Jeff Beck - 1991 "Beckology" [3 CD Box]

Beckology by guitarist Jeff Beck was released in 1991 as a 3 CD career retrospective. Beckology covers the work of a guitarist widely acknowledged as one of the most influential and gifted exponents of the electric guitar, from early days with The Tridents through to his Guitar Shop album in 1989.

• Volume 1 includes previously unreleased tracks from The Tridents, earthy mono recordings of Yardbirds classics like "Steeled Blues" and "Heart Full of Soul", four tracks from a Yardbirds BBC session, and Jeff's first solo single sides.

• Volume 2 covers both incarnations of The Jeff Beck Group which each released two albums and finishes with Beck, Bogert and Appice tunes. Highlights here include the reworking of the Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things" with Rod Stewart on vocals, the driving "Plynth", the beautiful guitar work on "Definitely Maybe" and the reworking of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition".

• Volume 3 tracks through what the sleeve notes call the "instrumental era" of the 1970s with tracks from the jazzy Blow by Blow and the acclaimed George Martin produced Wired albums. There is a live performance of "Freeway Jam" from 1977 with Jan Hammer, with whom Jeff had been touring and collaborated with as most recently as 2004, before concluding at the 1980s with Flash tracks like "People Get Ready" and Guitar Shop tracks like "Big Block" and "Where Were You".

A 60-page booklet comes with the album, and includes a biography by Gene Santoro.

This triple-CD set -- obviously modeled after the four-CD Eric Clapton Crossroads box -- was the first attempt to survey Jeff Beck's entire career. In actual fact, that would be a hopeless task, given the amount of anonymous session work that the guitarist did circa 1964-1966, but Beckology still manages to touch a few unexpected bases, even as it strings together all of the obvious and most of the important sides in Beck's output. Disc one opens with the most alluring part of the entire set, three demo tracks left behind by Beck's 1963-1965 group, the Tridents; the first official releases by this band are of far more than academic interest, presenting a first-rate blues/R&B outfit supercharged by Beck's guitar and Ray Cook's drumming, doing killer Jimmy Reed and Bo Diddley material, and even showing off Beck's prowess as a singer. The next 15 tracks represent the core of the Yardbirds' output during Beck's tenure, which lasted from March of 1965 through the summer of 1966 -- anything here could justify a place on a Yardbirds best-of set; the makers have rounded this disc out with four live cuts by the band from the BBC archives, including Beck's extraordinary homage to Elmore James' guitar playing on "The Sun Is Shining" and the unheralded group original "Love Me Like I Love You", and finish the platter with Beck's first three solo single sides, two of which, "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tally Man," comprise the guitarist's brief, achingly beautiful virtuoso digression into trippy psychedelic pop, before he broke through to the more fertile field of what came to be known as heavy metal. Disc two is all of that, made up of the core of his output with the Jeff Beck Group and Beck Bogert & Appice, the latter filled out with a pair of previously unissued tracks: a live version of "Blues Deluxe/BBA Boogie" and "Jizz Whizz." Disc three skips across Beck's instrumental sides off of Blow by Blow, Wired, and There and Back and his tour with the Jan Hammer Group from the later 1970s, and wraps up with ten songs from Flash and Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop, sandwiching some key odd singles and Beck's contributions to the soundtracks of the movies Twins and Porky's Revenge. There are flaws in this set, to be sure; originally conceived as a four-disc retrospective, it was reduced to three, over Beck's wishes that some proposed cuts be omitted and Sony Music's timidity over the sales prospect of the four-CD set. But it is a good package within those boundaries, with fairly thorough annotation accompanied by great photos and a Pete Frame family tree, and, above all, excellent tape research -- not only were the right masters (i.e., the mono masters) used on "Hot House of Omagarashid" and "Lost Woman," but this is also the only CD package to combine the Yardbirds' 1965 catalog material with their 1966 tracks (owned by separate parties who will not get together). The mastering of it all is so clean that it put most of the older versions of this material to shame at the time. 

This is a CD spanning Jeff Beck's entire career. It starts with the Tridents and goes all the way through Jeff Beck's guitar shop.
As you probably know Jeff Beck was with the Yardbirds and later in the Jeff Beck Group along with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.
He also was with Beck, Bogart and Appice and another formation of the Jeff Beck Group with a different cast.
With Blow By Blow in the early 70's he started his instrumental phase which he continues to this day.
Beck has always been known but never in the forefront.
You get all the classic Yardbirds hits like Heart Full of Soul, I'm a Man, Shapes of Things,Over Under Sideways Down and Happenings Ten Years Ago.
You also get his classics with Rod Stewart including Jailhouse Rock, Plynth (water down the drain) among others.
And his work with BB&A including Superstition, Black Cat Moan.
You also get his instrumental era including Cause We Ended As Lovers,Freeway Jam, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, Love is Green and the Pump from There and Back.
Also included is his duet with Rod Stewart, People Get Ready, a killer version of Sleep Walk, Big Block and Where Were You.
This is an Anthology that any Jeff Beck fan should not be without.

Track Listings:

Disc: 1
1. Trouble In Mind - The Tridents
2. Nursery Rhyme (Live) - The Tridents
3. Wandering Man Blues - The Tridents
4. Steeled Blues - The Yardbirds
5. Heart Full Of Soul - The Yardbirds
6. I'm Not Talking - The Yardbirds
7. I Ain't Done Wrong - The Yardbirds
8. The Train Kept A-Rollin' - The Yardbirds
9. I'm A Man - The Yardbirds
10. Shapes Of Things - The Yardbirds
11. Over Under Sideways Down - The Yardbirds
12. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago - The Yardbirds
13. Hot House Of Omagarashid - The Yardbirds
14. Lost Woman - The Yardbirds
15. Rock My Mind - The Yardbirds
16. The Nazz Are Blue - The Yardbirds
17. Psycho Daisies - The Yardbirds
18. Jeff's Boogie - The Yardbirds
19. Too Much Monkey Business (Live) - The Yardbirds
20. The Sun Is Shining (Live) - The Yardbirds
21. You're A Better Man Than I (Live) - The Yardbirds
22. Love Me Like I Love You (Live) - The Yardbirds
23. Hi Ho Silver Lining - Jeff Beck
24. Tally Man - Jeff Beck
25. Beck's Bolero - Jeff Beck

Disc: 2
1. Shapes Of Things - Jeff Beck Group
2. I Ain't Superstitious - Jeff Beck Group
3. Rock My Plimsoul - Jeff Beck Group
4. Jailhouse Rock - Jeff Beck Group
5. Plynth (Water Down The Drain) - Jeff Beck Group
6. Drinking Again - Jeff Beck Group
7. Definitely Maybe - Jeff Beck Group
8. New Ways Train Train - Jeff Beck Group
9. Going Down - Jeff Beck Group
10. I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You - Jeff Beck Group
11. Superstition - Beck, Bogert, Appice
12. Black Cat Moan (Live) - Beck, Bogert, Appice
13. Blues Deluxe/BBA Boogie (Live) - Beck, Bogert, Appice
14. Jizz Whiz - Beck, Bogert, Appice

Disc: 3
1. Cause We've Ended As Lovers - Jeff Beck
2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Jeff Beck
3. Love Is Green - Jeff Beck
4. Diamond Dust - Jeff Beck
5. Freeway Jam (Live) - Jeff Beck
6. The Pump - Jeff Beck
7. People Get Ready - Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart
8. Escape - Jeff Beck
9. Gets Us All In The End - Jeff Beck
10. Back On The Street - Jeff Beck
11. Wild Thing - Jeff Beck
12. The Train Kept A-Rollin' - Jeff Beck
13. Sleep Walk - Jeff Beck
14. The Stumble - Jeff Beck
15. Big Block - Jeff Beck
16. Where Were You - Jeff Beck 

Jeff Beck - 2003 "Jeff"

Jeff is the ninth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released on 5 August 2003 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 92 on the French albums chart and No. 122 on the U.S. Billboard 200. "Plan B" won the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2004 Grammys.

