD was nominated for a 2010 Grammy. On February 13th and 14th 2010, Jeff Beck will unite with Eric Clapton, performing 2 exclusive shows at The O2 Arena in London. Both bands will perform separately, followed by Jeff and Eric playing an extensive set together. The UK Tour Dates are as follows: OCTOBER 2010 Fri 15th Bournemouth BIC 0844 576 3000 Sat 16th Brighton Centre 0844 847 1515 Sun 17th Birmingham Symphony Hall 0121 780 3333 Wed 20th Glasgow Clyde Auditorium 0844 395 4000 Thu 21st Manchester Apollo 08444 777 677 Fri 22nd Sheffield City Hall 0114 2789 789 Sun 24th Bristol Colston Hall 0117 922 3686 Mon 25th Cardiff St David’s Hall 02920 878 444 Tue 26th London Royal Albert Hall 020 7589 8212 TICKETS: £36.50 £43.50, £35.00, £30.00 London SHOW TIME: 7.30pm ON SALE: Friday 11 December 24 HR TICKET HOTLINE: 0870 735 5000 www.bookingsdirect.com (agency& credit card bookings subject to booking fee)We know Jeff has guests on the new album, Joss Stone, Imelda May and others...just got the track list;
EMOTION AND COMMOTION 1. Corpus Christi Carol 2. Hammerhead 3. Never Alone 4. Somewhere Over The Rainbow 5. I Put A Spell On You 6. Serene 7. Lilac Wine 8. Nessun Dorma 9. Pristine Delusion 10. Elegy For Dunkirk**This is and add (1.19.10)...British blue-eyed soul singer Joss Stone will handle the vocals on "I Put A Spell On You" and "There's No Other Me", Imelda May sings "Lilac Wine", and Olivia Faith does "Elegy For Dunkirk" on the new Jeff Beck album EMOTION & COMMOTION, set for April 13th release on Rhino Records.
As the press release said Jeff will be touring to support this new CD, but we just learned of this bombshell (1.19.10), seems Tal Wilkenfeld won't be the bassist for the tour. Shortly after the dates disappeared from Tal's website, sources have said the tour line-up will be; Narada Michael Walden - drums, Jason Rebello - keyboards and Rhonda Smith - bass! Here's a new list of dates (thanks Doc);
Feb. 13 Sat...O2 Arena, London, England w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 14 Sun...O2 Arena, London, England w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 18 Thur..Madison Square Gardens, NY w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 19 Fri...Madison Square Gardens, NY w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 21 Sun...Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 22 Mon...Bell Centre, Montreal, QC w/ Eric Clapton Mar.20 Sat…The Olympic Hall, Seoul, Korea Mar.22 Mon…HK International Airport, Asia World Expo Arena Mar.25 Thur...Adelaide, Australia Mar.26 Fri...Melbourne, Australia Mar.28 Sun...Fremantle Park, Fremantle, Australia Mar.30 Tue...Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia Mar.31 Wed…Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia Apr. 1 Thur...The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia Apr. 2 Fri...Blues Fest, Byron Bay, Australia Apr. 5 Sat…Nagoya, Shimin Kaikan Apr. 7 Wed...Osaka, Japan Apr. 8 Thur...Hyogo, Japan Apr. 10 Sat...Tokyo (JBC Hall) Apr. 12 Mon...Tokyo (International Forum) Apr. 13 Tue...Tokyo (International Forum) Apr. 18 Sun…Penchanga Entertainment Center, Temecula, CA Apr. 19 Mon…4th and B, San Diego, CA Apr. 27 Tue…Brady Theatre, Tulsa, OK May 2 Sun. New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival *,New Orleans, LA Jun. 18 Fri...Eastman Theatre, Rochester, NY (8PM show) Jun. 18 Fri...Eastman Theatre, Rochester, NY (11PM show) Jun. 26 Sat...Crossroads Festival, Chicago, Ill (tba) Oct. 15 Fri...Bournemouth BIC Oct. 16 Sat...Brighton Centre Oct. 17 Sun...Birmingham Symphony Hall Oct. 20 Wed...Glasgow Clyde Auditorium Oct. 21 Thur...Manchester Apollo Oct. 22 Fri...Sheffield City Hall Oct. 24 Sun...Bristol Colston Hall Oct. 25 Mon...Cardiff St David's Hall Oct. 26 Tue...London Royal Albert Hall *exact date of Jeff Beck's appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has not been announced but it will be the 2nd weekend 4/29 thru 5/2.
