Eric Clapton - Over the Rainbow

This is a live performance by Eric Clapton and band from 2001 playing the classic song "Over the Rainbow". The performance is from the concert DVD and album by Clapton also released in 2001 titled "One More Car, One More Rider".
The song was originally sung by Judy Garland and it was recorded, composed and written for the classic American film "The Wizard of Oz". It is by many considered one of the greatest songs of the century and one of the greatest songs from films. Also it won an Academy Award.
The song has been done by a large number of artists and interpreted in many different genres and styles. Anything from pop to Hawaiian and more a jazzy feel like on Clapton's version. Also Jeff Beck did an instrumental version of the song on his 2010 album "Emotion & Commotion". This version sticks very closely to Garland's original recording basically trying to transfer her vocal performance into and instrumental guitar piece.
I really love this version by Clapton. It shows off Clapton's skills in more of a jazzy thing. It also shows off Clapton's voice as he sings this very beautifully in his own way. Also the back-up band does an amazing job, from David Sancious' beautiful synthesizer saxophone solo to Billy Preston imitating birds singing on the Hammond Organ. This is just a beautiful performance.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck & Imelda May - How High the Moon

This is a live performance by Jeff Beck and vocalist Imelda May from the recently released concert film "Rock 'n' Roll Party". The film honours recently deceased guitarist Les Paul, features many different guest artists, a lot of classic rock 'n' roll tracks and is also available as a CD.
Jeff Beck is joined on stage be Imelda May an Irish vocalist who sings this style of music to perfection. It is very obvious that she is trying to imitate Mary Ford's clean vocals from the original recording with Les Paul, and she does an amazing job and is a very talented singer. She earlier collaborated with Beck on his 2010 Emotion & Commotion album where she sings on "Lilac Wine" and does an amazing job.
The song "How High the Moon" is a jazz standard and it was first featured in 1940 in the Broadway revue "Two for the Show". The best known recording of the song is the one done by Les Paul and Mary Ford. (Embeded below)

This version was recorded in 1951 and it was an unexpected hit doing well on the Billboard chart at no. 1 for several weeks.
It's a very good song and a very good performance by Beck paying tribute to a great player and a great inventor.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck & Joss Stone - I Put a Spell on You

This is a live performance from "Idol Gives Back" charity show. In this performance Jeff Beck and Joss Stone do a version of the classic soul song "I Put a Spell on You".
The song was originally released in 1956 and on this version it was sung by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. There are rumours of an earlier recording dating back to 1949. This version is rumoured to be more mellow, toned down and laid back, but it has never been confirmed and the so called "original recording" is either non-existing or lost through poor preservation. Until the release of this song Hawkins had been an unknown blues singer. His management suggested a gimmick to go along with the song, and he started performing by rising from a coffin wearing a long cape. He later elaborated his act with props and a smoking skull, and through time has become known as one of the first theatrical acts. He became an influence on later acts such as: Dr. John, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson. He can kind of be pin-pointed as the first shock rock/rock 'n' roll act in history. A version of the original performance from Screamin' Jay Hawkins embeded below.

It's one of those songs that have been covered by a huge amount of artists, including: Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Tim Curry, Buddy Guy, Marilyn Manson and Pete Townshend.
The version done by Jeff Beck and Joss Stone was originally recorded on Beck's 2010 album "Emotion & Commotion" which is a very good album that I can only recommend too little. It's great. And this is one of those short little songs that just stick out. It's a great song and both versions embeded are good and interesting, though I probably prefer Beck's and Stone's version over the original.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck - Nessun dorma

This is a performance from British guitarist Jeff Beck, it is from the 2010 Crossroads Festival, and it is an amazing performance. He plays his instrumental version of the classic opera piece "Nessun dorma". It has been sung by many famous opera singers, and is one of the most famous tenor arias from any opera. It is also widely recognizable due to the use of the piece in other contexts such as film, television and other rendition like Beck's version.
Beck's version was recorded on his solo album "Emotion & Commotion", and it was done with a 40-piece symphony orchestra. Beck's guitar piece supplements the human voice in the piece. Beck has stated that he always wanted to emulate the human voice with the guitar, and that this piece just really works on the guitar.
They play it on a much smaller scale live, the bassist Tal Wilkenfeld switches to an upright bass, and even plays with a bow for a part of the performance. The drummer switches to a different technique using a different kind of drum sticks, and uses the various high-hats to make them slowly vibrate and create sound. The rest is a keyboard section synthesizing the orchestral parts. It sounds surprisingly good, and it's a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck - Hammerhead

This is a live performance by guitar legend Jeff Beck. It was released on the 2010 album "Emotion & Commotion". Since it's a pretty new song, there isn't any really good concert footage of Jeff performing this yet, so I've included the album version in a youtube video beneath. The song credits both Jeff Beck and his keyboardist Jason Rebello, and Jeff states that the song's inspiration comes from their love of keyboardist Jan Hammer. Jason came up with the riff on the keyboard, and Jeff picked up on it, Jeff calls it a young and Indian sounding riff, ans states that it kicks ass which I agree with him on 100 %.[1]
It's a rock instrumental, and Jeff plays the main riff of the song alongside a 40 piece symphony orchestra which makes it sound epic, grand and magnificent. It has also recently been nominated for a Grammy at the 53rd Grammy Awards show. It's nominated for "Best Rock Instrumental" and has a good chance of winning, and I'm rooting for it, it's a good song.
The live version and the album version sound a bit different, and Jeff improvises a bit more in the live version, plus it's not with a symphony orchestra when played live.
A great song, cross your fingers for it at The Grammys.


Enjoy ; )