"If the voice don't say it, the guitar will play it," raps Saffron on "Pork-U-Pine," the third track on Jeff Beck's minimally titled Jeff. And he does. Beck teams with producer Andy Wright, the man responsible for his more complete immersion into electronic backdrops on his last outing, You Had It Coming. This time the transition is complete. Beck used electronica first on Who Else!, moved a little more into the fire on You Had It Coming, and here merges his full-on Beck-Ola guitar heaviness with the sounds of contemporary spazz-out big beats and noise. Beck and Wright employ Apollo 440 on "Grease Monkey" and "Hot Rod Honeymoon," and use a number of vocalists, including the wondrously gifted Nancy Sorrell, on a host of tracks, as well as the London Session Orchestra on others (such as "Seasons," where hip-hop, breakbeats, and old-school Tangerine Dream sequencing meet the guitarist's deep blues and funk-drenched guitar stylings). As for atmospherics, David Torn (aka producer Splattercell) offers a shape-shifting mix of glitch tracks on "Plan B" for Beck to wax on both acoustically and electrically, and make them weigh a ton. But it's on cuts like "Trouble Man," a purely instrumental big drum and guitar skronk workout, where Beck truly shines here. With a rhythm section of Dean Garcia and Steve Barney -- and Tony Hymas appears as well -- Beck goes completely overboard: the volume screams and the sheer crunch of his riffs and solos split the rhythm tracks in two, then four, and finally eight, as he turns single-string runs into commentaries on everything from heavy metal to East Indian classical music.

The industrial crank and burn of "Grease Monkey" is an outing fraught with danger for the guitarist, who has to whirl away inside a maelstrom of deeply funky noise -- and Beck rides the top of the wave into dirty drum hell and comes out wailing. For those who feel they need a dose of Beck's rootsier and bluesier playing, there is one, but the context is mentally unglued. "Hot Rod Honeymoon" is a drum and bass sprint with Beck playing both slide and Texas-style blues à la Albert Collins, letting the strings bite into the beats. The vocals are a bit cheesy, but the entire track is so huge it's easy to overlook them. "Line Dancing With Monkeys" has a splintered Delta riff at its core, but it mutates, shifts, changes shape, and becomes the kind of spooky blues that cannot be made with conventional instruments. His turnarounds into the myopic rhythms provide a kind of menacing foil to their increasing insistence in the mix. Before gabber-style drum and bass threaten to break out of the box, Beck's elongated bent-note solos tame them. "JB's Blues" is the oddest thing here because it's so ordinary; it feels like it belongs on an updated Blow By Blow. In all this is some of the most emotionally charged and ferocious playing of Beck's career. Within the context of contemporary beatronica, Beck flourishes. He find a worthy opponent to tame in the machines, and his ever-present funkiness is allowed to express far more excess than restraint. This is as fine a modern guitar record as you are ever going to hear.

Track listing:

01.    "So What"    Dean Garcia, Jeff Beck    4:19
02.    "Plan B"    Ron Aslan, Simon White, Beck, David Torn    4:49
03.    "Pork-U-Pine"    Beck, Andy Wright, Paul Holroyde    4:06
04.    "Seasons"    Ishmael Butler, Craig Irving, Maryann Viera, Syze-up, Beck, Wright, Matthew Vaughan    3:48
05.    "Trouble Man"    Beck, Garcia, Wright    3:34
06.    "Grease Monkey"    Howard Gray, Trevor Gray, Noko Fisher-Jones, Beck    3:34
07.    "Hot Rod Honeymoon"    H. Gray, T. Gray, Fisher-Jones, Beck    3:33
08.    "Line Dancing with Monkeys"    Aslan, White, Torn    5:18
09.    "JB's Blues"    Garcia, Beck    4:20
10.    "Pay Me No Mind (Jeff Beck Remix)"    Me One, Beck    3:18
11.    "My Thing"    Beck, Nancy Sorrell, Wright    4:10
12.    "Bulgaria"    trad., arr. Beck, Wright    2:00
13.    "Why Lord Oh Why?"    Tony Hymas    4:41
Total length:    51:35

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar, mixing (track 13), production (track 12)
    Saffron – vocals (track 3)
    Andy Wright – vocals (track 3), engineering (tracks 3–5, 11–13), production (tracks 3–5, 11, 12)
    Ronni Ancona – vocals (track 4)
    Nancy Sorrell – vocals (tracks 6, 7, 11)
    Apollo 440 – vocals (track 6), engineering (tracks 6, 7), production (tracks 6, 7)
    Baylen Leonard – vocals (track 7)
    The Beeched Boys – vocals (track 7)
    Me One – vocals (track 10), mixing (track 10), production (track 10)
    Wil Malone – orchestration arrangement (tracks 4, 12)
    London Session Orchestra – orchestration (tracks 12, 13)
    Steve Barney – drums (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11)

 More Jeff Beck on this blog:

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Beck, Bogert & Appice - 1973 "Beck, Bogert & Appice"

Beck, Bogert & Appice were a rock supergroup and power trio formed by guitarist Jeff Beck and evolving from The Jeff Beck Group. The line up included bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice who were both previously in Vanilla Fudge and Cactus. Beck, Bogert & Appice is the 1973 debut album by the band Beck, Bogert & Appice. The group was a power trio featuring guitarist Jeff Beck (who had already been a member of The Yardbirds).

The album contains Beck's version of the song "Superstition" which was written by Stevie Wonder. Beck had appeared on Wonder's original recording of the song in 1972. Beck, Bogert & Appice was released in both conventional 2-channel stereo and 4-channel quadraphonic versions. This was the band's only studio album, as Beck's departure forced a sudden dissolution in 1974.

One of the great things about Jeff Beck is his utter unpredictability. It's also one of the most maddening things about him, too, since it's as likely to lead to flights of genius as it is to weird detours like Beck, Bogert & Appice. It's hard to tell what exactly attracted Beck to the rhythm section of Vanilla Fudge and Cactus -- perhaps he just wanted to rock really loud and really hard, beating Led Zeppelin at their own game. Whatever the motivation, the end result was the same -- a leaden album, with occasional interesting guitar work smothered by heavy riffs and rhythms that don't succeed on a visceral level. It's a loud, lumbering record that may be of interest for Beck archivists, provided they want to hear absolutely everything he did.

In an era rife with hastily assembled supergroups, the union of guitarist Jeff Beck, vocalist/bassist Tim Bogert and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice into a power trio – named simply Beck Bogert and Appice – was unusually long in the making.

Although the power trio’s eponymous debut album was released in March of 1973, the three men had first discussed working together as far back as 1967, when Bogert and Appice still constituted the rhythm section of New York psych-rockers Vanilla Fudge, and Beck was constructing his first solo group following an angry departure from the Yardbirds.

But on that occasion, Beck wound up staffing the Jeff Beck Group with fellow Brits instead, recruiting Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Micky Waller on drums and Rod Stewart on vocals, while Bogert and Appice carried on a while longer with Vanilla Fudge.

It would take two years before the three musicians' planets aligned themselves once again and, by all accounts, the superstar Beck Bogert and Appice was primed and ready for action in the fall of ’69 – until Beck suffered a serious car accident that laid him out for the better part of a year.

Rather than sit around twiddling their thumbs, Bogert and Appice once again sought to find creative satisfaction elsewhere, forming Cactus with singer Rusty Day and guitarist Jim McCarty (formerly of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels), and quickly churning out four studio albums within the next two years.

At last, once Cactus was laid to rest in late 1972, Bogert and Appice finally joined a now-fully recovered Jeff Beck on the road in order to hone their musical chemistry, before heading into the studio to record their debut LP that December.

But while it was received by great fan anticipation and major press coverage a few months later, Beck Bogert and Appice ultimately climbed no higher than No. 28 in the U.K. chart and No. 12 in the U.S., where it scored only a modest hit single via a cover of Stevie Wonder’s "Superstition."

Perhaps the slight disconnect resulted from the broad range of musical styles covered here, which included everything from heavy blues to funk to vintage rock and borderline MOR moments. There was also the trio’s reliance on externally penned material – or even the simple fact that mainstream awareness of their names was no longer what it had been when the first flirted with collaborating, nearly six years prior.

Whatever the reasons, Beck Bogert and Appice still delivered more than enough instrumental virtuosity and sheer star power for musos and other serious devotees, who flocked to their concerts throughout 1973. What’s more, they generally testified to the incremental power they displayed on stage versus on record.

Alas, after touring extensively across the U.K., Europe, America and the Far East (where recordings were captured for Live (In Japan), which was rush-released that October), Beck Bogert and Appice disintegrated abruptly in January of 1974, having barely begun working on sessions for its proposed sophomore album.

