Premier Guitar editors detail the records that got us through another challenging year. Plus, some of the most-anticipated releases of 2022.
Ted Drozdowski — Senior Editor
The Black Keys
Delta Kream
Ever feel like an album was made especially for you? The Black Keys did me that favor with their tribute to North Mississippi hill country—a style that’s greatly influenced them and me—and hard-core Delta electric blues. (I was deeply inspired by my friendship with R.L. Burnside and toured and recorded in a band under those same influences for 16 years.) Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney nailed those sounds and the songs they chose so hard, and they brought in a couple Mississippian ringers that I love, guitarist Kenny Brown and bassist Eric Deaton. If you don’t know who R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Fred McDowell, and Ranie Burnette are, make no mistake—you are remiss. But this album will take you to their front door. All you gotta do is step through to discover some of the most joyful, soulful, and deep music ever made in America.
Must-hear tracks: All of them, but start with “Crawling Kingsnake” and “Louise.”
The Black Keys - Crawling Kingsnake [Official Music Video]
Cedric Burnside
I Be Trying
Okay, so I’ve tipped my hand with the album above, but R.L. Burnside’s grandson, who I’ve known since he started touring with his “Big Daddy” at age 14, has become the leading proponent of North Mississippi blues. He’s also become a terrific guitarist with an edgy style of fingerpicking that really underscores the North African roots of this music. Even better is his slice-of-life songwriting, which covers everything from the perils of being Black in America to the joys of love. His sweet, sad, soulful anthem of the heart, “The World Can Be So Cold,” is a gem, so rich in emotional implications—amplified by his expressive singing—it can be unbearable on a hard day. And his lessons as a drummer have come with him. “Pretty Flowers” and a horde of other songs absolutely percolate. Cedric is a living link between the past and present of this music—its deepest roots and its brightest future. No wonder he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts this year.
Must-hear tracks: “The World Can Be So Cold” and “Keep on Pushing”
Cedric Burnside - "The World Can Be So Cold"
Valerie June
The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers
I love Valerie June, with her nursery-rhythm vocal phrasing, starry-eyed lyrics, and kaleidoscopic sound that nonetheless reveals the strong roots of her music in the American South. She’s a unicorn. Name another artist who sounds like her? I dare you! I also dare you to feel sad as her voice soars, as her tales of love and endurance and experience unspool. She also has a transcendentalist, folk-rooted style of guitar and banjo that’s perfect counterpoint to the modern production and the excellent, imaginative studio players who accompany her songs. Overall, the album has a sense of kindness that, while that may sound like an abstract thing, is palpable. You can listen to The Moon and Stars three ways: as flat-out, delightful entertainment, as soothing music for meditation, or as beautiful lullabies for adults. I need more of all of those.
Must-hear tracks: “Call Me a Fool” and “You and I.” (And note the Mississippi fife and drum band pattern that kicks in at 1:12.)
Valerie June - The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers (Full Album Visualizer)
Most-anticipated 2022 releases: Anything by the Messthetics or Tom Waits! (C’mon Tom, I’m starting to feel like the bad kid on Christmas. I beg for a new one every year and get a lump of coal!) Psyched for the upcoming Sinead O’Connor. And Carlos Santana has a Sonny Sharrock tribute album in development that I can’t wait to hear! And every year I look forward to whatever treats Henry Kaiser has up his extremely long sleeve. And that’s just scraping the surface.
Shawn Hammond — Chief Content Officer
Behemoth
In Absentia Dei
When Polish extreme-metal mainstays Behemoth broadcast this live event in December 2020, it wasn’t epic simply because the 19-song set was filmed from the apse of remote church ruins and augmented by incredible pyrotechnics, copious fog clouds, and killer lighting. It was a lifeline of sorts for metal fans the world over who were reeling from the most destabilizing and uncertain period of their lives. There were no Covid vaccines yet, there were no concerts to go to, and we were all shut up at home, bored out of our minds and scared. For those who missed the event, both the audio and Blu-ray footage were just released, and the execution is ripping, the pace unrelenting. Frontman/songwriter/creative visionary Adam “Nergal” Darski—who’s known both for his fearlessly blasphemous themes and very public fights against censorship and heavy-handed sanctions in his native country—isn’t typically a man of many words between songs, preferring to let the immersive experience speak for itself. But it’s cool that, here, amidst the black-metal gluttony, he takes the time in two or three spots to articulate a message of positivity and solidarity to headbangers around the globe. “Despite the challenges we face, and plagues we endure, we gather here tonight … in celebration … together we shall conquer all!”
