Jeff Beck has died ... my thoughts and prayers are with his family.

 

I almost can't believe that I am writing this but I guess each of us ends up there at some point. I have likely seen Jeff Beck more times in concert than any other band, local or international. 

Beck, who has been considered likely the greatest "rock" guitar player of all time died in his home yesterday from Bacterial meningitis. I'm totally dumbfounded. He just came through town a month or so ago. The average rock listener would think that Jeff has a good ear and picked up a lot of things like the talk box from Peter Frampton (the opposite) or tapping from Eddie Van Halen (again opposite) because Beck never wanted to be a star. He liked to tinker. He had abstract thoughts that he would try out. Others would say that's cool and make a career of his little ideas. This is a guy who never wanted fame or fortune. Just wanted enough money to toy with his hotrods and play a few riffs...and to have fun. 

Goodbye Mr Beck

Silvertone/RCA Records artist: Buddy Guy - The Blues Is Alive And Well - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, The Blues Is Alive and Well, from Buddy Guy and it's strong. Opening with A Few Good Years, Buddy Guy pleads in song for continued good years to remain but his vocals are smooth and his guitar as vibrant as ever. Joined by Tom Hambridge on drums, Rob McNelley on guitar, Kevin McKendree on B3 and Willie Weeks on bass, this hits home. Shuffle track, Guilty As Charged shows a strong romp attitude and you can see that gold tooth glistening as Buddy shouts out guilty and fans his guitar wildly in one of his frantic guitar explosions. Very nice. Cognac, is a real nice 12 bar number featuring not one but two legendary guest guitar players, Keith Richards and Jeff Beck who along with Guy give this track real teeth. Richards' riffs are always standout and Beck's style is remarkable and an absolute signature. Excellent! Title track, The Blues Is Alive And Well is a great R&B fused track with Weeks' instinctual bass work leading the way. Guys' vocals are rich and pure and the backing by the Muscle Shoals Horns (Charles Rose on trombone, Steve Herrman on trumpet, Doug Moffet on tenor sax and Jim Hoke on bari sax really add depth to Guys personal guitar style. Very solid. Soul ballad, Blue No More features James Bay and Guy trading vocal and guitar lead. Smooth as silk and blue as can be, this track is a great radio track. Digging in the funk, Whiskey For Sale shows a side you don't often see but a great side it is. With McNelley on slide, Guy tearing up the lead and the McCrary Sisters on backing vocals this track may be one of my favorites on the release. Slow blues, You Did The Crime is classic Buddy Guy with terrific vocals and guitar, fat slide from McNelley and Mick Jagger on harp. With that rumbling bass line that I like to think as classic Buddy, Old Fashioned, is a great track with Guy conjuring up the notorious Buddy Guy guitar tone and riffs. The Muscle Shoals horns really pump up the volume and McKendree's B3 fills out the sound. Excellent! When My Day Comes is still another great track with Buddy on full throttle with expressive vocals and lead vocal and tight pointed drumming by Hambridge. Sonny Boy Williamson's Nine Below Zero sits solid in the Chicago sound with classic lines and riffs. Guy grew up in this stuff and knows just how to dress it right. His soloing is fresh, expressive and meaningful. Excellent! Boogie track, Ooh Daddy is a hard driver with Weeks leading the way and Buddy shows nothing but vitality with youthful yelps and pounding riffs. Super. Wrapping the release is End Of The Line and Milking Muther For Ya. Guy does it big time smooth band with horns honking and great guitar tone. Continuing his theme of nearing the end of his time, Guy shows no signs here to slowing or losing his fine talents as some of his predecessors have done. He ties into this last track his little ditty that he often sings in concert about the girl who tries to milk the bull. I've seen Buddy many times and he's always a great performer. My hopes are that he still has many more years to come. Excellent release!

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Imelda May's "Life Love Flesh Blood" out April 7 on Verve, produced by T Bone Burnett, Single "Black Tears" premieres on Billboard

IMELDA MAY’S LIFE, LOVE, FLESH, BLOOD
OUT APRIL 7 VIA VERVE RECORDS

“BLACK TEARS” PREMIERES AT BILLBOARD

MAY’S FIRST NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM IN THREE YEARS
PRODUCED BY T BONE BURNETT

Artwork photo credit: Max Dodson

“I’ve never met anyone quite like Imelda May. She is full of life…
I [am] inspired by her honesty and her generosity, and I continue to
be intrigued.”—T Bone Burnett