Despite the lengthy lead-up and numerous false-starts, that was the end of this supergroup.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jeff+beck

 Track listing:

1. Black Cat Moan     3:47
2. Lady     5:33
3. Oh To Love You     4:05
4. Superstition     4:19
5. Sweet Sweet Surrender     3:58
6. Why Should I Care     3:33
7. Lose Myself With You     3:18
8. Livin' Alone     4:13
9. I'm So Proud     4:11

Personnel:

Jeff Beck - Guitar
Tim Bogert - Bass
Carmen Appice - Drums

Jeff Beck - 1975 "Blow By Blow"

Blow by Blow is the first solo album by British guitarist Jeff Beck, released on Epic Records in 1975, and recorded in October 1974. It was the first under his name alone. An instrumental album, it peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

After the dissolution of his power trio in the spring of 1974, Beck took time for session work with other groups. In December, a half-hearted "audition" for The Rolling Stones took place, Beck jamming blues with the band for one day, their incompatibility obvious to all, with the guitarist position vacated by Mick Taylor eventually going to ex-Jeff Beck Group bassist Ronnie Wood.
During this period, Beck decided to record an all-instrumental album, bringing back keyboardist Max Middleton from the second Jeff Beck Group and hiring George Martin to produce. Carmine Appice, who played with Beck in Beck, Bogert & Appice was involved in the writing and recording process of "Blow By Blow", but his parts were edited out after a dispute with Beck's management. The fourth key contributor to Blow by Blow after Beck, Middleton, and Martin was Stevie Wonder, who gave Beck his songs "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" (a tribute to Roy Buchanan) and the song Thelonius, Wonder playing clavinet on the latter uncredited. The former song appeared on Wonder's album Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta, made with his then-wife Syreeta Wright, while Wonder never recorded "Thelonius" himself. A cover of the Beatles song "She's A Woman" was selected, as well as a composition by Bernie Holland of the group Hummingbird consisting of musicians from the second Beck Group. The other five tracks were band originals with Beck and Middleton the main writers, and the last track on each side featured string arrangements by Martin. Beck dedicated "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" to fellow guitarist Roy Buchanan, with an acknowledgment to Wonder
Blow by Blow typifies Jeff Beck's wonderfully unpredictable career. Released in 1975, Beck's fifth effort as a leader and first instrumental album was a marked departure from its more rock-based predecessors. Only composer/keyboardist Max Middleton returned from Beck's previous lineups. To Beck's credit, Blow by Blow features a tremendous supporting cast. Middleton's tasteful use of the Fender Rhodes, clavinet, and analog synthesizers leaves a soulful imprint. Drummer Richard Bailey is in equal measure supportive and propulsive as he deftly combines elements of jazz and funk with contemporary mixed meters. Much of the album's success is also attributable to the excellent material, which includes Middleton's two originals and two collaborations with Beck, a clever arrangement of Lennon and McCartney's "She's a Woman," and two originals by Stevie Wonder. George Martin's ingenious production and string arrangements rival his greatest work. Beck's versatile soloing and diverse tones are clearly the album's focus, and he proves to be an adept rhythm player. Blow by Blow is balanced by open-ended jamming and crisp ensemble interaction as it sidesteps the bombast that sank much of the jazz-rock fusion of the period. One of the album's unique qualities is the sense of fun that permeates the performances. On the opening "You Know What I Mean," Beck's stinging, blues-based soloing is full of imaginative shapes and daring leaps. On "Air Blower," elaborate layers of rhythm, duel lead, and solo guitars find their place in the mix. Propelled by the galvanic rhythm section, Beck slashes his way into "Scatterbrain," where a dizzying keyboard and guitar line leads to more energetic soloing from Beck and Middleton. In Stevie Wonder's ballad "Cause We've Ended as Lovers," Beck variously coaxes and unleashes sighs and screams from his guitar in an aching dedication to Roy Buchanan. Middleton's aptly titled "Freeway Jam" best exemplifies the album's loose and fun-loving qualities, with Beck again riding high atop the rhythm section's wave. As with "Scatterbrain," Martin's impeccable string arrangements enhance the subtle harmonic shades of the closing "Diamond Dust." Blow by Blow signaled a new creative peak for Beck, and it proved to be a difficult act to follow. It is a testament to the power of effective collaboration and, given the circumstances, Beck clearly rose to the occasion. In addition to being a personal milestone, Blow by Blow ranks as one of the premiere recordings in the canon of instrumental rock music.

Blow by Blow served as a new creative peak for Beck and is, to date, his most commercially successful release. Offering a one-two punch of ingenious production and imaginative soloing, the wonderfully unpredictable guitar genius meshes stinging jazz-rock with string arrangements and energetic rhythm for You Know What I Mean; Constipated Duck; Air Blower; Scatterbrain ; Stevie Wonder's Cause We've Ended as Lovers; Thelonius; Freeway Jam; Diamond Dust , and a clever arrangement of Lennon and McCartney's She's a Woman .

Tracks Listing

1. You Know What I Mean (4:05)
2. She's a Woman (4:31)
3. Constipated Duck (2:48)
4. Air Blower (5:09)
5. Scatterbrain (5:39)
6. Cause We've Ended as Lovers (5:52)
7. Thelonius (3:16)
8. Freeway Jam (4:58)
9. Diamond Dust (8:26)

Total Time: 44:44

Personnel

    Jeff Beck – electric guitars, bass
    Max Middleton — keyboards
    Phil Chen — bass
    Richard Bailey – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

    Stevie Wonder — clavinet on "Thelonius" but uncredited on the album
    George Martin — producer, arrangements on "Scatterbrain" and "Diamond Dust"

Jeff Beck - 1969 [1997] "Beck-Ola"

 

Beck-Ola is the second studio album by English guitarist Jeff Beck, and the first credited to The Jeff Beck Group released in 1969 in the United Kingdom on Columbia Records and in the United States on Epic Records. It peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, and at No. 39 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's title puns on the name of the Rock-Ola jukebox company.

After the release of their previous album Truth, by the end of 1968 drummer Micky Waller was replaced by Tony Newman, as Jeff Beck wanted to take the music in a heavier direction and he viewed Waller as more of a finesse drummer in the style of Motown.[2] Pianist Nicky Hopkins, who had also played on Truth, was asked to join the band full-time for his work in the studio.

Recording sessions for the album took place over six days in April 1969 – the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 19th.[3] Two covers of Elvis Presley tunes were chosen, "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock", as well as "Girl From Mill Valley", an instrumental by and prominently featuring Hopkins. The remaining four tracks consist of band originals, with the instrumental "Rice Pudding" ending the album dramatically cold. The album cover features a reproduction of Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte's The Listening Room. On the back cover to the original vinyl issue, beside "Beck-Ola" is written the tag "Cosa Nostra", Italian for "Our Thing".

Following the sessions for this album, the Jeff Beck Group toured the United States. They were scheduled to play Woodstock and are listed on posters promoting the festival, but by then internal friction had reached the breaking point and both Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart were out of the band.[4] Stewart and Wood would form The Faces with members of the Small Faces in 1969, while Hopkins played Woodstock with Jefferson Airplane, joined Quicksilver Messenger Service, and toured the world with The Rolling Stones in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Beck himself would be out of commission by December due to an automobile accident.

When it was originally released in June 1969, Beck-Ola, the Jeff Beck Group's second album, featured a famous sleeve note on its back cover: "Today, with all the hard competition in the music business, it's almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't. However, this LP was made with the accent on heavy music. So sit back and listen and try and decide if you can find a small place in your heads for it." Beck was reacting to the success of peers and competitors like Cream and Led Zeppelin here, bands that had been all over the charts with a hard rock sound soon to be dubbed heavy metal, and indeed, his sound employs much the same brand of "heavy music" as theirs, with deliberate rhythms anchoring the beat, over which the guitar solos fiercely and the lead singer emotes. But he was also preparing listeners for the weakness of the material on an album that sounds somewhat thrown together. Two songs are rehauls of Elvis Presley standards ("All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock") and one is an instrumental interlude contributed by pianist Nicky Hopkins, promoted from sideman to group member, with the rest being band-written songs that basically serve as platforms for Beck's improvisations. But that doesn't detract from the album's overall quality, due both to the guitar work and the distinctive vocals of Rod Stewart, and Beck-Ola easily could have been the album to establish the Jeff Beck Group as the equal of the other heavy bands of the day. Unfortunately, a series of misfortunes occurred. Beck canceled out of a scheduled appearance at Woodstock; he was in a car accident that sidelined him for over a year, and Stewart and bass player Ron Wood decamped to join Faces, breaking up the group. Nevertheless, Beck-Ola stands as a prime example of late-'60s British blues-rock and one of Beck's best records.

 Track listing:

 All Shook Up    4:52
 Spanish Boots    3:34
 Girl From Mill Valley    3:49
 Jailhouse Rock    3:12
 Plynth (Water Down The Drain)    3:06
 The Hangman's Knee    4:48
 Rice Pudding    7:22

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitars, backing vocals on "Throw Down a Line"
    Rod Stewart – lead vocals
    Nicky Hopkins – piano and organ
    Ronnie Wood – bass guitar
    Tony Newman – drums

Jeff Beck - 1976 [1990] "Wired"

Wired is the third solo album by British guitarist Jeff Beck, released on Epic Records in 1976. An instrumental album, it peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

After the success of his previous album, 1975's Blow by Blow, Beck retained two of its key contributors for the follow-up, keyboardist Max Middleton and producer George Martin. Beck had also begun a musical relationship with former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer and drummer Narada Michael Walden; Beck would tour with the Jan Hammer Group after these sessions. The result of the interplay between Beck and Hammer was a more "synthesized" sound than that of Blow by Blow, hence the new album's title, Wired.

