B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, and Jeff Beck - Sweet Little Angel

This is a live performance by a monster ensemble of great blues guitarists playing the classic blues standard "Sweet Little Angel". On stage is: Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, and Jeff Beck being lead by none other than B.B. King who also does most of the singing on this one. (Guy also gets his turn at the microphone).
The song is also known under the titles: "Black Angel Blues", and "Sweet Black Angel". It was first recorded in 1930 by female singer Lucille Bogan.
B.B. King first did the song in 1956. And his version became a hit reaching #8 on the Billboard R&B Chart. The song was also re-recorded by King for his first album "Singin' the Blues" released in 1957.
It's a great song, and with an ensemble of guitarist like this, it's gotta be a good performance and it is.

Enjoy ; )

Buddy Guy - Damn Right, I've Got The Blues

This is a live performance by blues legend Buddy Guy playing his original blues tune "Damn Right, I've Got The Blues". The set-up is very laid back and simple. All musicians on stage are sitting down and Guy is only accompanied by a piano and a second guitarist. It gives a simple, but very good sound where Guy's playing really shines through.
The song is the title track to Guy's 1991 album. The album was described as Guy's commercial comeback album back when it was released. The album also features the following guest artists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler and the Memphis Horns.
This performance is from the Guitar Center Sessions. I really love how even when they're doing a laid back performance Guy can't turn off his natural showmanship. He can't help playing the guitar the same way he would standing up and doing all those funny tricks like for instance turning the guitar upside down and rubbing it against the fabric of his shirt. He just can't help him self and that is why he's such a great performer. Truly a great blues performance.

Enjoy ; )

Joe Satriani - Satch Boogie

This is a live performance by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani playing his famous instrumental song "Satch Boogie".
The song is off Satriani's album "Surfing with the Alien" released in 1987. It was released as a single the following year.
The solo is one of the most famous solos ever. It features fast tapping, hammer-ons and pull-offs. What I really love about this song is that it's essentially a fast boogie, but with Satriani's own guitar style and techniques on it. In that sense the structure of it is influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck and other players who have done fast boogies over time. It takes from those influences and adds to them as well and that is what makes this instrumental piece so good.

Enjoy ; )

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 ; )

Bo Diddley - I'm a Man

This is a live performance by rock, R&B and blues legend Bo Diddley performing his classic song "I'm a Man", the performance is from 1992.
The song was originally recorded by by Bo Diddley in 1955. The song is a moderate slow blues with a stop tempo inspired by earlier blues recordings. The song was inspired by Muddy Water's Hoochie Coochie Man from 1954 written by Willie Dixon. After the release of the song Muddy recorded an "answer song" titled "Mannish Boy", a pun on Diddley's younger age.
The song has been done by quite a few artists and a version of Muddy and Diddley performing the song together was also recorded at one point. It was also done by The Yardbirds in 1965 when Jeff Beck was with the group. A live version was recorded as well with Clapton on guitar in 1964 before he left the band. The version with Beck did very well in the US pop charts.
A lot of songs have also taken inspiration from this classic simple song structure. Songs like "Whole Lotta Rosie" by AC/DC and "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood. They both have the stop time thing and the same chord shifts as Diddley's song as well as a rhythm that strikes resemblance to Diddley's song.
Also really love the guitar solo Steve Cropper delivers. It's really good and not too long, he knew Diddley was centre stage, but still very nice indeed.
A great performance of this amazing blues song.

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 ; )

Spın̈al Tap & Albert Lee - Break Like the Wind

This is a live performance by semi-fictional metal band Spın̈al Tap and Albert Lee playing the song "Break Like the Wind" live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992.
The song is of Spın̈al Tap's album of the same title released in 1992.
As said, the band is semi-fictional. It's the band from the famous mockumentary (even though Christopher Guest hates that term) "This Is Spın̈al Tap". It's a legendary comedy that mocks rock 'n' roll and throws allusions to a lot of different rock and metal acts. It's one of the best and most quotable films of all time.
The album featured many guest artists, and on the album version of Break Like the Wind it breaks down at the end, and a bunch of guitarists join in: Jeff Beck, Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani and Slash.
On this live version they have Albert Lee who of course can't play like all of these guitarists. I think he does a very good job however, and it's a fun and enjoyable performance.

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 - Hi Ho Silver Lining

This is a live performance by Jeff Beck, he is joined on stage by Mitch Mitchell and Steve Winwood. "Hi Ho Silver Lightning" is an iconic 1960's rock song. It was released as a single in 1967 by "The Attack", but only a few days later Beck released a version of the song as well, and this became the most known rendition of the song.
It's a pretty silly song, but also a crowd pleaser and something that gets the crowd going and singing along. Beck does a little solo, but it's not much. A good steady performance of a silly song.