“I love the girl she used to be but I think I love even more the woman
she’s become. Still mischievous and playful, still a siren, but there’s an ache
in her voice now that has me with a glass at my ear to the wall of her world
where trouble has entered the room. There’s an erotic power here that’s not
just feminine power. She makes truth telling an invitation to intimacy.”—Bono

Life, Love, Flesh, Blood, the fifth full-length record from critically acclaimed Irish singer Imelda May and her first new music in three years, is due April 7 via Verve Records. The record is receiving early rave reviews in the U.K., with the Evening Standard noting that May “has poured her heart and soul into her new album.” Billboard is premiering the track “Black Tears” in celebration of the forthcoming release; listen/share the track [HERE] and HERE.

Additionally, W Magazine recently premiered the video for the album’s first single, “Call Me,” hailing the track as a “sweet, spare lament,” while the Daily Mail called it “stylish and extremely moving.” Watch/share the video HERE. May also recently performed the album track “Black Tears” on “Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenanny” on New Year’s Eve, which can be viewed/shared HERE. May’s performance was the most-watched segment of the evening with 250,000 YouTube views to date, plus it is the second most viewed video on the BBC Music YouTube Channel since October.

Produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, the album marks a new direction for May who, in the time since her 2014 release Tribal, ended her marriage of eighteen years. Life, Love, Flesh, Blood is May’s most autobiographical record to date; Burnett says of May, “When I first happened onto her music, she was a punky Irish Rockabilly singer with a great band. I was intrigued by her deep feeling for and understanding of that American art form, much of which, of course, had originated in Ireland. When I ran across her several years later, she had gone through a change of lives and was writing about it with a wild intensity and singing about it in the most open hearted way.” Adds May, “It’s therapy, like keeping a diary that a lot of people read. Some of my favorite songs don’t say much, but they reveal everything.”

May’s new musical direction accompanies an overarching stylistic change for the established singer. “I always loved the ’50s rockabilly style but there was a point where I felt I was almost dressing up as Imelda May,” she notes. “It was as if I was getting into character for a gig. And I didn’t want to do that anymore. This is me.”

Life, Love, Flesh, Blood features contributions from guitar hero Jeff Beck and piano maestro Jools Holland, as well as an accomplished group of backing musicians including the core trio of guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), drummer Jay Bellerose (Elton John & Leon Russell, Ray Lamontagne) and bassist Zach Dawes (The Last Shadow Puppets, Mini Mansions), the same band that recorded Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand. Recorded over seven days in Los Angeles, the album was written over the course of May’s tumultuous past year and includes writing contributions from Angelo Petragalia (Kings of Leon) and Paul Moak (The Blind Boys of Alabama, Martha Wainwright). May states that she began writing songs for the album with “no preconceived notions of where it was going to go. My plan was to have no plan because it was freedom. It was liberating.”

May’s previous records have seen success both in the U.S. as well as in Europe. Tribal debuted at #1 in Ireland and #3 in the UK. The Guardian gave the album four stars, saying “This album is no time capsule; it’s fresh and embracing…” while The Times praised May’s “raw, impassioned vocals.” Her previous release, 2010’s Mayhem, also received critical acclaim with The Los Angeles Times commenting, “Ireland-born Imelda May’s career is fostered by paying homage to legends like Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash and, more importantly, furthering rockabilly’s cross-pollination into New Orleans jazz, delta blues and amp-splitting punk aggression.” Mayhem went Platinum in Ireland and Gold in the U.K., while May has seen performances on “Later…With Jools Holland,” “Conan,” “and an impressive four performances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” to name a few.

Jeff Beck Plays Screaming Slide on an Oil Can Guitar

The guys at Bohemian Guitars just posted this live concert video of Jeff Beck playing one of their oil can guitars. Is there anything Beck can't play? (-----ah....no!) BTW, Beck's very first instrument was a cigar box guitar he built as a child. Here's a close-up shot of Beck and his Bohemian oil can guitar. A certain cigar box guitarist stands beside him.