Jeff's doing some press leading up to his appearance with Eric Clapton at the O2 in February...this iterview appearing in a recent Rolling Stone;
...Calling from his home in England, Beck is in the middle of scouring his vinyl collection for rare tracks to revive with Clapton Q: Which records have you been checking out? JB: Right now, Little Walter and Robert Johnson, looking for anything I might have missed, not that Eric missed much with Cream. But there might be a riff there waiting for us. Q: You replace Clapton in The Yardbirds - will you play any of those songs together? JB: Mention the word Yardbirds to Eric and he'll turn purple. I don't know why. They didn't serve him badly, and the certainly did't serve me badly. Q: Are you and Eric close? JB: There is a respect there, but we aren't bosom buddies or anything. I'm probably speaking out of turn, but we both have been striving for the same thing: to be recognized as guitarists. He's recognized; I'm not (laughs). Q: You have only six shows booked. Will you do more? JB: If Eric is up for it. He is a difficult character,and I'm difficult. But last time we played together, he seemed to be a lot warmer and a lot more content with his life in general. Q: Rod Stewart joined you for two songs at a L.A. gig in April. How did that go? JB I couldn't believe he showed up. He rang me the next day and said, "What about an album?", and I said, "Yeah, right," I am mildly interested, but it would have to be a genuine effort - not a weekend blues album. Q: He came close to a Faces reunion last year, but then he backed out. JB: I don't blame him. Let the memory carry. Rod's voice is different now. Roger Daltrey's voice isn't the same. Same for Robert Plant. If you can't hit the notes, then it's time to think about another form of music. by Andy Greene Rolling Stone Magazine issue 1099, January 21, 2010Jeff was in Los Angeles last week (Januray 13th). He appeared at the 'Jam For Ron Asheton', a charity event that benefits the LA Animal Welfare Trust Fund. It was arranged by the niece of the late Stooges guitarist Leanna Asheton. Here's a pic;
And now on to our latest find. Without the work of our internet bloodhound Ed Chapero, this
never would have happened. Thanks to Ed's tireless 'googling' for all things Jeff Beck, he
came up with the name 'Dean Garcia'. We found out that Dean had worked on some material
with Jeff in 2005, shortly after the album 'Jeff' came out. With Ed's help we searched for Dean
Garcia, found him and to our delight he agreed to send us a track that came out of those sessions!
The track is in our 'Sounds' page, we 'split' like we usually do so the entire track doesn't
appear but rather two is 'samples'. (This saves us a lot of anxiety wondering if we'll get a
'cease and desist' letter, Hah!) Here's is the info we got that accompanied the track.
SPACE CLOCKS INFO Recorded and Produced by Dean Garcia Written by Dean Garcia and Jeff Beck All Copyrights Dean Garcia and Jeff Beck Original 4 track Recording made in Stratford Studios 1982 Harmonic Guitar Loops and Keyboards by Dean Garcia Recording revisited early winter 2005 Lead Guitar by Jeff Beck Jeff Becks Guitar overdubbed at Riverhall Studios Edited and Recorded by Dean Garcia Space Clocks was originally recorded on a four track 1/4 inch Docorder multitrack tape recorder and a 1960's Orange PA mix board in 1982 by Dean on one of the first recordings he ever made whilst learning about multitracking and recording techniques. The basic track is made up of multitracked guitar harmonics, Roland Juno keyboard for bass, chords and space sounds. Having rediscovered the original mix on a dusty reel of tape almost 30 years later the track was digitally transferred and sampled for safe keeping. Shortly after the recording of Jeff's self titled album Dean and Jeff began a series of recording sessions at Jeff's home studio at Riverhall. There were around ten tracks recorded with view to develop them during months ahead. One of the guitar tracks recorded was on Space Clocks which was the last recording made during that time at Riverhall. Dean would then take all the recordings back to his studio in London to further produce and develop. Having edited and arranged the various passes of Jeff's guitar on Space Clocks the result is how you hear it on the track. Dean says it relates to what he found so special about Jeff's unique playing style and sound around the inspired Blow By Blow era of Jeff's work. Dark, mesmeric, thoughtful and very soulful. Unfortunately the recording sessions came to a halt and the spark of the collaboration just fizzled out. Maybe one day the tracks will see the light of day but at the moment they remain on an external hard disc in the exact same form and development stage as they were when they were originally recorded. Space Clocks has been singled out by Dean as it has that special 'moment in time' quality and a personal musical achievement and attachment to him. He feels that others who like both the moods of Dean's music coupled with a very distinct sounding Jeff Beck guitar will understand and enjoy the track enormously.Dean himself added;