Although the band from the previous album appears on some tracks, four are originals by Walden and one by Hammer. Middleton contributed the homage to Led Zeppelin, "Led Boots," and Beck chose to interpret the Charles Mingus ode to saxophonist Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," from the classic jazz album Mingus Ah Um. These last two tracks have been long-time staples of Beck's performance repertoire.

Jazz-rock fusion music has had no greater exponent than Jeff Beck, whose latest album, Wired, demonstrates how vital this genre can be. Even more important, Wired presents Beck in a context that finally satisfies both his uncompromising musical standards and commercial necessity.

Beck's first group, the Yardbirds, was the most inventive of the early Sixties British blues bands and is now credited with producing three of the most important electric guitarists of the past ten years — Eric Clapton, Beck and Jimmy Page. Both Clapton (with Cream) and Page (with Led Zeppelin) became famous after leaving the Yardbirds.

But Beck remained a relatively obscure figure. This despite the fact that the hits following "I'm a Man" — "For Your Love," "Shapes of Things," "Over Under Sideways Down," "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" — were all powered by his brilliantly manic lead guitar. In comparison, Clapton was an extremely conservative stylist and Page, merely a technician. But Beck's guitar work was visionary: "Shapes of Things" shows his mastery over raga-style guitar solos and multitracking, ideas which were in their infancy at the time. Beck experimented with blues progressions, using feedback and other distortion techniques to push the electric guitar's expressive capabilities into new areas, as well as developing rock and R&B styles along the same lines.

After leaving the Yardbirds, Beck made a classic solo album, Truth, with a band which included Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. Page, meanwhile, formed his own band, Led Zeppelin, whose music was a variation on Beck's concept (compare the versions of "You Shook Me" on Truth and the first Zeppelin album). He returned two years later with a jazz-accented R&B outfit based around keyboardist Max Middleton and singer Bob Tench.

Their two albums featured a lighter, more progressive guitar style. But Beck was still not satisfied and tried a brief, disastrous fling into heavy metal with the ex-Vanilla Fudge/Cactus rhythm section of bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice.

Last year, producer George Martin reunited Beck and Middleton for their greatest collaboration, Blow by Blow, which became Beck's best-selling solo album and established him firmly in the jazz-rock hierarchy. But Beck was only developing ideas he'd been playing with for years.

On Wired, Beck invites a direct and favorable comparison with John McLaughlin (with whom he toured last year) by collaborating with ex-Mahavishnu keyboardist Jan Hammer and his band. Martin didn't score any of the horn arrangements because Hammer's synthesizer fills all those spaces, but the album is better recorded and has a much fuller sound than Blow by Blow. Middleton's contribution is still essential — his one song, "Led Boots," opens the album at its hottest pace and it's definitely enhanced by the interplay with Hammer's keyboards and Beck's guitar. Hammer's synthesizers work from Middleton's clavinet base, and Beck stitches runs in between.

Beck wrote no songs for this record in order to concentrate on his playing, but he dominates the album conceptually. You can tell "Head for Backstage Pass" is bassist Wilbur Bascomb's song from the bass solo that kicks it off, but from there it's all that Beck/Middleton Metal Motown Machine. Drummer Narada Michael Walden contributed four songs, three of which sound like they could have easily come from the Blow by Blow sessions. "Sophie" shows the distance between McLaughlin's cerebral meandering and Beck's incisive, witty compositional ability as the song moves from an introspective theme to an incredibly hard-edged exposition. Hammer swings here in a sweating, unself-conscious ride of pure joy that needs no guru for inspiration. Hammer's "duet" with Beck, "Blue Wind," builds phased rhythm guitars against the tension of those slogging, perfectly imprecise drums into an anthem pitch with furious guitar-synthesizer solo duels overhead. Beck's cover of the Charles Mingus ode to Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," is an unlikely if not unappreciated inclusion that seems too understated to clock in as more than a tentative exploration of an already well-covered tune, but Beck's soloing, as usual, carries it off with some bizarre phrasing and adventurous distortion.

Many of Beck's older fans claim he's toned down to play this music, but listening closely, you can hear all the fire and imagination that has characterized every phase of his career. Wired is the realization of a style Beck has been working toward for years, and should finally attract the recognition he deserves.

Recording any kind of full-length album is a challenge. Following up an LP that revolutionized rock guitar? That's another matter entirely — and the struggled faced by Jeff Beck as he entered the studio to work on his third solo release.
Beck's second solo album, 1975's Blow by Blow, which found him working alongside keyboardist Max Middleton and producer George Martin on a set of songs that placed him firmly at the rock/jazz fusion vanguard while catapulting him to fresh commercial heights. A Top 10 hit, it gave Beck his first platinum record — and expanded expectations accordingly.
Unsurprisingly, Beck opted not to reinvent his sound for the follow-up. Retaining Middleton and Martin, he added another pair of key contributors for the sessions: former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer and drummer Narada Michael Walden, both of whom brought original material to the table while broadening the sonic palette he'd employed for Blow by Blow.
Hammer in particular had an audible impact on the new songs, adding synth-derived textures to the arrangements and freeing up Middleton to focus on clavinet and Fender Rhodes. Walden, meanwhile, not only anchored the rhythm section, he wrote half the album, contributing four of the eight tracks recorded by Beck and the new band. The result, in a nod to the album's more electronic sound, was titled Wired.
Released in May 1976, Wired wasn't the groundbreaking effort its predecessor had been; instead, it found Beck building on the fusion template he'd used the previous year. Though the subgenre would soon devolve into an easy listening playground for lowest-common-denominator smooth jazz records, in the early-to-mid-'70s, fusion could be genuinely exciting, as proven by influential hits like Blow by Blow and Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters LP. With Wired, Beck used the arrangements as launchpads into challenging instrumental excursions that took advantage of jazz's freedom without sacrificing rock energy.
That rock/jazz blend was arguably best reflected in a pair of Wired cuts: the Middleton original "Led Boots," which led off the album with a nod to Led Zeppelin, and a cover of Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," which used the jazz legend's classic as a framework for some of Beck's finest guitar work. Throughout the record, the group showcased their rich interplay, summed up with a concluding trio of Walden tracks that left equal room for melody and instrumental virtuosity.
Their efforts were rewarded with another impressive showing on the charts. Although Wired didn't quite reach the heights achieved by Blow by Blow, peaking at No. 16, it added another platinum record to Beck's list of hits, and seemed to cement his status as a rare rock artist who didn't need vocals to enjoy consistent mainstream success. Dating back to 1972's Jeff Beck Group, he'd landed four consecutive releases in the Top 20, each of which had sold at least half a million copies.
Ultimately, Beck would find it difficult to sustain that momentum — his next studio release, There & Back, didn't arrive until 1980 — but the work he'd done throughout the '60s and '70s, capped with the commercial success he achieved with Blow by Blow and Wired, made him a household name while paving the way for decades of creative freedom.

http://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jeff+beck

Tracks Listing:

1. Led Boots (4:03)
2. Come Dancing (5:55)
3. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (5:31)
4. Head for Backstage Pass (2:43)
5. Blue Wind (5:54)
6. Sophie (6:31)
7. Play with Me (4:10)
8. Love Is Green (2:30)

Total Time: 37:17

Line-up / Musicians

- Jeff Beck / electric & acoustic (8) guitars
- Max Middleton / clavinet (1,2,4,6,7), Fender Rhodes (3,6)
- Jan Hammer / synthesizer (1,2,5,7), drums (5)
- Narada Michael Walden / piano (8), drums (1,2,6)
- Wilbur Bascomb / bass
- Ed Greene / drums (2)
- Richard Bailey / drums (3,4)

Jeff Beck - 1989 "Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop"

 

Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop is the sixth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in October 1989 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 49 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and won the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1990 Grammys; this being Beck's second album to win that award, after Flash (1985).

"Stand on It" was released as a single and reached No. 35 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart; "Sling Shot" was featured in the 1990 horror comedy film Gremlins 2: The New Batch; several other tracks were used as part of the soundtrack for the 1990 South Atlantic Raiders episodes of the British comedy series The Comic Strip Presents.