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Cleopatra Records release: A Double Dose Of Blues - Various Artists - New Release review

I just received a cool 2 cd release, A Double Dose Of Blues from Cleopatra Records and it boasts a who's who of blues and guitar giants. Opening the first disc (From Clarksdale To Heaven - Remembering John lee Hooker) is blues giant John Lee Hookers daughter and blues star, Zakiya Hooker on I Want To Hug You, supported is a stately manner by Johnnie Johnson on piano, Bobby Murray on guitar, Tony Cook on synth guitar, David Daniel on bass, Marlon Gren on drums and Victor Puebla on percussion. This shuffle track is really nicely balanced between the power of Hooker's vocals and Johnnie Johnson's key work. Jack Bruce and Gary Moore team up on I'm In The Mood backed by Gary Husband. Gary Moore really lays out a nice solo on this track with Bruce thumping away behind him. Very nice! Vince Converse leads I'm Bad Like Jesse James on guitar and vocal, backed by Leo Lyons and Ric Lee from Ten Years After. Converse really rips some hot riffs under the track , the band basically keeping the skeletal framework as set up by Hooker. The spectacular, Jeff Beck leads Will The Circle Be Unbroken with singers, Siggi Josiah and Earl Green/Kingdom Choir. Beck's signature guitar work is unmistakable and outstanding. Gary Brooker (keys/vocals) and Andy Fairweather-Low (guitars) team up on Baby Lee with a Latin beat by Henry Spinetti. Very cool! T.S. McPhee (guitar and vocal) and Dick Heckstall-Smith (sax) do a super broke down Ground Hog Blues. Mick Taylor on lead vocal and slide teams up with Max Middleton (Jeff Beck Group) for a swinging version of This Is Hip. Always loved Taylor's slide playing! Super. The Peter Green Splinter Group does an authentic style Crawlin' King Snake. With Green on acoustic guitar, and harp, Nigel Watson on open tuned acoustic, Roger Cotton on rhythm guitar and pete Stroud on bass this is deep! Mr Clem Clemson (Humble Pie) teams up with Tony McPhee and Heckstall Smith for a great boogie, I'm Leaving making Hooker proud. Brooker on vocal and piano and Fairweather-Low are back on Little Wheel and each plays solo's that are nicely suited for modern interpretations of Hooker boogie. Gregg's Egg does a modern/pop funky version of The Business featuring Suzanne Sterling on lead guitar and Futoshi Morroka on lead guitar. Jeff Beck is back on Hobo Blues and again with his signature tone. Earl Green on lead vocal actually captures Hooker pretty well. Excellent! Jack Bruce and Gary Moore are back on Serves You Right To Suffer. Bruce with Gary Husband on drums keeps the bottom anchored and Moore sings up a soulful lead vocal accented by crisp guitar riffs. Booker T on organ and Randy California (Spirit)join up with the Hook hinself on lead guitar and vocal to Red House. Cool!

 Disc 2 (Knights of The Blues Table) opens with Send For Me with Jack Bruce on lead vocal, bass and harp with Clemson on guitar and Heckstall Smith on sax. This is a rocker and a great opener. Georgie Fame lays down a cool jazz If You Live. Very nice! Duffy Power on acoustic guitar and coval, backed by Heckstall - Smith on sax and Alex Keen on bass lays down the most basic of modern acoustic blues. Very nice. Chris Jagger takes lead vocal and guitar on Racketeer's Blues, backed by Charlie Hart on bass, Ed Beane on guitar, Malcolm Mortimore on drums and Mick Jagger on harp. Interesting! Peter Brown steps up on lead vocal on Rocks In My Bed. Heckstall-Smith (of Coliseum) sets down some real nice sax lines on this and throughout the release. Miller Anderson, known for vocals on many bands including Savoy Brown, Keef Hartley and Chicken Shack does and excellent job on Don't Let Me be Misunderstood. Maggie Bell (Stone The Crows) teams up with Big Jim Sullivan for Blind Man. Sullivan shows his excellent guitar strength throughout this track and Bells vocals are solid as ever! On Robert Johnson's Travelling Riverside Blues Peter Green and Nigel Watson harmonize and play traditional acoustic guitar riffs. Very nice! Tony McPhee is on acoustic guitar and vocal on Drop Down Mama. This is a real nice modern interpretation of Sleepy John's original. I've always loved this track, I've Got News For You. This arrangement is slow and really bluesy featuring Clemson on vocal and guitar. Didn't know Clem could sing but he sure can. With Mark Feltham on harp and Ronnie Leahy on piano this track is really hot. Sonny Boy Williamson's Nine Below Zero features Dennis Greaves on vocal and guitar and Billy on harp. Nice blues rocker. The Pretty Things lay down Judgement Day with Phil May on Vocal, Dick Taylor on guitar, John Povey on harp, Skip Alan on drums and Wally Allen on Bass. Very Yardbirds like! Paul Jones and Otis Grand do Play On Little Girl/TBone Shuffle. Jones on lead vocal and harp, Grand on guitar, Mike Hobart on sax, Steve Wren on piano, Chico Lopez on bass and Junior Delmas on drums make this a super modern blues rocker! Mick Clarke (vocal and guitar) and Lou Martin (piano) do a very simple but effective cover of James Cotton's One More Mile To Go, one of my favorite tracks on the release... clean and tight! Mick Taylor and Max Middleton team up on Willie Dixon's You Shook Me. Both Middleton and Taylor shine on this number with sweet extended solos. Tom Killner delivers Midnight Call, a solid rocker featuring his own lead vocal and guitar backed by Nigel Killner and Jake Ashton. Wrapping the release is Eli Cook's Sweet Thang featuring Tinsley Ellis. A lumbering bluesy number, this is a real nice track to conclude a super batch of blues and blues rock.