Must-hear tracks: “Evoe,” “Bartzabel,” “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer,” “O Father O Satan O Sun!”
BEHEMOTH - Evoe (In Absentia Dei)
Tessa Jeffers — Managing Editor
Sam Fender
Seventeen Going Under
These days I have a difficult time keeping track of time. In the three-year vacuum that is 2019 up to now, it’s hard to place the order of things, like a circadian dissonance.
Discovering British songwriter Sam Fender’s Seventeen Going Under, however, was a distinct musical event. When I first heard the title-track, it stopped me in my tracks. I was at attention: This wasn’t some viral video or one-hit wonder. This was a masterclass in songwriting—all of it, from the lyrical themes, intricate guitar, sexy sax solos, hard-hitting drums, dynamic energy levels … total composition. I believed the artist’s intention and had to hear more. I found myself googling the lyrics, feeling lit up about a rock album with the same happiness I felt when I found the Beastie Boys in my brother’s CD collection as a tweenager in Nebraska, later reading the entire album booklet of lyrics while riding the bus to away volleyball and basketball tournaments.
The single, “Seventeen Going Under,” was on repeat from summer, until the full album dropped in October and … I’m still listening. Fender’s nickname of “Geordie Springsteen” makes sense; he’s got the homespun grit and heartland backdrop, combined with serrated storytelling. And then there’s the Jeff Buckley influence, Fender’s tenor voice bleeding emotion and passion into the corners. But Fender’s own sound coalesced in this sophomore album. He’s arrived as a singular artist with a gift to reach people. Through tales of facing inner demons, Fender bares his soul. He vulnerably discusses self-esteem, losing friends to suicide, pained family relationships, and feeling alienated by polarizing politics, and it’s all set to epic soundscapes orchestrated by a young maestro. (“Long Way Off” has 164 tracks of audio to dissect.)
This is an album for the romantics out there, yearning for feeling amongst the banal over- and underpinnings of the day. Fender’s album hits the heart like a bull’s-eye. I’m only choosing this one album this year, because it was authentically that remarkable—on a personal level because I genuinely just loved it, but also in the big picture of what is currently happening in the world. A rocket-to-the-moon standout, what I listened to above all others. I bought it on vinyl the day it came out, even though I already had the album in preparation for our coverage in Premier Guitar. I just wanted to listen to it in my favorite way, reading the lyrics in the record’s sleeve, reveling in the secrets of the writer for the listener, waiting within.
Fender went back in time on Seventeen Going Under, documenting his youth and triumphing over old wounds. In doing so, he helped make 2021’s vacuum of time a better place.
Must-hear tracks: “Seventeen Going Under” (check out the acoustic version), “Aye,” “Paradigms”
Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under (Official Video)
Most-anticipated 2022 release: Red Hot Chili Peppers with John Frusciante
Chris Kies — Multimedia Manager
Every Time I Die
Radical
The boys from Buffalo have been paying the bills with breakdowns since the late ’90s. Radical marks their ninth punishing album (and second with Epitaph) that continues tight-roping their pit-pulsing roots with different shades of fume. Signature brutal bangers that hang with anything they’ve done include “Dark Distance,” “Planet Shit,” and “All This and War” (featuring 68’s Josh Scogin). Vocalist Keith Buckley still pens the most sardonic, cynical, double-entendre lyrics in the genre. Low Teens’ slight experimentation advances with the sleazily sauntering “White Void,” slinky stinger “Post-Boredom,” and pensive (and almost poppy) “Thing with Feathers” (featuring Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull).
Must-hear tracks: “Planet Shit,” “Post-Boredom,” “White Void”
Every Time I Die - "Post-Boredom"
Turnstile
Glow On
“Genre blending” is the music critic equivalent to gearheads describing an overdrive as “transparent.” They’re both overused and lazy. But in the case of Turnstile’s third album, it’s apropos. Sleek production (Mike Elizondo) and fresh flourishes weave together provoking thoughts of Depeche Mode, Deftones’ “Digital Bath,” EDM, dreamy alt-rock contemporary Citizen, and even Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction. It’s a sticky listen with an impeccable flow that will continue snagging fans from all walks of life. Rest easy, purists: The Baltimore heavy hitters keep their fist-in-your-face, East Coast hardcore bounce bumping. Dudes even became the first modern hardcore act to hit the late-night circuit (see below).