In a further move from his previous jazz fusion stylings, Beck adopts a more straightforward instrumental rock approach on Guitar Shop, save for two tracks ("Guitar Shop" and "Day in the House") on which drummer Terry Bozzio provides quirky spoken vocals.

Guitar Shop represents guitar hero Jeff Beck's return to the scene following his 1985 pop/rock-based recording, Flash; an outing that featured his one time lead vocalist, Rod Stewart. Essentially, this 1989 release provides Beck's ardent admirers with a power-packed outing, brimming with memorable melodies, drummer Terry Bozzio's often blistering rock drumming, and keyboardist Tony Hymas' effective synth textures. Here, Beck surges onward in altogether stunning fashion via his quirky lead lines, sweet-tempered slide guitar work, disfigured extended notes and deterministic mode of execution. With "Behind the Veil," the band delves into a reggae groove, featuring Beck's lower register thematic statements and well-placed notes. Otherwise, the ensemble tackles the blues and hard rock motifs amid Beck's crunching chord clusters, animated lines, and soaring heavenward soloing on the lovely and somewhat ethereal ballad titled "Two Rivers." Simply put, this is a wonderfully produced effort and a significant entry into the artist's extensive recorded legacy.

Track listing:

1.    "Guitar Shop"    Jeff Beck, Terry Bozzio, Tony Hymas    5:03
2.    "Savoy"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    3:52
3.    "Behind the Veil"    Hymas    4:55
4.    "Big Block"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    4:09
5.    "Where Were You"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    3:17
6.    "Stand on It"    Beck, Hymas    4:59
7.    "Day in the House"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    5:04
8.    "Two Rivers"    Beck, Bozzio, Hymas    5:25
9.    "Sling Shot"    Beck, Hymas    3:07
Total length:    39:51

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar, production
    Tony Hymas – keyboard (including bassline), synthesizer, production
    Terry Bozzio – drums, percussion, spoken vocals, production

Jeff Beck - 1977 [2008] "With The Jan Hammer Group (Live)"

Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live is a live album by Jeff Beck, released in 1977 on Epic Records.

This album is definitely an epic performance of Jeff and Jan, I have it in all the formats available, it is music that can be listened many times and never get old!

Starting with Freeway Jam, that's exactly the way an improvised song should sound, you can just feel how the power of these two monsters of music is just waiting to be unchained, and when the time comes, their soloing travels giving so much dimension to the song.

Later Jeff sings She's a Woman flooding the air with a guitar so sensual that it feels he is singing to her, and her moaning to the touch of his master hand, monumental version!

The album closes with a no less great tune, Jeff Beck at his higher, Blue Wind still has the flavor of The Jeff Beck Group, agressive, dynamic, taking music to the next level with a so revolucionary sound only Beck can project.

Jan Hammer's uncanny ability to simulate the pitch-bending qualities of an electric guitar on his Minimoog synthesizer made him an explosive duet partner with rock's Jeff Beck on this live album -- the third of Beck's successful flirtations with jazz-rock. While leaning toward the Mahavishnu Orchestra brand of jazz-rock, with the word "rock" heavily emphasized, this is a looser, less lockstepped variant. The song selection is split almost equally between Hammer and Beck's repertoires, with Hammer's remake of his techno/mechanized "Darkness/Earth In Search of a Sun" making the biggest splash.

Beck is a marvel, his stinging guitar darting in and out from everywhere like a hit-and-run guerrilla fighter, and Hammer matches him blow by blow, so to speak, with his purer yet equally agile tone quality on shootouts like "Full Moon Boogie." Hammer is a terrible vocalist, but that indulgence fortunately is limited to one track; Beck himself only vocalizes through a gauzy electronic filter on a reggae-like treatment of the Beatles' "She's a Woman." Though the jazz-rock idiom seemed almost spent by the time this was released, Hammer and Beck happily pretended not to notice.

No precise dates and locations are given for the live recordings. The tour began in June 1976 and ended in February 1977, with 117 shows performed.

A&R man Tom Werman suggested[2] that the date at the Astor Theater in Reading, PA (31 August 1976) yielded the best performances, and was going to provide the bulk of the album at the time of his involvement in the project. Beck mixed this along with other recordings at Allen Toussaint's studio in New Orleans.

Then Jan Hammer decided to mix the album himself, and did so with Dennis Weinreich at Scorpio Sound Studios in London, England.

The stereo spectrum of this album duplicates the stage set-up with guitar positioned center right, keyboards center left, violin right and drums and bass center.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jeff+beck

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=jan+hammer

Tracks Listing:

1. Freeway Jam
2. Earth (Still Our Only Home)
3. She's A Woman
4. Full Moon Boogie
5. Darkness /Earth In Search Of A Sun
6. Scatterbrain
7. Blue Wind

Total time 44:30

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck - guitar, bass guitar, special effects

The Jan Hammer Group

    Jan Hammer - Moog, Oberheim and Freeman string symphonizer synthesizers, electric piano, timbales; lead vocal on "Earth (Still Our Only Home)"
    Tony "Thunder" Smith - drums; lead vocal on "Full Moon Boogie"
    Fernando Saunders - bass, harmony vocals; rhythm guitar on "She's A Woman"
    Steve Kindler - violin; string synthesizer on "Darkness"; rhythm guitar on "Blue Wind"

Santana, Jeff Beck, Steve Lukather - 1987 [1992] "Lotus Gem"

In 1986 Steve Lukather played as a guest guitarist at the Lotus Gem concert with the Santana Band and the Jeff Beck Band (with Simon Phillips on drums). Another boost for Lukather, to play together with
one of his 'masters' (next to for example Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Larry Carlton, Jay Graydon, Eric Clapton and David Gilmour).
You can hear clearly that Santana was easily played away by Lukather. The competition between Lukather and Jeff Beck was more complicated. In a speed boogie like Freeway jam or Super boogie there's the pointed, sharp sound of Jeff Beck and the more sliding sound of Lukather. It's obvious that Beck doesn't matter to give in his stability in search for creative and unexpected peaks. Lukather on the other hand plays like the talented, skilled professional, the craftsman with his own style and a big sound. The choice is yours.

Track listing:

CD 1
01 - Into/Primaera Invasion (Santana)
02 - Black Magic Woman (Santana)
03 - Open Invitation (Santana, Lukather)
04 - Starcycle (Beck)
05 - Cause It Ended For Lovers (Beck)
06 - Wild Thing (Beck)
07 - Freeway jam (Beck, Lukather)
08 - Going Down (Beck, Lukather)
09 - Escape (Beck, Lukather)

CD 2
01 - Super Boogie (Santana, Beck, Lukather)
02 - Lotus Blues (Santana, Beck, Lukather)
03 - People Get Ready (Santana, Beck, Lukather)
04 - Johnny B. Goode (Santana, Beck, Lukather)
05 - Goodbye porkpie Hat (Beck)
06 - Love will (Beck)
07 - Ambitious (Santana, Beck)
08 - Stop look and listen (Santana, Beck)
09 - Blue wind (Santana, Beck)

Personnel:

Steve Lukather - Guitars
Carlos Santana - Guitars
Jeff Beck - Guitars

Beck's band:
Jan Hammer - Keyboards
Simon Phillips - Drums
Jimmy Hall Vocals & Sax
Doug Wimbish - Bass

Santana's band:
George Miles - Vocals
Chester Thompson - Keyboards
Armando Peraza - Congas
Orestes Vilato - Timbales
Tom Coster - Keyboards
Graham Lear - Drums
Paul Rekow – Percussion


June 1 Sun,1986: Suntory Beer Sound Market '86. Karuizawa Prince Hotel, Karuizawa, Japan

Jeff Beck - 2000 "You Had It Coming"

You Had It Coming is the eighth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in 2000 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 17 and 110 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively, as well as No. 96 and 123 on the German and French albums chart. "Dirty Mind", went on to win the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2002 Grammys; this being Beck's third such award, after the albums Flash (1985) and Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989). Singer Imogen Heap is featured on "Dirty Mind" and "Rollin' and Tumblin'", and would later tour with Beck in 2004.

Jeff Beck returns two years after the ten-years-in-the-making Who Else?, and You Had It Coming isn't surprising just for its rapidity, but for its music. From the moment the electronicized, post-rave beats of "Earthquake" kick off the record, it's clear that Beck isn't content to stay in place -- he's trying to adapt to the modern world. To a certain extent, this isn't an entirely new phenomenon, since each of his records is clearly, inextricably of its time, from the crunching metal of Truth through the breezy jazz fusion of Blow By Blow to the modernized album rock of Guitar Shop. This is just another side of that, as Beck works with electronic music, both noisy and new age introspective. It's a bit clever, actually, since Beck's playing has always been otherworldly, dipping, bending, and sounding like anything other than a normal guitar. The problem is, when he's surrounded by lockstep, processed beats and gurgling synths, his guitar doesn't leap to the forefront and capture attention the way it does on his best recordings. Still, there's something to be said for the effort, because even if it doesn't sound like a Beck record, it isn't a bad record, and it's certainly a helluva lot more successful than Clapton's similar forays into these waters. Besides, knowing that he knocked this out so quickly makes it a little endearing.