 

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Cleopatra Blues Imprint To Release “A Double Dose Of The Blues” A Star-Studded Collection Of Blues Legends From Both The US & The UK

Cleopatra Blues Imprint To Release “A Double Dose Of The Blues” A Star-Studded Collection Of Blues Legends From Both The US & The UK

Los Angeles - Cleopatra Blues Imprint is releasing a deluxe 2-for-1 package featuring a star-studded tribute to the music of John Lee Hooker (From Clarksdale To Heaven - Remembering John Lee Hooker) and a superb gathering of UK bluesmen (Knights Of The Blues Table)!

“A Double Dose Of The Blues” features Jeff Beck, John Lee Hooker, Gary Moore, Mick Taylor, Jack Bruce, Gary Brooker, Peter Green, Clem Clempson, Johnnie Johnson, Georgie Fame, and lots more plus a special appearance on harmonica by Mick Jagger!

Track List:

DISC 1

1. Zakiya Hooker, Johnnie Johnson & Bobby Murray - I Want To Hug You

2. Jack Bruce & Gary Moore - I’m In The Mood

3. LLC (Leo Lyons, Ric Lee & Vince Converse) - I’m Bad Like Jesse James

4. Jeff Beck - Will The Circle Be Unbroken

5. Gary Brooker & Andy Fairweather-Low - Baby Lee

6. T.S. McPhee & Dick Heckstall-Smith - Ground Hog Blues

7. Mick Taylor & Max Middleton - This Is Hip

8. Peter Green Splinter Group - Crawlin’ King Snake

9. Clem Clempson, Dick Heckstall-Smith & T.S. McPhee - I’m Leaving

10. Gary Brooker & Andy Fairweather-Low - Little Wheel

11. Gregg’s Eggs - The Business

12. Jeff Beck - Hobo Blues

13. Gary Moore & Jack Bruce - It Serves You Right To Suffer

14. John Lee Hooker, Booker T. Jones & Randy California - Red House

DISC 2

1. Jack Bruce & Clem Clempson - Send For Me

2. Georgie Fame - If You Live (Your Time Will Come)

3. Duffy Power - Go Down, Sunshine

4. Chris Jagger feat. Mick Jagger - Racketeer’s Blues

5. Pete Brown, Phil Ryan & Dick Heckstall-Smith - Rocks In My Bed

6. Miller Anderson - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

7. Maggie Bell & Big Jim Sullivan - Blind Man

8. Peter Green & Nigel Watson - Traveling Riverside Blues

9. T.S. McPhee - Drop Down Mama

10. Jack Bruce & Clem Clempson - I've Got News For You

11. Nine Below Zero - Nine Below Zero

12. The Pretty Things - Judgment Day

13. Paul Jones & Otis Grand - Play On Little Girl / T-Bone Shuffle

14. Mick Clarke & Lou Martin - One More Mile To Go

15. Max Middleton & Mick Taylor - You Shook Me

BONUS TRACKS

16. Tom Killner - Midnight Call

17. Eli Cook - Sweet Thang feat. Tinsley Ellis

Buy the CD here: http://flyt.it/DoubleDoseOfBluesCD

Buy the digital version here: http://flyt.it/DoubleDoseOfBluesDigi

Blues, Rock & Metal Guitar Slingers Salute Legend Jeff Beck On A Newly Reissued Collection!

Blues, Rock & Metal Guitar Slingers Salute Legend Jeff Beck On A Newly Reissued Collection!

Includes performances by Def Leppard’s Phil Collen, Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars, Toto’s Steve Lukather, and blues icon Walter Trout plus George Lynch, Jake E. Lee and more!

