I’ve just finished listening to the Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott’s for the 3rd time and I have to say if you are a Jeff Beck fan you will love it. For a live album the mix is incredibly good, Jeff’s guitar parts are crystal clear with no noise and you can hear Aussie prodigy Tal wilkenfield whose bass playing never misses a beat as clear as Beck, she is a star in her own right already!
The album has all the classic Jeff Beck tracks, both original and covers you would expect to hear if you were putting together a Greatest Hits kind of playlist, “Cause we’ve ended as lovers”, “Where were you”, “Led Boots” etc. and they all sound better than the originals in my opinion. “Cause we’ve ended as lovers” has a really nice Bass solo from Tal which shows that she not only has great technique and theory knowledge but beautiful phrasing and sense of melody too. Beck’s playing is perfect as ever with his instantly recognizeable tone which although overdriven and sustaining is really clean and precise sounding, it is the kind of tone you want young kids to listen to and say “See you don’t need all that Triple Rectifier Ultra Distortion to sound good!”
I don’t know if its just me, and it probably is, but “Behind The Veil” from Jeff’s 1989 release “Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop” always reminds me of the theme to Bergerac, if you didn’t grow up in the UK during the 80′s you might want to check out this video of the Bergerac intro to see what I’m talking about, and if you did watch it for nostalgic reasons. Its that reggae style that does it, although Bergerac doesn’t have a searing guitar solo in it like this one!
“Scatterbrain” really shows off the band’s capabilities. Beck’s playing is amazing, Tal doesn’t skip a note, Jason Rebello on keyboards keeps things moving while Vinnie Colaiuta must be close to having a cardiac arrest! Meanwhile Beck’s cover of the Beatles track “A day in the life” shows the bands more subtle side, Beck’s playing leaves plenty of air for Tal to fill and she does so tastefully working closely with drummer Vinnie. It is a clever arrangement and one I’ve never heard before, I was quite surprised to even hear it on the album.
The album closes with “Where Were You” which not only displays Jeff Beck’s utterly control as a guitarist but also his compositional expertise. I remember when I first heard this track when my brother bought “..Guitar Shop” in the 80′s and have never heard anyone use open harmonics with such amazing control and such a clear overdrive tone. Jeff is all class and so is his band, this is one for the Xmas list!
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