Hope you enjoy it ; )

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 ; )

Ronnie Wood (ft. Slash) - Stay With Me

This is a performance by guitarist and singer Ronnie Wood. Wood is widely known as being one of the guitarists from Rolling Stones and he also gained fame touring with Rod Stawart and Jeff Beck. He has however besides all of those things always had a solo career. And his new album album "I Feel Like Playing" has just been released earlier this year.
Ronnie co-wrote the song "Stay With Me" with Rod Stewart for the band "The Faces". It became a pretty well known song, and has been featured on several compilation albums by "The Faces". The song has been covered a couple of times for instance by Ronnie James Dio's band Elf and Def Leppard. Through those covers the song kinda kept it's momentum through the 70's into the 80's.
In this performance Wood is also joined by famous guitarist Slash who, for the most part, stays in the background and plays rhythm on the song. He does have a small solo, but it isn't flashy or long. Slash knew this was Ronnie's performance, and stayed in the background, a character trade that only the best guitar players in the world posses.
It's a nice uplifting performance of a really good song.

Enjoy ; )

Train Kept A-Rollin' (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2009)

This is an all star performance from the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was the ending act of the night, and it got all of the nominees, winners and presenters on stage for an all star jam on this classic song. The performance features: all members of Metallica (including their earlier bassist Jason Newsted), Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Joe Perry, Flea and Ronnie Wood. The inductees of the evening were Metallica and Jeff Beck. It's a great performance, and you can just tell that they're all having a lot of fun with it.
The only drag, and I'm nitpicking now, is the fact that Jimmy Page doesn't get to do a solo, I mean, he's bad ass, so why not give him a solo. I think I know why, Beck, Kirk Hammet and Joe Perry all get to do a solo. Beck and Hammet were part of the main inductees and Perry had done a very famous version of the song with his band Aerosmith. I think it was a call on the producers part in trying not to get into too long of a jam on the show. It's a minor drag, but it really would have been sweet to hear Page do a solo. Well too bad.

Still a great performance and fun performance, enjoy ; )

The Shadows - Sleepwalk

This is a live performance from the band "The Shadows". They play the classic song "Sleepwalk" which has become one of Hank Marvin's standard songs in his live sets.
The song was originally recorded and released by the brothers Santo & Johnny. It was originally a steel guitar based song, with the melody played on a steel guitar with a slide.
The song has been covered by numerous artists including; The Ventures, Chet Atkins, Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani and Brian Setzer who won a Grammy for his arrangement of the song in 1998.
Because of the songs mellow and unique melody it has been featured in several films and television shows such as; the films; La Bamba, Sleepwalkers, Twelve Monkeys and the television series Heroes.
It's a nice song with a good melody. And Hank plays it beautifully and uses the whammy bar with perfection. A great performance.

Enjoy ; )

(Below is a performance by the Ventures who come closest to how the original recording sounded)


Hope you enjoy that as well : D

ZZ Top - Jailhouse Rock & La Grange

This is ZZ Top performing the classic Elvis Presley song "Jailhouse Rock". It's a typical rock 'n' roll song, and is one of the most classic songs ever. It ranked #67 on Rolling Stones list of the best songs ever.
It's a classic song, and has been recorded by an infinite number of artists; Jerry Lee Lewis, Jeff Beck, Cliff Richard and Queen to name a few.
It was also used as the last performance in the classic film "Blues Brothers", featuring a number of artists adding in words over the end credits (click here for Blues Brothers clip).
Elvis was Billy Gibbons main influence in deciding to be a professional musician and entertainer, he saw him live at an early age and has stated that it was at that point he decided to make a living out of music.
The video is a double performance also featuring "La Grange". It's a great performance, and Billy's guitar work is just excellent.

Enjoy ; )

Lightnin' Hopkins - Goin' Down Slow

This is an old recording of blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins performing the classic blues song "Goin' Down Slow". The first release of the song was in 1941, but the song gained notoriety when it was recorded by legendary blues artist Howlin' Wolf in 1962 (for Wolf version click here).
Wolf's recording made the song a blues standard, and it has since been covered by a lot of artists including; Jeff Beck, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton and Aretha Franklin, to name a few.
I like Lightnin's version because it is everything that I love about the blues, a man and his guitar just playing, it's soul, it's fantastic and no one has been able to replicate that today, it's unique.
Lightnin' was also a huge influence on Stevie Ray Vaughan, but more in terms of Vaughan's song "Rude Mood".

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck & B.B. King - Key to The Highway

This is a performance by B.B. King and Jeff Beck, it's from 2003. They perform the song "Key to The Highway", a song that's been part of King's repertoire for a long time. It is considered a blues classic, originally recorded in 1940 by Charlie Segar, and since covered by a number of blues artists. It was originally a 12-bar blues, but when covered by Big Bill Broonzy, he changed it to an 8-bar blues that sounds similar to the one performed today.
I love this performance, and the playful attitude the players have. There's nothing but respect between them. King's got the feelin', but Beck's got some speed, and in the end they're both great, it's never a competition.

Enjoy ; )