Must-hear tracks: “Mystery” and “Holiday”
Turnstile: MYSTERY /T.L.C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION)
Silk Sonic
An Evening with Silk Sonic
Let’s be honest, 2021 wasn’t much brighter than 2020. We’ve needed a good time for a long time … enter Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. The duo put the fun back in funk by incorporating classic, upbeat R&B vibes that groove and move more like ’71 than ’21. Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Delfonics, and Teddy Pendergrass all live within this 30-minute party platter. Even when the cheese gets thick, the playful, positive energy and buoyant rhythms take precedent. And if you needed another reason to boogie down and flash your 24-karat smile, Bootsy Collins hosts the set (and even coined the duo’s name, too).
Must-hear tracks: “Smokin Out the Window” and “Leave the Door Open”
Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic - Smokin Out The Window [Official Music Video]
Nick Millevoi — Associate Editor
Daniel Lanois
Heavy Sun
I’ve found inspiration in this record on every listen—and I’ve listened a lot! Lanois, organist/lead vocalist Johnny Shepherd, and guitarist/vocalist Rocco DeLuca spent a couple years working together, practicing, performing, and developing the sound and songs heard on Heavy Sun and it shows. It’s a powerful and truly unique set of music that could only be made as a long-term collaboration where several strong artistic voices start to incorporate into a whole new thing. The songs are sparse, melodic, groovy, immersive, and have a focused sound that incorporates elements of so many things that I love into some kind of slow-burn, dub-infused space gospel. Or something. Whatever it is, I feel like I’ve been waiting to hear this sound for a long time, and I expect Heavy Sun to reward focused listening for years to come.
Must-hear tracks: “Dance On,” “Tumbling Stone,” “Angels Watching”
Dance On
Pino Palladino and Blake Mills
Notes With Attachments
There are so many details and textures to enjoy on this production-heavy record, it makes every listen a new journey. Of course, it’s a huge deal that this is Pino Palladino’s debut as a composer/leader, and it’s also my favorite Blake Mills record. To hear these musicians—both of whom seem capable of just about anything when they’re in the studio—experimenting together makes this such a special document. With Afrobeat-inspired grooves, instrumentation from West Africa and South America, and hip-hop and minimalist inspirations, Notes With Attachments is a sonic stew akin to Miles Davis’ On the Corner. I hope this is what the future sounds like.
Must-hear tracks: “Ekuté,” “Man from Molise”
Just Wrong
Hailu Mergia & the Walias Band
Tezeta
I’ve been a sucker for Ethiopian jazz for a long time, but this reissue might end up being my favorite album from the genre. Originally a self-released cassette back in 1975, this album received its first wide release back in June, when it quickly became the soundtrack to most of my summertime hangs—and I still keep coming back. I love the tunes and I’m a big fan of Mergia’s expressive, soulful keyboards. Tezeta was recorded in off hours when the band was gigging at the Hilton Addis Ababa. Apparently, Alice Coltrane once swung through the hotel and sat in. That’s a mind-blowing collab, and I can easily imagine her fitting into the group’s bouncy groove. But what’s most important is that the vibe of this record is totally unbeatable, and the remaining cassette hiss adds a nice aural patina that makes my imagination run wild.
Must-hear tracks: “Tezeta,” “Nefas New Zemedie”
Tezeta
Charles Saufley — Gear Editor
Can
Live in Stuttgart 1975
Want to switch up your guitar practice and get a little aerobic workout in the process? Then jam along with Can’s superhuman drummer Jaki Liebezeit and his accomplices for the entirety of the six sides of this treasure trove. Can fans will recognize snippets of song from their catalog among these Germanically, numerically titled jams. But generally, recognizable tune snippets are just seeds for drifting excursions that are simultaneously intense, amazingly focused, delirious, and positively ecstatic.