Track listing:

01.    "Earthquake"    Jennifer Batten    3:18
02.    "Roy's Toy"    Jeff Beck, Aidan Love, Andy Wright    3:35
03.    "Dirty Mind"    Beck, Love, Wright    3:50
04.    "Rollin' and Tumblin'"    Muddy Waters    3:12
05.    "Nadia"    Nitin Sawhney    3:50
06.    "Loose Cannon"    Beck, Batten, Wright    5:17
07.    "Rosebud"    Beck, Randy Hope-Taylor, Wright    3:44
08.    "Left Hook"    Beck, Steve Alexander, Wright    4:22
09.    "Blackbird"    Beck    1:27
10.    "Suspension"    Beck, Wright    3:20
Total length:    35:55

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar
    Jennifer Batten – guitar
    Imogen Heap – vocals (tracks 3, 4)
    Aidan Love – programming
    Steve Alexander – drums
    Randy Hope-Taylor – bass

Jeff Beck - 1999 "Who Else!"

Who Else! is the seventh studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released on 16 March 1999 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 99 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and marks the end of a decade-long absence of original material from Beck since the release of Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop in 1989. Stylistically it showcases the first addition of electronic and techno music into his repertoire, along with the blues-based instrumental rock and jazz fusion of previous albums.

Fellow guitarist Jennifer Batten, having often cited Beck's influence on her playing, is featured as a collaborator and subsequently joined him on tour for three years. The album features the collaborative songwriting of Tony Hymas. "Brush with the Blues" became a signature tune and concert staple, and along with "Angel (Footsteps)" made it onto his 2008 concert album Live at Ronnie Scott's. "What Mama Said" samples Dick Shawn's dialogue from the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Jeff Beck has never shied away from following trends, at least as far as the musical styles he uses to back up his signature guitar sound. Back in 1969, in a sleeve note on Beck-Ola, he noted that he hadn't come up with "anything totally original," and instead made an album "with the accent on heavy music" at a time when the "heavy music" of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin was all the rage. In 1975, at the height of the jazz fusion movement, he made a jazz fusion album, and a good one, too. In both cases, however, the fashionable genres only provided a contemporary-sounding context in which his playing could flourish. If anyone has ever needed to be inspired to work, it's this recluse. So on his first regular studio album of new material in ten years, Who Else!, Beck, on at least a few tracks, solos over heavily percussive techno tracks reminiscent of Prodigy. But whether he's piercing such a rhythmic wall, rearranging the blues on the live "Blast From the East," or floating over an ambient soundscape on "Angel (Footsteps)," it's the same old Beck, with his stinging and sustained single-note melodies, his harmonics, his contrasting tones, his drive. And the man who played "Greensleeves" straight on Truth in 1968 is the same one who is faithful to the Irish air "Declan" here. Older fans who haven't been spending time at raves in recent years may want to program their CDs to avoid the electronica, but they should at least give those tunes a listen -- are they any heavier than the "heavy music" of 1969?

Track listing:

01.    "What Mama Said"    Jennifer Batten, Jeff Beck, Tony Hymas    3:22
02.    "Psycho Sam"    Hymas    4:55
03.    "Brush with the Blues" (live)    Hymas, Beck    6:24
04.    "Blast from the East"    Hymas    4:46
05.    "Space for the Papa"    Hymas    7:41
06.    "Angel (Footsteps)"    Hymas    6:30
07.    "THX138"    Hymas    6:15
08.    "Hip-Notica"    Hymas, Beck    4:40
09.    "Even Odds"    Jan Hammer    3:29
10.    "Declan"    Dónal Lunny    4:02
11.    "Another Place"    Hymas    1:48
Total length:    53:52

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar, arrangement, producer
    Jennifer Batten – guitar, guitar synthesizer
    Mark John – guitar (track 10)
    Tony Hymas – keyboard (except track 9), sound effects, arrangement, production
    Jan Hammer – keyboard (track 9), drums (track 9)
    Simon Wallace – synthesizer (track 10)
    Steve Alexander – drums (except tracks 2, 9, 10)
    Manu Katché – drums (track 2), percussion (track 2)
    Randy Hope-Taylor – bass (except track 2)
    Pino Palladino – bass (track 2)
    Bob Loveday – violin (track 10)
    Clive Bell – flute (track 10)

Jeff Beck - 1995 "Best of Beck"

Ever restless as a musician and constantly changing directions and trying new things, guitarist Jeff Beck is difficult to reduce to a 14-track overview, although this set probably does as well as one could at sketching in the portrait. Beginning as a guitarist for the Yardbirds in the 1960s, Beck hit his stride with the Jeff Beck Group (which featured a then relatively unknown Rod Stewart as lead singer) later in the decade, and "Shapes of Things" (initially a radio hit for the Yardbirds), "Plynth," and "Beck's Bolero" are represented here from that era. Also here are several of Beck's mid-'70s fusion tracks, including "Freeway Jam" and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," as well as his 1980s reunion with Stewart, “People Get Ready.” Again, Beck is a difficult artist to capture in a single-disc drive-by, but for folks curious about this fine guitarist and wanting a quick sampler of his work in several of his various guises, this set works fine as an introduction.

This is the best kind of "best of" CD to own. With groups/artists that have had any measure of success on the charts what you always get is a collection of their overplayed "greatest hits," songs that may or may not truly represent the gist of what the musician/band is all about. But with more eclectic artists like Jeff Beck and Frank Zappa (the "Strictly Commercial" album is well worth the coin) such an assemblage of tunes isn't restricted to tired, familiar ditties and allows the listener to enjoy a compilation that contains outstanding aspects of their career. While I rarely agree with the tracks picked to include on these kinds of packagings, in this case I think they pretty much got it right.

My opinion is that all serious proggers should have some JB albums in their stash of music. But if you're a novice and you've been unsure about where to start with one of the very best electric guitarists who has ever graced this planet's contributions, this reasonably-priced overview of his career won't give you a false impression or let you down. Look, the man is important. So much so that I doubt that any guitarist worth his salt would deny being influenced to some extent by the amazing Jeff Beck.

Track listing:

01 The Pump    5:48
02 People Get Ready    4:54
03 Freeway Jam    5:00
04 Shapes Of Things    3:19
05 Where Were You    3:17
06 Beck's Bolero    2:52
07 Going Down    6:51
08 Jailhouse Rock    3:14
09 Goodbye Pork Pie Hat    5:29
10 Blue Wind    6:11
11 Plynth (Water Down The Drain)    3:06
12 Two Rivers    5:21
13 Scatterbrain    5:40
14 She's A Woman    4:29

Jeff Beck - 2011 "Rock 'N' Roll Party" (Honoring Les Paul)

Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul) is a live album by Jeff Beck, recorded as a tribute album to the late guitarist Les Paul.

The album is recorded at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City where Les Paul played almost every week until his death in August 2009. It was recorded on 9 June 2010, which would have been Les Paul's 95th birthday. The songs played were popular hits from the 1950s and 1960s, including many songs Les Paul played himself. Jeff Beck is joined by Imelda May and her band, in addition to Jason Rebello, Brian Setzer, Trombone Shorty and Gary U.S. Bonds. On some of the songs, May sings together with a pre-recorded voice of herself, imitating the recording technique used on songs sung by Les Paul's wife Mary Ford.

A year after Les Paul's death, Jeff Beck saluted the guitar pioneer by staging a rousing tribute show to the great man at Paul’s regular stomping ground, the Iridium Jazz Club. Backed by his current running mates the Imelda May Band, Beck enlisted some heavy-hitters for help -- Brian Setzer comes in for the rock & roll, Trombone Shorty for the jazz, Gary U.S. Bonds sings some oldies -- all the better to get the party started. Despite its title, Rock 'N' Roll Party skews ever so slightly to the old-fashioned swing and standards that were Paul's specialty and with the notable exception of tightly wound versions of “The Train Kept A Rollin’” and “Twenty Flight Rock,” even the rockers feel closer to jump blues than rockabilly. And that’s fine: a tribute to Les Paul's music shouldn’t be greasy, it should be a jumping, joyous blast of nostalgia, which is precisely what this party is.

