JEFF BECK GUITAR GOD

I've been listening to Jeff Beck's live album from last year, Live And Exclusive From The Grammy Museum, and I have to say that his guitar playing is just so unbelievable. And lyrical.

He does some of his own compositions, like "Hammerhead" and "Brush With The Blues," which are pretty badass.  But what really knocks me out are his instrumental covers of songs that originally featured iconic singers.  Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." The Beatles' "A Day In The Life." The opera piece "Nessun Dorma."  "Over The Rainbow" for godsakes! How do you take Curtis, John Lennon, Judy Garland out of those songs, and make them work?  But Jeff does.  His band sometimes has a real '80s adult contemporary vibe (his drummer, Narada Michael Walden, who produced huge hits for Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey during that decade), and on paper, this sounds like it could be "muzak," but in fact, it really works.

One reason Jeff Beck probably isn't more popular than he is, is because he doesn't sing. But the reason musicians and hard core music fans love him so much is because his guitar does. This album is exhibit A, you should check it out.