CAN • LIVE IN STUTTGART 1975
Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / The London Symphony Orchestra
Promises
The pandemic tested my love for what you could loosely call “ambient” music in a big way—not because I needed it any less, or because my favorite pieces of more minimal, formless music had ceased to move me, but because ambient was suddenly, inescapably everywhere—just as Mr. Eno had prophesized.
One piece that broke through was Sam Shepherd (aka electronic artist Floating Points) and Pharoah Sanders’ collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra. Spread over nine movements—each based loosely on a seven-note figure that shines like drops of dew after a winter frost—Promises is a sort of gentle push and pull between the celestial, Apollonian forces of Floating Points and the orchestra, and Sanders’ still-majestic saxophone voice, which manages to be Dionysian, earthy, and extra-celestial all at once. The sum of their efforts is an altogether grounding listening experience.
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises [Full Album]
Jason Shadrick — Associate Editor
Oasis
Knebworth 1996
Although I lived through the Britpop era of the ’90s, it took this album—and a deep dive into Oasis’ catalog this past summer—to really understand the appeal. Also, after 2020 I was likely looking for as much live music as I could, even if it happened 25 years ago. Recorded at a massive Woodstock-like field in England, this is a document of the Gallagher brothers at their absolute peak. Big guitars, Liam’s sneering vocals, and 250,000 people singing every word. Proper gig.
Must-hear tracks: “Champagne Supernova,” “Acquiesce”
Oasis - Champagne Supernova (Live at Knebworth) [Taken from 'Oasis Knebworth 1996']
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Georgia Blue
After promising on Twitter to record a Georgia tribute album if Biden won the state, Isbell and his band came through with one of the best “tribute” albums in ages. A pure love letter to the Peach State, this collection of tunes by R.E.M, James Brown, Black Crowes, Indigo Girls, and others feels like a very well-rehearsed jam session with a pile of famous (and legendary) friends. Hearing Brittney Spencer on “Midnight Train to Georgia” alone is worth it. Plus, the lengthy take on the Allman’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” gives both Isbell and Sadler Vaden plenty of room to stretch. Let’s hope there’s a Texas volume down the road.
Must-hear tracks: “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Honeysuckle Blue,” “Driver 8”
Midnight Train to Georgia
Béla Fleck
My Bluegrass Heart
It took 20 years, but Béla’s bluegrass trilogy is finally complete. Both Drive and Bluegrass Sessions are supremely influential recordings to fans of newgrass and acoustic music. Sadly, this also serves as a de facto tribute to Tony Rice, who passed away last December. Rice was Bela’s guy. So much so, that Bela considered not doing an album if Rice wasn’t available to play. Bela dove headfirst into the new crop of bluegrass musicians, which has become the link between them and the first wave of newgrass cats that populated the previous two albums of the trilogy. Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Michael Cleveland, and others all have absolute standout moments on this album. This is serious music played with big love.
Must-hear tracks: “Wheels Up,” “Charm School”
Béla Fleck - Charm School (feat. Billy Strings & Chris Thile)
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’)
No other band on earth could have given the Layla album the justice it deserves like TTB. Full stop. Add in Trey Anastasio and Doyle Bramhall II and you have pure magic—even if Trey is along for the ride a bit. The band’s connection to the Dominos is more than shared branches on the tree of blues-rock influence. Derek was named after the band (his brother was named after Duane Allman), and Susan Tedeschi was born on the exact day it came out in 1970. This is big-band blues-rock with a vintage heart, and that’s what separates TTB from most other touring outfits. Nobody is left behind and they all churn ahead with a shared focus—even if they might not know where they’ll end up.
Must-hear tracks: “Layla,” “Keep on Growing,” “Little Wing”
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Layla (Live at LOCKN' / 2019) (Official Music Video)
Most-anticipated 2022 releases: Ben Rector, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bonnie Raitt
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Bruce Springsteen: the last man standing.
On Halloween, the pride of New Jersey rock ’n’ roll shook a Montreal arena with a show that lifted the veil between here and the everafter.
It might not seem like it, but Bruce Springsteen is going to die.
I know; it’s a weird thought. The guy is 75 years old, and still puts on three-hour-plus-long shows, without pauses or intermissions. His stamina and spirit put the millennial work-from-home class, whose backs hurt because we “slept weird” or “forgot to use our ergonomic keyboard,” to absolute shame. He leaps and bolts and howls and throws his Telecasters high in the air. No doubt it helps to have access to the best healthcare money can buy, but still, there’s no denying that he’s a specimen of human physical excellence. And yet, Bruce, like the rest of us, will pass from this plane.