Los Angeles, CA - Some of the world’s finest guitarists offer a master class in the arduous art and subtle science of playing Jeff Beck songs on Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle, a collection of extraordinary cover versions of Beck’s best-known songs, played with all the fevered intensity and dynamic skill these virtuosos could muster. The album will be reissued with all new artwork by Deadline Music this October 2.

Founding member of platinum selling UK hard rockers Def Leppard, Phil Collen, offers a stunning and emotional interpretation of the gorgeous ballad “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers,” while blues man Walter Trout burns the house down with his rendition of “Blues Deluxe.” Former Ozzy axeman Jake E. Lee takes listeners on a face-melting ride through the blazing stunner “Rice Pudding” and main Crüe man Mick Mars provides the brilliant album closer. Each performer brings their own unique guitar playing personalities to these compositions pulled from a wide range of Beck’s career, showcasing both Beck’s under-heralded accessibility as well as his inimitable stylistic panache. Guitar players of all stripes and skill levels will find plenty here to hone their chops on, while Beck fans the world over will not want to miss this thoroughly satisfying listening experience!

Track List

1. New Ways / Train Train - Warren DeMartini

2. Led Boots - Vivian Campbell

3. Heart Full Of Soul - Paul Gilbert

4. Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers - Phil Collen

5. Blues Deluxe - Walter Trout

6. Headed For Backstage Pass - Bruce Bouillet

7. People Get Ready - George Lynch

8. Rice Pudding - Jake E. Lee

9. Shapes Of Things - Stevie Salas

10. Behind The Veil - Steve Lukather

11. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago - Mick Mars

Jeff Beck Live In Tokyo – 2014 - DVD (audio review only) - New release Review - Stilladog - Guest reviewer

My old pal Stilladog had a chance to listen to the new Jeff Beck DVD audio and his review follows. We have both been Beck fans for a long time so I was thrilled to see his review:

The recordings take place at the Tokyo Dome City Hall in Japan on April 9th of this year.  These Japanese recordings were the first to feature Beck’s new backing band of Jonathan Joseph (drums), Nicolas Meier (guitars) and Rhonda Smith (bass). The setlist includes some material from his new, as yet unreleased, studio album as well as material from nearly all of his previous releases. In contrast to Beck s previous videos done in small clubs, Live In Tokyo was filmed in a major concert arena and has a very different, more spacious feel.  Beck has released a number of live albums from Japan over the years and he obviously feels comfortable there.

The set begins with a tune from his most recent EP, Yosogai, entitled Loaded.  It is a perfect warm up for the alternately beautiful and soaring instrumental version of Jimi Hendrix’s , Little Wing, which follows.

A new song, You Know You Know, is next and I am interested in hearing this version contrast with the studio released version assuming it is included on the next release.  This is followed by three of Jeff’s live standards, Hammerhead from Emotion And Commotion, Angel (Footsteps) from Who Else!, and Stratus which I believe he has never done in studio.

Yemin is another new song which borders jazz with a middle eastern touch as you might imagine from the title.  Then the band reaches back to the Guitar Shop days for the beautiful ballad, Where Were You. Reaching yet further back into the extensive Beck catalog they find The Pump and You Never Know from There And Back sandwiched around an exquisite medley consisting of a 1:10 intro of Charles Mingus’ Goodbye Porkpie Hat and Brush With The Blues.  Probably my favorite cut on the album.

Beck’s incredible fretboard control is on full display on the classic ballad, Danny Boy, also originally released on Yosogai.  Then it’s a return to dig yet deeper back to the mid 1970s of Blow By Blow and Wired for the screamers and crowd favorites, Blue Wind and Led Boots. 

Throughout, the incredible tone and of Jeff Beck is mesmerizing.  The set continues with a blend of rock, jazz, with flashes of blues and funk including The Beatles’ Day In The Life (now a Beck Live standard as well), Big Block, Rollin’ and Tumblin, and Corpus Christi Carol.

The set ends with an absolutely perfect Rendering of Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers. For an encore the band performs Why Give It Away from Yogosai, the only tune on this release with vocals.

This is pure Jeff Beck.  Better than the Ronnie Scott’s release.  No special guests. Just Jeff and his hand picked band.  While Jimmy Page has dropped off the face of the earth and Eric Clapton has become a product of the music marketing machine (and about as interesting as his last album, an ‘Old Sock’) this is an awesome display from the lone virtuoso rock guitarist that remains creative and relevant SIXTY years hence!  Very highly recommended.  That is all.         

If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”