That's pretty much as I remember it, I hope it's useful and interesting for you. Please keep me in the loop re any feedback or developments from here on in concerning the Space Clocks track. All the best Dean :)
With now four shows under their belts, Jeff and Eric's 'Together & Apart' tour rolls on. Seems to be well received, here's some press;
Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck team up for night of guitar bliss at Madison Square Garden By Jay Lustig/The Star-Ledger February 19, 2010, 1:56PM NEW YORK - Collaboration has been the dominant theme of the last decade of Eric Clapton’s career. He has recorded albums with B.B. King and J.J. Cale, and presented reunion concerts with his ‘60s power trio Cream and his old Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood. His latest partner, Jeff Beck, is perhaps the most surprising of all. Beck, 65, replaced Clapton, 64, as the Yardbirds’ lead guitarist in 1966, and the two have crossed paths occasionally since then. But their first major undertaking together is the series of joint concerts they are now presenting. They played together in Japan last year and in London last week, and kicked off a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Only two more joint shows, in Toronto and Montreal, are currently planned, though both men plan to spend much of this year on the road (Beck has three New Jersey concerts scheduled for June). Thursday’s show was split into three parts: Beck and Clapton sets, then a set together (with Clapton’s backing band). Lacking a common recording history but sharing a deep affection for classic blues songs, they spent most of their time together trading sharp, compact riffs on material like “Shake Your Moneymaker,” “You Need Love” (the predecessor for Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”), “Outside Woman Blues,” “Little Brown Bird” and “Wee Wee Baby.” Their fiercest duel came on the encore, the Cream-popularized blues classic “Crossroads.” Deviations from the bluesy norm included a celebratory take on Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher” and a cover of “Moon River” - yes, “Moon River” - sensitively crooned by Clapton but chosen, clearly, to spotlight the lyrical side of Beck’s guitar playing. In his own set, the casually dressed Clapton started with relaxed, acoustic versions of “Driftin’ Blues,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” “Running On Faith” and “I’ve Got A Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart” before getting to electric crowd-pleasers like “Cocaine” and “I Shot the Sheriff.” Beck - who still looks every inch the rock star, with his jet-black hair and sleeveless shirt - put his own stamp on material as diverse as the Beatles’ “A Day In the Life” and the Puccini aria “Nessun dorma,” with his guitar carrying the melodies (he doesn’t sing). His virtuosic three-piece band helped him steered many songs toward jazz-fusion territory; an orchestra with more than 20 pieces added rich textures to some numbers. These two guys have been leading contenders for the title of World’s Greatest Guitarist since the ‘60s, and there is no way a single show could resolve the question of who deserves it more. Beck was a little flashier, but never stooped to pointless showing off. Clapton never looked like he was trying hard, but still played with stunning dexterity. Call this one a draw.And from the New York Times; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/arts/music/20clapton.html
The Eric/Jeff O2 shows occured last weekend and were a hit...the kickoff event to the brief 'Together &- Apart' tour,
lots of press, here's a sample;
Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck, Together & Apart, The O2, London (Rated 4/ 5 ) Heroes together are a class apart Reviewed by Andy Gill The names Clapton, Beck and Page have assumed a hallowed status since they blessed The Yardbirds with some of the most startling and influential guitar parts of the Sixties. Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page played in the same line-up for a while but save for some brief encounters at charity benefit shows in the Eighties, Beck and Eric Clapton had not, until this tour, performed together. So this alliance of the two axe heroes of their age was an opportunity which no self-respecting air-guitar aficionado could miss. Not that there were many axe-hero moves to ape, both guitarists being the kind of technicians who let their fingers do the talking while their bodies remain comparatively still. The excitement resided in the sound, not the show. Before they closed the show together, each played an hour-long set with their own band, in which the differences in their styles, magnified by close-up screen shots of dazzling fret- and finger-work, were made evident. Both played Strats, but in strikingly different manners: while Clapton used a plectrum, Beck employed a long thumbnail for the