Track listing:

01.    "Double Talking Baby" (feat. Darrel Higham)    Danny Wolfe    2:08
02.    "Cruisin'" (feat. Darrel Higham)    Gene Vincent, Bill Davis    2:13
03.    "The Train It Kept a Rollin'" (feat. Darrel Higham)    Tiny Bradshaw; Lois Mann; Howie Kay    2:36
04.    "Cry Me a River" (feat. Imelda May and Jason Rebello)    Arthur Hamilton    2:46
05.    "How High the Moon" (feat. Imelda May)    Nancy Hamilton; Morgan 'Buddy' Lewis    2:10
06.    "Sitting on Top of the World" (feat. Imelda May)    Raymond Brost (Ray Henderson); Joe Young; Samuel Levine (Sam M. Lewis)    2:23
07.    "Bye Bye Blues" (feat. Imelda May)    Fred Hamm; Dave Bennett; Bert Lown; Chauncey Gray    2:12
08.    "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" (feat. Imelda May)    Ernest Seitz    2:21
09.    "Vaya Con Dios" (feat. Imelda May)    Buddy Pepper; Inez James; Larry Russell    2:57
10.    "Mockin' Bird Hill" (feat. Imelda May)    George Vaughn Horton    2:23
11.    "I'm a Fool to Care" (feat. Imelda May)    Ted Daffan    2:59
12.    "Tiger Rag" (feat. Imelda May)    Nick LaRocca; Eddie Edwards; Henry Ragas; Tony Sbarbaro; Larry Shields; Harry DaCosta    2:22
13.    "Peter Gunn" (feat. Jason Rebello and Trombone Shorty)    Enrico Nicola "Henry" Mancini    4:49
14.    "Rocking Is Our Business" (feat Darrel Higham, Jason Rebello and Trombone Shorty)    Gene Gilbeaux; Don Hill; Claude Trenier; Cliff Trenier    3:38
15.    "Apache"    Jerry Lordan    3:07
16.    "Sleep Walk"    Santo Farina; Johnny Farina    2:50
17.    "New Orleans" (feat. Gary U.S. Bonds and Jason Rebello)    Frank Guida; Joseph F. Royster    4:34
18.    "Walking in the Sand" (feat. Imelda May)    George "Shadow" Morton    4:39
19.    "Please Mr. Jailer" (feat. Imelda May)    Wynona Carr    4:54
20.    "Twenty Flight Rock" (feat. Brian Setzer)    Ned Fairchild; Eddie Cochran    3:44

Personnel:

Jeff Beck - Guitars
Imelda May - Vocal
Darrel Higham - Guitar, Vocal
Al Gare - Bass
Jason Rebello - Keyboards
Stephen Rushton - Drums, Backing Vocal
Dave Priseman - Trumpet
Leo Green - Saxophone
Blue Lou Marini - Baritone Saxophone
Gary U.S. Bonds - Vocal
Brian Setzer - Guitar
Trombone Shorty - Trombone

Various Artists - 1993 "Stone Free" - A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix

Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix is a 1993 album recorded by various artists in tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The artists were drawn from many genres of popular music. Contributors include his classic rock contemporaries Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, blues man Buddy Guy, classical violinist Nigel Kennedy, alternative pop/rock bands Belly and Spin Doctors, hip hop artists P. M. Dawn, among others. According to the liner notes, the "artists were encouraged to not only record one of their own personal favorites but to also place their stamp on Jimi's songs." Several artists recorded radically different interpretations, particularly, P. M. Dawn, The Cure, Nigel Kennedy and Pat Metheny. Some artists, on the other hand, recorded versions that were rather similar to the originals.

The band M.A.C.C. is made up of Mike McCready (guitarist from Pearl Jam), Jeff Ament (bassist from Pearl Jam), Matt Cameron (drummer for Soundgarden and later for Pearl Jam), and Chris Cornell (singer of Soundgarden and later Audioslave). The cover of "Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun)" is their only known recording. All four members of this group had previously worked together on the Temple of the Dog project, and the song "Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun)" was added to Temple of the Dog's live set in 2016.

Eric Clapton's backing group on the title track includes the three original core members of Chic (Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson) and is the last recording on which all three played together.

I had forgotten about this one and someone made reference to Jimi Hendrix and rockers of the 70's during a radio spot - and I found this gem on Amazon. I owned it on cassette way about the time it came out in 1993 - and what a trip down Memory Lane! The Cure singing "Purple Rain", Buddy Guy's cover of "Red House", The Spin Doctors doing "Spanish Castle Magic" - and of course - The Pretenders with "Bold As Love". What I loved most about this compliation is that you hear Jimi Hendrix's unique compositions and lyrics very clearly, with the added extra of what made these newer bands so special twenty years after Hendrix's passing. If you're a Hendrix fan, you're really going to love this CD.

Not wanting to go song by song, I'll just say that the Paul Rodgers/Slash collaboration on "I Don't Live Today" is worth the price alone. PM Dawn's take on You Got Me Floain' is a favorite, and Buddy Guy brought it with "Red House". Jeff Beck and Seal did the same on "Manic Depression". And Body Count doing "Hey Joe"... ok, I'm going song by song. If you like Jimi, you'll love this!

I had this way back when it first came out on cassett. There are some real gems on here including, Jeff Beck & Seals version of Manic Depression and M.A.C.C.s Hey Baby. There are a lot of other great renditions of Jimis work as well. Some are done very differently but still are interesting to listen to. This is probably my favorite tribute album so far. You can pick it up for next to nothing used so there is nothing to lose and a lot of cool music to gain.

On February 9, 2015, the album was released for the first time on vinyl by Music on Vinyl.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Jimi+Hendrix

Track listing / Artists:

All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix, except track five (by Billy Roberts).

01. "Purple Haze" (produced by Robert Smith and Bryan "Chuck" New) The Cure 5:19
02. "Stone Free" (produced by Nile Rodgers) Eric Clapton 4:25
03. "Spanish Castle Magic" (produced by Eddie Kramer) Spin Doctors 4:06
04. "Red House" (produced by Eddie Kramer) Buddy Guy 3:48
05. "Hey Joe" (produced by Ernie C) Billy Roberts Body Count 4:28
06. "Manic Depression" (produced by Jeff Beck, Eddie Kramer and Seal) Seal and Jeff Beck 5:11
07. "Fire" (produced by Nigel Kennedy) Nigel Kennedy 4:39
08. "Bold as Love" (produced by Stephen Street) Pretenders 3:23
09. "You Got Me Floatin'" (produced by P. M. Dawn) P.M. Dawn 4:49
10. "I Don't Live Today" (produced by Eddie Kramer) Slash, Paul Rodgers and Band of Gypsys 4:32
11. "Are You Experienced?" (produced by Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade) Belly 3:38
12. "Crosstown Traffic" (produced by Ron Saint Germain) Living Colour 3:10
13. "Third Stone from the Sun" (produced by Pat Metheny) Pat Metheny 6:00
14. "Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun)" M.A.C.C. 5:26

Jennifer Batten - 1997 "Momentum"

Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage: Momentum is the second studio album by guitarist Jennifer Batten, released on August 5, 1997 through East West Records and reissued in June 2008 through Lion Music.

Tribal Rage is Jennifer Batten on guitars, guitar synth, keys, talk box, and dentist drill guitar, Ricky Wolking on bass (fretted and non), talk box, and other bizzare sound manipulations, with Glen Sobel doing drums and percussion. And what is all this fuss over Batten about?

She is amazingly fluid, so many tricks up her sleeve, so many voicings, techniques, and sheer bombast that you are overwhelmed with what torture and delicate touch she lays on a guitar. Slapping, tapping, bending, pulling off, hammer ons, slides — and with both hands! Throwing in a Whammy pedal when all her hands are too busy, she then creates so much wailing, swooping, and mutiple harmonics, that your aural dynamic sense nears overload. The effect is one steady onslaught of unique sounds you thought guitarists could only offer in tidbits, in certain moments, for lead breaks, at song intros or outros. Yet Batten constructs a whole CD’s worth of magical moments of a guitar doing things you rarely hear. She goes beyond Vai’s insane excursions and tops it off by tipping her hat and then running past Satriani’s finer weirdness.

This lady is an artist crafting a whole new dimension of guitar sounds, weaving it all together into song, and best of all it works. Her music is not endless backflips or clowning around — Batten hears another land’s strange echoes and offers a curiously interesting reply. With her Tribal Rage crew at her side a world of wonder unfolds. Seven quality cuts ranging from 7:10 to 9:33 let the whole crew stretch. There is some seriously cool bass work and severely challenging percussion happening here as well.

Batten has toured with big names like Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson. So what does Jeff Beck think of her playing? Beck says, “Incredible stuff, very impressive. She’s very dedicated. I just see her in her little house somewhere, doing nothing else. Because you can’t get that good unless you do.” I have to agree.