Maybe these aren’t the first thoughts you’d expect to have after a rock ’n’ roll show, but rock ’n’ roll is getting old, and one of its most prolific stars has been telling us for the past few years that he’s getting his affairs in order. His current tour, which continues his 2023 world tour celebrated in the recent documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, follows his latest LP of original music, 2020’s Letter To You. That record was explicitly and thematically an exploration of the Boss’ mortality, and this year’s jubilant roadshow continues that chapter with shows across the U.S. and Canada.
“The older you get, the more you realize that, unless you’re über-wealthy, you probably have a lot in common with the characters in Springsteen songs.”
I was at the Montreal show on Halloween night, where Bruce, the E Street Band—Steven Van Zandt, Nils Lofgren, Garry Tallent, Max Weinberg, and Roy Bittan, along with Soozie Tyrell, Charles Giordano, and Jake Clemons—and a brilliant backing ensemble of singers and musicians performed for roughly three hours straight. The show rewired my brain. For days after, I was in a feverish state, hatching delusional schemes to get to his other Canadian shows, unconsciously singing the melody of “Dancing in the Dark” on a loop until my partner asked me to stop, listening to every Springsteen album front to back.
“The stakes implicit in most of these stories are that our time is always running out.”
Photo by Rob DeMartin
I had seen Bruce and the E Street Band in 2012, but something about this time was different, more urgent and powerful. Maybe it’s that the older you get, the more you realize that, unless you’re über-wealthy, you probably have a lot in common with the characters in Springsteen songs. When you’re young, they’re just great songs with abstract stories. Maybe some time around your late 20s, you realize that you aren’t one of the lucky ones anointed to escape the pressures of wage work and monthly rent, and suddenly the plight of the narrator of “Racing in the Street” isn’t so alien. The song’s wistful organ melody takes on a different weight, and the now-signature extended coda that the band played in Montreal, led by that organ, Bittan’s piano, and Weinberg’s tense snare rim snaps, washed across the arena over and again, like years slipping away.
The stakes implicit in most of these stories are that our time is always running out. The decades that we spend just keeping our heads above water foreclose a lot of possibility, the kind promised in the brash harmonica whine and piano strokes that open “Thunder Road” like an outstretched hand, or in the wild, determined sprint of “Born to Run.” If we could live forever, there’d be no urgency to our toils. But we don’t.
Springsteen has long has the ability to turn a sold-out arena into a space as intimate as a small rock club.
Photo by Rob DeMartin
Bruce has never shied away from these realities. Take “Atlantic City,” with its unambiguous chorus: “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.” (Then, of course, an inkling of hope: “Maybe everything that dies someday comes back.”) Springsteen used those phrases on Nebraska to tell the story of a working person twisted and cornered into despair and desperation, but on All Hallows Eve, as the band rocked through their electrified arrangement of the track, it was hard not to hear them outside of their context, too, as some of the plainest yet most potent words in rock ’n’ roll.
In Montreal, like on the rest of this tour, Bruce guided us through a lifecycle of music and emotion, framed around signposts that underlined our impermanence. In “Letter to You,” he gestured forcefully, his face tight and rippled with passion, an old man recapping the past 50 years of his creative life and his relationship to listeners in one song. “Nightshift,” the well-placed Commodores tune featured on his 2022 covers record, and “Last Man Standing,” were opportunities to mourn Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, his E Street comrades who went before him, but also his bandmates in his first group, the Castiles. It all came to a head in the night’s elegiac closer, “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” performed solo by Bruce with his acoustic guitar: “Go, and I’ll see you in my dreams,” he calls
I’m still trying to put my finger on exactly why the show felt so important. I’ve circled around it here, but I’m sure I haven’t quite hit on the heart of the matter. Perhaps it’s that, as we’re battered by worsening crises and cornered by impossible costs of living, songs about people trying desperately to feel alive and get free sound especially loud and helpful. Or it could be that having one of our favorite artists acknowledge his mortality, and ours, is like having a weight lifted: Now that it’s out in the open, we can live properly and honestly.