most part, his fingers dallying delicately over the tremolo arm with which he inscribed those long, aching passages, rock's closest equivalent to a dying swan. Clapton eschewed the whammy bar in favour of dauntingly precise string-bending, stretching notes fluidly into one another. With a small orchestra augmenting his power-trio, Beck's set was partly drawn from his forthcoming Emotion & Commotion album, being a characteristic mix of whizz-bang funk-rock licks stuffed with stunt-guitar phrases, such as "Led Boots" and "Hammerhead", and subtler pieces like "Corpus Christi Carol" and a beautiful version of the Irish air "Mna Na Heireann", performed with the violinist Sharon Corr. The singer Joss Stone appeared for incendiary runs through "There's No Other Me" and "I Put A Spell On You", she and Beck egging each other to ever more dynamic delivery. The most impressive female performer of the evening, however, was surely Beck's new bassist, Rhonda Smith, a statuesque slap-bass virtuoso whose hands were a constant blur alongside the Uncle Fester-esque drummer Narada Michael Walden. Beck's set closed with a hauntingly beautiful version of "A Day In The Life", which combined his hard and soft techniques, before a seated Clapton eased into his own set with a few gentle acoustic blues numbers, Charles Brown's "Driftin' Blues" leading into a relaxed "Layla". After he strapped on his trademark light-blue Strat it was a short while before optimum sound-balance was achieved, but by the time his choppy offbeats led into "I Shot The Sheriff" everything was running perfectly. This was quite brilliant, a seamless blend of high-end soloing and funky low-end chording, essayed with a fluidity that was simply sensational, a reminder that true guitar artistry is not simply a matter of speed or technique - both of which he has in spades - but depends more on taste and subtlety, elements which are abundantly available to the mature Clapton. Clapton's crowd-pleasing classics like "Cocaine", "Wonderful Tonight" and a taut, funky "Crossroads" were followed by a third set, of Beck and Clapton together, with loose, limber blues like "Shake Your Moneymaker" and "You Need Love" interspersed with gentler pieces like "Moon River", on which Beck demonstrated his peerless, delicate way with sustain. A rousing run through Sly Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" brought things to a head before Clapton sprang a little surprise by leading into an encore of "Hi Ho Silver Lining", the hit so disdained by Beck, who nevertheless laid down a brusque, bruising solo break and sang a verse in good humour, chuckling in embarrassment. As the two guitar greats strolled off, smiling, arm in arm, we were left to wonder if any comparable guitar summit would ever happen again. Maybe with Jimmy Page completing the great Yardbirds lineage? Just a thought...Here's a complete setlist for both nights courtesy of our friend Hideki;
The O2 2010-02-13 Jeff Beck (Apart) Set Eternity's Breath Stratus Led Boots Corpus Christi Carol - bass solo - Hammerhead Mna Na Heireann People Get Ready Big Block There's No Other Me I Put a Spell on You A Day in the Life Eric Clapton (Apart) Set Driftin' Layla Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out Running On Faith When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful Tell The Truth Key To The Highway I Shot The Sheriff Wonderful Tonight Cocaine Crossroads Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck (Together) Set Shake Your Moneymaker Moon River You Need Love Outside Woman Blues Little Brown Bird Wee Wee Baby (I Want To Take You) Higher Hi Ho Silver Lining The O2 2010-02-14 Jeff Beck (Apart) Set Eternity's Breath Stratus Led Boots Corpus Christi Carol - bass solo - Hammerhead Mna Na Heireann People Get Ready Big Block Lilac Wine A Day in the Life Nessun Dorma Eric Clapton (Apart) Set Driftin' Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out Running On Faith When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful Tell The Truth Key To The Highway I Shot The Sheriff Little Queen Of Spades Cocaine Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck (Together) Set Shake Your Moneymaker Moon River You Need Love Outside Woman Blues Little Brown Bird Wee Wee Baby (I Want To Take You) Higher Hi Ho Silver Lining
As usual there's loads of stuff on YouTube from the concerts...couple of small notes, during the 'together' set Jeff plays with Eric's band. Also a lot of talk about Jeff's rig on the boards...he's seems to be using a Marshall Plexi with two straight bottoms. On top of one of the bottoms appears to be a small Fender tweed amp of some kind, looks almost small enough to be a Champ. Next to that is a rounded face silver device with sort of a grill on it. We think it's some sort of rotary speaker unit and the tweed amp might be driving it, we'll let you know when we find out for sure. As for guitars, as always his Vintage White Strat and for some of the 'together' set we've seen a newer looking white Tele with a blond neck.