As guitar fans would easily recognize Holdsworth’s, Torn’s, or Rypdal’s guitar voice— Batten’s flexible-axe voice is a clear signature. I must say I’ve never heard anyone do anything quite like Batten’s continuous stream of note-bending, tapping, swells, controlled feedback, harmonics, and lightning-fast riffs. Prepare to enter into another dimension of guitar where elasticity is the word.

“Jennifer Batten’s Tribal Rage – Momentum” CD was a labour of love which was developed over a period of several years. “Momentum” is a hybrid of rock and very exotic sounds, including African percussion, Australian didgeridoo, Caribbean steel drums and Scottish bag pipes all wrapped up in a inviting album of diverse influences and sounds.

Looking back on the album’s creation Jennifer comments, “Glen Sobel, Ricky Wolking and I set out to make this a rich sonic journey for ourselves and the listener. We wanted to take them around the globe and included a lot of elements from different cultures. We spent a lot of hours developing, rehearsing and jamming in Glen’s mother’s shoe closet. You couldn’t fit more than the 3 of us and our equipment in there, but the price was right. We set out to be as open minded and creative as possible”.

A really astonishing work from a female guitar slinger who accompanied Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson on world tours back in the day. Her fellow musicians: Ricky Wolking on bass and Glen Sobel on drums and percussion are nothing short of jaw dropping when faced with some demanding roles. If you're into first rate guitar work with plenty of speed, harmonics, fresh, original ideas and the ability to see them to sizzling fruition, this album will be one that you whip out and say to your friends, "Check this out!

Jeff Beck was once quoted as being shocked when he saw Ms. Batten in person for the first time. To wit: "...I expected someone who was introverted and did nothing but practice all the time, because you'd have to do nothing but practice all the time to be that good!!!". Amen to that observation. I have followed with a passion her 2-handed techniques from her days as a GP magazine columnist. I got my 1st taste of what it could sound like from one of her GIT teaching tapes. NEVER could I dream that the amalgamation of her composition skills and technique (i.e., her total artistry) could be so beautifully, powerfully devistating as reflected on this and her other 2 CDs (5-stars for the lot of them). Just stunning stuff. Simply put, if anyone wants to hear a true guitar visionary apply her musical gift and craft in a spellbinding way - buy the CD(s) - be silent - just listen and absorb (sit down if you can - but you'll likely be too energized to allow it)! Who should know brilliance better than the maestro Jeff Beck; he is, he said she is, and the resultant truth is most obvious.

Track listing:

1. "Wodaabe Dancer" 8:30
2. "Elephant Stomp" 7:10
3. "Zulu Wedding" 9:30
4. "Scottsman in the Carribean" 8:57
5. "The Swarm" 9:19
6. "Glow" 8:45
7. "Unplug This" 9:34

Total length: 61:45

Personnel:

Jennifer Batten – guitar, guitar synthesizer, keyboard, talk box, background vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Glen Sobel – drums, percussion
Ricky Wolking – bass, banjo, talk box, background vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Chris Tervitt – spoken vocals (track 4)
Sean Wiggins – spoken vocals (track 6), background vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Benny Collins – spoken vocals (track 7)
Bret Helm – background vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Janis Massey – background vocals (tracks 1, 4)
Sylmarian Pygmee choir – background vocals (tracks 1, 4)

Jeff Beck - 1980 "There and Back"

There & Back is the third studio solo album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in June 1980 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 10 and 21 on the U.S. Billboard Jazz Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively, and No. 36 on the Swedish albums chart. Notably, There & Back showcases Beck's stylistic shift towards instrumental rock while largely retaining the jazz fusion elements of his two previous releases, Blow by Blow (1975) and Wired (1976). The opening track, "Star Cycle", was used for a number of years as the theme song for both Mid-South Wrestling in the United States and the British music programme The Tube (1982–87); "The Pump" was featured in the 1983 film Risky Business; "Too Much to Lose" is an instrumental cover of a song composed by keyboardist Jan Hammer that was originally featured on the Jan Hammer Group's 1977 album Melodies.

There and Back, Jeff Beck's first new studio album in four years, found him moving from old keyboard partner Jan Hammer (three tracks) to new one Tony Hymas (five), which turned out to be the difference between competition and support. Hence, the second side of this instrumental album is more engaging and less of a funk-fusion extravaganza than most of the first. If it were anybody else, you'd say that this was a transitional album, but this was the only studio album Beck released between 1976 and 1985, which makes it more like an unexpected Christmas letter from an old friend: "Everything's fine, still playing guitar."

Tracks Listing

1. Star Cycle (4:56)
2. Too Much To Lose (2:55)
3. You Never Know (4:03)
4. The Pump (5:43)
5. El Becko (3:59)
6. The Golden Road (4:55)
7. Space Boogie (5:04)
8. The Final Peace (3:36)

Line-up / Musicians

- Jeff Beck / guitars
- Jan Hammer / keyboards
- Simon Phillips / drums
- Tony- Hymnas / keyboards
- Mo Foster / bass

Stanley Clarke - 1975 "Journey To Love"

Journey to Love is the third jazz funk fusion album by bass guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Stanley Clarke, accompanied by familiar musicians he has often worked with like George Duke and Chick Corea. Other legendary players on this record are John McLaughlin and Jeff Beck.

It has often been said that Stanley Clarke did for the fretted electric bass in the 1970s what fellow virtuoso Jaco Pastorius did for the fretless. For any aspiring jazz-rock bassist coming up in the time between Bitches Brew and Feels So Good, Stanley's innovative playing, which combined a distinctive slap-pop style with fluid finger-style work informed by his acoustic playing, was a required assignment. Although School Days, with its catchy signature song, is perhaps the most listened to of his albums, it is on Journey to Love, Clarke's second solo offering for Columbia, that his muse is most confidently and persuasively displayed. He is assisted in this worthy endeavor by a whole carload of world-class talent. Jeff Beck shows up for two songs, the title track and the appropriately-titled "Hello Jeff." His lead guitar is as expressive and unpredictable as ever, capable of bringing a smile to the face of the most jaded listener. Return to Forever bandmates Chick Corea and Lenny White also turn up, as well as fellow traveler Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. Not to be overlooked are the tremendous talents of keyboardist George Duke, drummer Steve Gadd, and guitarist David Sancious. The caliber of the musicians aside, Journey of Love is full of great tunes, great grooves, and absolutely amazing bass playing. Clarke moves from percussive slapping to almost guitaristic chording to full-speed improvising with bewildering ease. Make no mistake about it, this is one of the finest fusion albums to come out of the 1970s, and it is the single best demonstration of the skills and the sound that make Clarke one of the most important figures to ever pick up the instrument.

Alongside School Days, this is perhaps Clarke's finest work. From beginning to end, it is simply a very joyful and magnetic listening experience. The infectious and sometimes beautiful grooves are just so impressively done. Clarke's playing is fantastic, managing to be hypnotic at certain moments, and frenetic at others without being headache-inducing, and overall, it's just a very well put together album that will definitely benefit from repeat listens. This is one of the best jazz fusion albums of all time. It's equally great in its slow spots as it is in its speedy spots, and Clarke and the other musicians who show up on it simply do stunning work.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Stanley Clarke; except where indicated

1. "Silly Putty" (4:52)
2. "Journey to Love" (4:52)
3. "Hello Jeff" (5:16)
4. "Song to John, Part 1" (Clarke, Corea) (4:22)
5. "Song to John, Part 2" (Clarke, Corea) (6:09)
6. "Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra, Parts 1-4" (14:25)

Personnel

• Stanley Clarke - electric bass, acoustic bass, organ, piccolo bass (first used by Stanley Clarke) with Maestro Synthesizer on "Concerto For Jazz/Rock Orchestra," hand bells, tubular bells, gong, vocals
• Jeff Beck - electric guitar on "Hello Jeff" and guitar solo on "Journey to Love"
• Chick Corea - acoustic piano on "Song to John"
• George Duke - organ, synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, keyboard, Arp Odyssey, clavinet, acoustic piano, electric piano, bells, vocals
• Earl Chapin - brass horn
• John Clark - brass horn
• Jon Faddis - trumpet
• Steve Gadd - drums, percussions
• Peter Gordon - brass horn
• Tom "Bones" Malone - trombone
• John McLaughlin - acoustic guitar on "Song to John"
• Alan Rubin - trumpet
• David Sancious - electric guitar, 12-string guitar
• Lew Soloff - trumpet
• David Taylor - trombone
• Lenny White - drums on "Hello Jeff"
• Wilmer Wise - brass horn