None of us know for sure what’s up around the bend, just out of sight. It could be something amazing; it could be nothing at all. Whatever it is, we’re in it together, and we’ll all get there in our time. Until then, no matter how bad things get, we’ll always have rock ’n’ roll.
Dunlop Pays Tribute to Eric Clapton with Special Edition Cry Baby Wah
Eric Clapton Cry Baby Wah is a limited-edition pedal with GCB95 sound and gold-plated casting. Portion of proceeds donated to Crossroads Centre for addiction treatment. Available exclusively at Guitar Center.
In 1986, Mr. Clapton first started working with the late Jim Dunlop Sr., and he became one of our first and most important Cry Baby artists. We are honored that our company’s relationship with the legendary guitar player continues to this day. With this special limited edition Eric Clapton Cry Baby Wah, we’re paying tribute to Mr. Clapton’s 60-year legacy. Featuring the benchmark sound of the GCB95 Cry Baby Standard Wah, this pedal comes with a distinguished gold-plated casting befitting one of rock ’n’ roll’s living giants.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each Eric Clapton Cry Baby Wah will be donated to the Crossroads Centre, a not-for-profit organization founded by Mr. Clapton to provide safe and supportive addiction treatment and a road to recovery. If you wish to contribute a further donation, please visit crossroadsantigua.org.
The Eric Clapton Cry Baby Wah is available now at $299.99, exclusively from Guitar Center in the United States and from select retailers worldwide.
Eric Clapton Cry Baby Wah Highlights
- Pay tribute to one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends
- Special limited edition• Benchmark sound of the GCB95
- Distinguished gold-plated casting
- Portion of proceeds donated to Crossroads Centre for supportive addiction treatment and recovery
Jeff Beck playing: the ‘Oxblood’, his 1954 Gibson Les Paul.
Christie’s will auction Jeff Beck: The Guitar Collection on January 22, 2025, in London. See the highlights.
Jeff Beck (1944-2023), was a trailblazing guitar icon and legend. A multi-Grammy award-winning artist – twice inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – his inimitable sound led to collaborations with countless internationally renowned musicians and friends including: Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, Steven Tyler, Billy Gibbons, Jan Hammer, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, BB King, Buddy Guy, Nile Rodgers, Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder, Imelda May and Johnny Depp, amongst others.Providing a remarkable opportunity for fans, guitarists and collectors, this unique sale comprises over 130 guitars, amps and ‘tools-of-the-trade’, which Jeff played through his almost six-decades-long career, from joining The Yardbirds in March 1965, to his last tour in 2022. With estimates ranging from £100 to £500,000, highlights will be on public view in Los Angeles from 4 to 6 December, followed by the full collection being on show in the pre-sale exhibition at Christie’s headquarters in London, from 15 to 22 January 2025.
Sandra Beck: “I hope you enjoy reading through this catalogue featuring the tools of my Gorgeous Jeff’s life. These guitars were his great love and after almost two years of his passing it's time to part with them as Jeff wished. After some hard thinking I decided they need to be shared, played and loved again. It is a massive wrench to part with them but I know Jeff wanted for me to share this love. He was a maestro of his trade. He never lusted after commercial success. For him it was just about the music. He constantly reinvented himself with his musical direction and I could not single out one person, one recording or one guitar as his favourite. I hope the future guitarists who acquire these items are able to move closer to the genius who played them. Thank you all for considering a small piece of Jeff that I am now hoping to share with you.”
COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS:
The sale is led by one of Jeff Beck’s most recognisable guitars – his iconic 1954 ‘Oxblood’ Gibson Les Paul, famously depicted on the cover of his seminal 1975 solo instrumental album Blow By Blow, and used on tracks including the Beck-Middleton original composition ‘Scatterbrain’ (estimate: £350,000-500,000). Purchased in November 1972 in Memphis, the guitar saw extensive live action with the short-lived power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice in 1973. Other notable live shows through the 1970s included his performance alongside David Bowie and Mick Ronson at the farewell show of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, at the Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973, the film of which was released in 2023, including Jeff’s iconic guest appearance.