As usual our recommendation if you want to see some pictures...www.gettyimages.com and www.rexfeatures.com but you have to go the Ross Halfin's site for the coolest backstage stuff, www.rosshalfin.com. Check his 'diary' for the 02 dates and you'll see that Ronnie Wood showed up for the Valentines Day gig with his 'new' girlfriend, OMG.
The grammy show was really cool. Almost out of the gate Stephen Colbert introducing an award asked his daughter 'Honey, do you know who Jeff Beck is?" She shakes her her head, 'No." Cut to Jeff and Imelda May laughing hysterically. “Well, you know the game ‘Guitar Hero?’ He has the all-time high score – and he’s never played it.” Good stuff. Later Jeff Bridges introduced Jeff as "Les' favorite disciple of all." for Jeff's tribute to Les, "How High The Moon". Jeff played a really nice sunburst Les Paul... Imelda May's vocals had a multi-track effect that mimiced Mary Ford's vocal on the record. Oh and Jeff won a Grammy for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" - 'A Day In The Life' from 'Live This Week At Ronnie Scott's'.
On February 2nd, just prior to the Grammys, this item passed on the wires; Guitar legend Jeff Beck has had adapt the way he plays the instrument after slicing off the tip of his all-important right index finger with a chef's knife. The former Yardbirds star tells me he was preparing to host a dinner party for friends at his home in East Sussex when he cut himself while chopping carrots. Extraordinarily, his wife, Sandra, managed to glue the top of the digit back on before he went to hospital. He tells me: 'It forced me to make adjustments - basically to re-learn how to play within these new constraints.' Fortunately, Beck, who won a Grammy at the weekend, is regaining some feeling in his finger. We didn't notice any sort of finger problem at the Grammys or 02 shows so Jeff must be a quick healer.
The week of the Grammys Jeff was seen at the Sunset Marquis, his usual hotel when he's in LA. Also seen at the Sunset Marquis with Jeff was his manager Harvey Goldsmith and the head of A&R for Gibson, Pat Foley...wonder if he had anything to so with that sweet sunburst Les Paul Jeff used during the show! Jeff was also spotted at NAMM show being interviewed by a Fender rep and playing thru the new Fender G-DEC amp.
Again, with the Grammys, the new CD, the Together & Apart Tour, the solo tour there's is a media blitz going on. Jeff
on the cover of the new ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE (issue #1099), he is also on the cover of the UK magazine RECORD COLLECTOR
(February 2010 issue), a nice article and interview in the March issue of UNCUT Magazine (also a UK publication), he soon
will appear on the covers of GUITAR PLAYER and GUITAR WORLD magazines. He is the subject of a major story in the New York
Times and London's Sunday Times. He also will be doing some US TV appearances, we're expecting the usual...Letterman, Leno,
Fallon. Billboard also did a nice piece on him...here's the link;
http://www.billboard.com/#/news/jeff-beck-takes-risks-for-emotion-commotion-1004068476.story
The billboard article mentions Jeff is producing a rockabilly album for Imelda May's husband Darrel Higham (where does
he find the time?). And it's also rumoured Jeff will appear at Imelda May's gig at the Irridium Room in NYC June 12th and
13th we believe.
Here's the Sunday Times article;
From the Sunday Times Of London...2/7/10 Solo voyager Jeff Beck The guitarist has left many famous bandmates to pursue adventures in jazz and electro, but now rejoins with Eric Clapton. They say Jeff Beck can be an awkward character, so I start with an easy one. Tell me about the feverishly anticipated upcoming shows, I say. “You mean without spoiling them?” He smiles. Well, ahm, yes. “Impossible! I can’t talk about it, because there’s two major things that I hope are going to happen, and I don’t want to spoil them for anyone. Seriously, it’s like a story line from Coronation Street...” He leans back and laughs, and now I laugh too, mostly at the thought that his whole career reads a bit like a soap plot. When thousands trek out to the O2 Arena on Saturday for the first of two shows featuring Beck and fellow Yardbirds alumnus Eric Clapton, most will go knowing more about the Armani blues of the latter - which is a terrible shame, because Beck’s musical odyssey is by far the more interesting one. If anyone can ever be said to have rivalled Jimi Hendrix for mercurial brilliance as a guitarist, it’s him. Not for nothing did Hendrix make a point of playing with Beck whenever he could. At this distance, it’s hard to credit the fact that three of the beat boom’s great guitarists passed through the same group. Beck replaced Clapton in the Yardbirds’ lineup in 1965, joining Jimmy Page, later of Led Zeppelin, on lead guitar. They had a string of hits, such as Shapes of Things and the catchy For Your Love; and, perhaps more memorably, feature in one of the key scenes from Michelangelo Antonioni’s classic film of Swinging London, Blow-Up. In it, Beck, unable to make his guitar work on a nightclub stage, smashes the instrument against his amp: watch closely on YouTube and you’ll see that he looks a little sheepish, as if he has already realised that this scene isn’t going to be enough for him in the long run. Beck grew up in Wallington, Surrey, tuning in to Radio Luxembourg on a Tuesday night (“It was the absolute oxygen of life”), hoping to catch the latest single by Gene Vincent or Little Richard, or from Motown or Stax. So it’s no surprise that, when a rift with Page forced him out of the Yardbirds in October 1966, these became key influences on his new band, the Jeff Beck Group. Along with introducing Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood to the world, the Beck Group left behind two decent albums, Truth and Beck-Ola, not to mention a fearsome live reputation, especially in America. A last-minute decision to pull out of Woodstock on the grounds that his group wasn’t ready (something Beck confesses to regretting) strained his already fragile relationship with Stewart, who promptly left for the Faces, taking Wood with him. Beck assembled a new line-up, then another, then formed a supergroup with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, from Vanilla Fudge - all with steadily diminishing returns. Between 1972 and 1975, he released no records under his own name and had entered a musical and commercial crisis, during which he was forced to watch old bandmates such as Clapton, Page, Stewart and Wood become global stars. A painful split with his girlfriend, the model Celia Hammond, completed the picture. Things were about to get interesting. Discussing Beck’s “wilderness years” is a strange experience, because, although record companies and promoters might not have been beating a path to his door, his reputation as the guitarist’s guitarist was unassailable. During this period, he played the final Ziggy Stardust show with David Bowie, who had reportedly wanted him for the Spiders from Mars before settling on Mick Ronson, and had described Ronson as “my Jeff”. It has since also emerged that Pink Floyd had dreamt of Beck joining them. In the words of their drummer Nick Mason: “None of us had the nerve to ask him.” The guitarist also played on Stevie Wonder’s breakout album, Talking Book (Wonder originally wrote Superstition for Beck) and was asked to join the Rolling Stones as a replacement for Mick Taylor, but turned them down. Beck laughs a whole range of different laughs as he describes these events, by turns amused and frustrated with the perfectionism of his younger self. Sometimes, as in the case of Bowie, he only faintly understood what he was dealing with. “Oh, yeah. I just felt so out of my depth... all these girls screaming their heads off, then I start playing and they were screaming some more. I thought, ‘This is good!’ I’d never played that audience.” The glorious downside was Bowie’s failure to tell Beck that the show was being filmed, meaning the guitarist wore “the most disgusting pair of dirty-white stack-heeled shoes you’ve ever seen”. For a while, he actually refused to allow the footage to be used. “And Bowie rang me about 10 times and said, ‘Look, man, I understand about the shoes, ’cos I didn’t like what I was wearing either...’” The Stones were another thing entirely. Asked to travel to Rotterdam to record with the band, Beck found that they were auditioning guitarists. An air of dissolution surrounded them. “I told them, ‘No, I don’t do auditions. Seeya.’ And they said, ‘No, no. We’ve told the others not to come now you’re here.’” So he jammed with the Stones. Every musician’s dream in 1974, right? “It sounded awful,” Beck deadpans. “I can’t tell you how bad it sounded.” I start to laugh, but he’s not smiling. Blimey, he means it. What was the problem? “There was no precision.” Precision?! The Stones? His face softens and now he laughs. “I know, I know, that was the secret of their sound. Like, hello, Jeff! You’re not going to get James Brown tightness, but I was heavily into James Brown and Motown. I just couldn’t see myself doing it.” Until, that is, he passed the mobile recording unit on his way out, and the producer Glyn Johns poked his head round the corner. “He said, ‘Jeff, you gotta hear this!’ I was, like, ‘No, no, no. No thank you.’ But he said, ‘No, it’s amazing!’ And when I heard it, the sound was kind of amazing. I thought, ‘Oh, no, it’s crossroads time.’” In the end, Beck left a note recommending the soon-to-be Stone Ronnie Wood instead, complete with phone number. By then, the absurd level of megastardom attached to so many of his old mates had begun to repel him anyway, driving him inwards. “I thought, ‘So that’s the way it’s going, is it?’ That frightened me. I did not want that. I withdrew from the parade and found that I was more comfortable outside it.” He considered ditching the guitar for sax, but finally took refuge in an enthusiasm inherited from an uncle, car customisation. As he worked, he listened to radio and to tapes friends sent as sources of inspiration. Over time, he became intrigued by the jazz-rock fusion being mooted by the likes of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Shortly before visiting the Stones, he’d taken what he describes as “some really diseased-sounding demos... I mean, just awfully embarrassing” to the Beatles’ producer George Martin, who, to Beck’s great surprise, loved them. These evolved into the charged, sinewy instrumental album Blow by Blow, Beck’s Meisterwerk and - to my ears, at least - the only jazz-rock album really worth listening to. Both this and its follow-up, Wired, became million-sellers, encouraging Beck to keep pushing the boundaries. Five years later, in 1980, he was again experimenting, this time with electro on the vibrant, Hendrix-meets-early-Ultravox grooves of There and Back, whose opening cut, Star Cycle, became the theme tune to British TV’s best-ever music programme, The Tube. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Beck’s work was sporadic and mixed in quality, made no easier by his affliction with tinnitus. Then, around the turn of the millennium, he re-emerged with a trio of albums - Who Else!, You Had It Coming and Jeff - inspired by drum’n’bass and the big-beat techno of the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy. The last of these, in particular, is an interesting and immediate record that bears repeated listening, and earned Beck one of his five Grammy awards. He dates his enthusiasm for electronica all the way back to the early 1960s, when he and Jimmy Page heard an EP by the Dutch synth pioneer Tom Dissevelt. “It was just fantastic. [Pete] Townshend was the only other person I ever met who’d heard it, and he couldn’t believe that we had. It’s like other-world music, white noise and heavy bass lines... it screwed my head up for good.” Not much seems to remain of Dissevelt’s work, but a couple of tunes posted on YouTube are everything Beck claims for them, and shockingly modern-sounding. A new Jeff Beck album, Emotion & Commotion, overseen by Trevor Horn and boasting not just full orchestral accompaniment in a couple of places, but a pair of duets with Joss Stone (one being a fiery cover of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins/Nina Simone hit I Put a Spell on You), is set for release in April. In the meantime, attention will be focused on the shows with Clapton, and what those promised “surprises” might be. If they’re anything like the rest of his career, the last thing they’ll be is what anyone’s expecting.Here's some excerpts from the New York Times article...most of it we've heard before and we don't want to reproduce the whole thing because they're a squirelly bunch over at the Times..
“He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, and at the beginning was in major panic mode,” Lipson said in a telephone interview from his studio in London. “It was only through making the record and finding the pieces that he felt more at ease. I told him, ‘You are the greatest instrumental experimenter with melodies that I can think of, and that’s what we should concentrate on. And he agreed.”
On the band;
To support the CD Beck will be touring with a new band. He has retained the keyboard player Jason Rebello from his last ensemble but has brought in a new
rhythm section: the drummer Narada Michael Walden and the Canadian bassist Rhonda Smith, who spent nearly a decade recording and touring with Prince.
In the mid-70s Walden, fresh out of John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, wrote several songs for and played on “Wired.” Since then he has become a successful producer and songwriter for Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand. But he was willing to cast aside his aversion to long tours when Beck invited him to collaborate for the first time in more than 30 years.
“You look for the guys who can kick you” as a musician, “and Jeff can be filthy, stinky that way,” Walden said in an interview here. “He’s not just melody, or a guy who can make his guitar cry. He’s a funky cat too, always thinking about rhythm, and he has a fearlessness that makes him open to all kinds of material.”
On the 'biz';
On the business side, Beck also has a reputation as something of a contrarian, and has shown that trait in decisions that have ended up working to his detriment.
Booked to play at the original Woodstock festival, for example, he canceled at the last minute, a decision that so infuriated Stewart that he soon left the band in
favor of the solo career that made him the bigger name.
Even today, Beck remains suspicious of the machinery of the pop industry, expressing both puzzlement and disgust at the way the celebrity culture has swallowed other musicians.