The original ‘Yardburst’, Jeff Beck bought his circa 1958 Gibson Les Paul in London in 1966 whilst in the seminal British rock group The Yardbirds (estimate: £40,000-60,000). The history and battle scars of this guitar are legendary. Purchased at Selmer’s in Charing Cross for £175 in early 1966, it was used to record ‘Over Under Sideways Down’ and ‘Happenings Ten Years Time Ago’ on The Yardbirds’ album Roger The Engineer, as well as Jeff Beck’s solo track ‘Beck’s Bolero’, co-written with Jimmy Page and recorded with Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins. Jeff removed the black pickguard, switch surround and the original sunburst finish in late 1967, leaving the guitar in its natural raw blonde state. Jeff played the guitar on his debut studio solo album Truth, the first to showcase the talents of backing band the Jeff Beck Group, featuring a young Rod Stewart on vocals and Ronnie Wood on bass, and on tour when the band crossed the Atlantic in 1968, including for a memorable residency at the Scene in New York in June 1968, where nightly encores saw Jimi Hendrix join the band on stage, including for a jam on this very guitar.
The ‘Tele-Gib’ is a hybrid guitar put together by world-renowned pickup designer Seymour Duncan specifically for Jeff Beck in 1973 (estimate: £100,000-150,000). Comprising a Fender Telecaster body and neck with a pair of Gibson PAF humbucking pickups removed from a Flying V, Seymour took the guitar to Jeff whilst he was rehearsing with Beck, Bogert & Appice in London in late 1973. The Tele-Gib can be heard on the beautiful Stevie Wonder track ‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers’, from Blow By Blow, and was subsequently used for many other sessions and live performances, including The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball in 1981, alongside fellow former Yardbird, Eric Clapton.
Jeff Beck’s 1954 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster, serial number 0062, was one of his most prized possessions (estimate: £50,000-80,000). A gift from Humble Pie’s Steve Marriott following a late-night session in 1976, Jeff replaced the existing Tele neck with a 1958 Strat neck, which he had used to record many tracks on Beck-Ola (1969), Rough And Ready (1972) and Blow By Blow (1975). The ’54 would become Jeff’s principal performance and recording guitar for the rest of the ‘70s and into the early ‘80s – including for the majority of the 1980 album There And Back, and the A.R.M.S. Benefit Concert and tour in 1983, which saw the three ex-Yardbirds guitarists perform on stage together for the first time – Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton – alongside The Rolling Stones Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood and many other world-famous musicians.
‘Tina’ the Pink Jackson Soloist was debuted during the 1983 A.R.M.S. tour, at Madison Square Garden in New York City (estimate: £8,000-12,000). Fitted with a patented Kahler bridge, it enabled Jeff to deliver even more extreme string bends and harmonics and was immediately employed on several important recording sessions with world-renowned artists, most notably Tina Turner. Having lent his unique talents to her Mark Knopfler-written single ‘Private Dancer’, Jeff requested that she sign his guitar in lieu of payment for the session. When the pen failed, she engraved her signature with a flick-knife and then rubbed in green nail varnish for good effect. Jeff would go on to play the guitar on his 1985 album Flash, produced by Nile Rodgers, including for his reunion duet with Rod Stewart, ‘People Get Ready’.
The longest-serving of his Fender White Stratocasters, ‘Anoushka’ was master built by J.W. Black of the Fender Custom Shop (estimate: £20,000-30,000). Jeff modified his Strats – the model he referred to as ‘another arm’ – switching necks, bodies and electronics to suit his needs. The neck of this guitar was Jeff’s favourite and, when united with the present white Strat body he named ‘Anoushka’, became his primary recording and performance Strat for 16 years. It was used to record four solo albums and for hundreds of live performances, including much of Jeff’s legendary Ronnie Scott’s residency, his second induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a co-headline tour with Eric Clapton, and for his performance at the Obama White House alongside B.B. King and Mick Jagger in 2012.
The PXO was created as a live or studio tool. When we sent Phil the overdrive sample he found that it saved him in backline situations and provided him a drive that plays well with others.
The PXO is an overdrive/boost where you can select pre or post giving you variety in how you want to boost, EQ and overdrive. We have provided standard controls on the overdrive side such as Volume/Gain/Overdrive and EQ but on the boost side you have a separate Tilt EQ that allows you to EQ with simplicity. You can experiment by cascading in a pre or post situation and experiment from there. The PXO has a lush, thick feel to the bottom end and a smooth top end that begs you to dig into the note.