“It’s a diabolical business,” he said. “I can’t imagine how hellish it must be to be hounded like Amy Winehouse and people like that. I have a little peripheral place on the outskirts of celebrity, when I go to premieres and that sort of stuff, which is as close as I want to get. I cherish my privacy, and woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with that.”
But Beck also realizes that he has paid a price for his perceived obstinacy. Asked if it frustrated him not to have enjoyed the same level of commercial success as peers like Clapton and Page, he first suggested that speculation was pointless but then said he tried to focus on the positive aspects of the choices he made.
“It’s no use, it’s spilt milk, it’s gone, it’s evaporated,” he said. “I suppose I could think of it as being too bothersome. But I could also look at it on the upside and say, ‘This is the only reason I’m still here, because I can almost promise you that I wouldn’t be here if I’d had a huge record in the 80s. And also, it doesn’t suit me. I like the fact that I can just bugger off and disappear.”
Again, here's the lastest tour list...a few adds since the last time;
Feb. 13 Sat...O2 Arena, London, England w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 14 Sun...O2 Arena, London, England w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 18 Thu…Madison Square Gardens, NY w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 19 Fri...Madison Square Gardens, NY w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 21 Sun...Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada w/ Eric Clapton Feb. 22 Mon...Bell Centre, Montreal, QC w/ Eric Clapton Mar.20 Sat…The Olympic Hall, Seoul, Korea Mar.22 Mon…Hong Kong International Airport, Asia World Expo Arena Mar.25 Thu...Adelaide, Australia Mar.26 Fri...Melbourne, Australia Mar.28 Sun...Fremantle Park, Fremantle, Australia Mar.30 Tue...Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia Mar.31 Wed…Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia Apr. 1 Thu...The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia Apr. 2 Fri...Blues Fest, Byron Bay, Australia Apr. 5 Sat…Nagoya, Shimin Kaikan Apr. 7 Wed...Osaka, Japan Apr. 8 Thu...Hyogo, Japan Apr. 10 Sat...Tokyo (JBC Hall) Apr. 12 Mon...Tokyo (International Forum) Apr. 13 Tue...Tokyo (International Forum) Apr. 16 Fri…Nob Hill Masonic Center, San Francisco, CA Apr. 17 Sat…Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, CA Apr. 18 Sun…Pechanga Entertainment Center, Temecula, CA Apr. 19 Mon…4th and B, San Diego, CA Apr. 24 Sat…Verizon Wireless Theatre, Houston, TX Apr. 25 Sun….Nokia Theatre, Dallas, TX (Grand Prairie) Apr. 27 Tue…Brady Theatre, Tulsa, OK Apr. 28 Wed…Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, MO Apr. 29 Thu…Fabulous Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO Apr. 30 Fri…Beale Street Music Festival in Tom Lee Park, Memphis, TN Check back on March 4 at 2pm for the line-up for 2010! May 1 Sat...New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans, LA Jun. 3 Thu…Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA Jun. 4 Fri…Foxwoods Casino. Mashantucket, CT Jun. 5 Sat…Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ Jun. 7 Mon…Wolftrap, Vienna, VA Jun. 11 Fri…Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA Jun. 12 Sat…Bonnaroo Festival Farm, Manchester, TN Jun. 14 Mon…Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ Jun. 15 Tue…Paramount Theatre, Asbury, NJ Jun. 17 Thu…The Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston, NY Jun. 18 Fri...Eastman Theatre, Rochester, NY (8PM show) Jun. 18 Fri...Eastman Theatre, Rochester, NY (11PM show) Jun. 20 Sun. The Fillmore, Detroit, MI Jun. 21 Mon…Murat Theatre - Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN Jun. 23 Wed…PNC Pavilion, Cincinnati, OH Jun. 26 Sat...Crossroads Festival, Chicago, Ill *a break and some European dates will be rolled out soon* Oct. 15 Fri...BIC, Bournemouth, England Oct. 16 Sat... Centre, Brighton, England Oct. 17 Sun...Symphony Hall, Birmingham , England Oct. 20 Wed... Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Scotland Oct. 21 Thu...Apollo, Manchester, England Oct. 22 Fri...City Hall, Sheffield, England Oct. 24 Sun... Colston Hall, Bristol, England Oct. 25 Mon... St David's Hall, Cardiff, Wales Oct. 26 Tue...Royal Albert Hall, London , EnglandBe seeing you