What It Was Like Recording & Touring with JEFF BECK! Simon Phillips 

I agree with you about Jeff Beck. Whenever I heard about a new Jeff Beck record having been released it was a major event in some way. I was a fan of his from his Yardbirds days. And when Truth and Beckola were released it was like a total revolutionary event. Most of my friends friends were all musicians or at least very into music and Beck was the MAN! I continued to acquire just about every record he came out with including his boxed set, which I absolutely love.

Glad you enjoyed it. There's a few other videos of Simon on the channel too 👍🤘

@@VRPRocks Thanks again, and I'll be sure and check them out! 🙏👍

That's incredible, a standing ovation at the sight of a drum kit? 🥁 👍🤘

One of THE greatest drummers out there.

@@markrushton1516 without question!

Simon is a genius!

Don’t forget TONY HYMAS - bigger footprint on that album than Jan!

@@davidkyle2073 you're right, "my bad" I knew there was someone else and I'm embarrassed I didn't remember Tony

Jan Hammer only played on 3 songs on “There and Back”: Star Cycle, To Much To Lose, and You Never Know. The rest of the keyboard playing was done by Tony Hymas. Tony toured with Jeff in 1980, 1989, and 1995. With the exception of the album “Flash, Tony collaborated with Jeff completely on “Guitar Shop” and on certain songs on “Who Else” and obviously on the fore mentioned “There and Back”.

I'll repeat that about Tony Hymas. I should know I saw the "There and Back" tour which IMO was Jeff at the top of his game. Three encores and ripped off all six strings at the end. The crowd went nutz!

@@randygirard6691 yeah I was really bummed I didn't get to see that tour. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if close friends of mine hadn't gotten to go without me. I don't remember the circumstances why I couldn't go now that was a long time ago but I will forever regret not seeing that show the show you saw sounds epic!

'A GIBSON IS FAR EASIER TO PLAY THAN A FENDER'', GTFOH ! Reading some of the Bullshit comments on this video's thread is fuckin hilarious ! this comment might big the biggest load os $#!T of them all ! I've played them all and it's how a guitar is setup which governs its playability ! A shit setup will yield a difficult guitar to play, has nothing to do with BRANDS !

Simon has so many stories. More videos with his tales of other greats to come in the following weeks 👍🤘

that is only an opinion of a guy that hadn't played with Beck since 1983 ? I think the guy , besides having a ridiculous wig on, is a bit hazy on his memories AND HIS OPINIONS.

Jeff was right. You loose power and flexibility with a guitar that's too easy to play.

@@bennyzuccarello1068 ...and .... what do you have to offer?

The last time I read current information on his guitar strings “high” E were 10’s.

@@Notes-From-Underground66 Jeff said he would start his tours with 10s but change up as his fingers toughened up. I doubt if he went higher that 12s, but based on his comments he would definitely have been using 11s.

Thats wonderful to hear! I've just interviewed his son Malcolm Bruce about his dad and Cream and the new Heavenly Cream album. Videos to be uploaded next week probably 👍🤘

@@VRPRocks Great! I remember when he performed “We’re Going Wrong” at the BB King dinner club on 42nd St (since closed), sitting barely twenty feet away, he had the whole audience transfixed. That voice was something out of this world…

So glad you enjoyed it! More clips from the interview with Simon telling great stories still to come 👍🤘

Thanks for the kind words @scrimmerman ! Ive interviewed loads of classic rock stars over the years with over 200 videos on this channel, plus a daily poll to argue/debate over too. Join in the fun 👍🤘

Yes, neither of them used a pick.

@@claymor8241 LOL

He is awesome on discovery, he really kicked ass on that album 👍

@@mdue72 CRISES too. Also on the live material on the expanded version.

Yeah, one of the best

Wow ! I never knew that.

I saw Jeff in 2001 and he was the only act. It was his tour to support his released album “You Had It Coming”. No opening act.

@@Notes-From-Underground66 I too saw him on that tour, twice in one week - Montreux, Switzerland, then a few days later in Hyde Park, London. He was, much to his chagrin, opening for Sting (certainly much to Sting's delight). I spoke with him briefly prior to and after the show at in Montreux (I had backstage pass) but he was obviously uncomfortable during the first encounter (pre-gig). He was more relaxed after the gig. The band was great, as was he. There is a DVD and CD of the Montreux show (2001) that is available as bootleg. Strangely, the track listing differs. He opened with 'Where Were You', just him alone on the stage, though on the CD that track is moved to mid-set. One of the best DVDs is Tokyo 1999, which can be had easily online. It is a multi-cam pro-shot concert that must have been shot for television broadcast or some other funded purpose. Steve Alexander was still on drums. It's on RU-vid, too. Killer stuff.

@@MrCherryJuice I all ready have those DVD’s. I saw Jeff Beck in: 1980 (Philadelphia), 1986 (Budokan, Japan), 1989 (Philadelphia), 1995 (Allentown, Pa), 1999 (Phoenix), 2001 (Phoenix), 2003 (Phoenix), 2006 (Tempe, Az), 2006 (Mesa, Az), 2010 (Phoenix), 2014 (Tucson). I lived in Japan for 3years. Jeff is a Megastar over there. I have all kinds of vinyl records and picture discs of Jeff Beck’s that I have never seen anywhere else. Not anywhere on the internet!!!

@@Notes-From-Underground66 Wow! In addition to Montreux and London, I saw with with BB& @ Leeds University in '72 and a date in Canada (Narada drumming) about a decade back. I regret that there are no great quality captures of the Beck, Bozzio & Hymas lineup. The official ones @ Ronnie Scott's and Tokyo (2014) are nice, but with BB&H he was unbelievable - imagine a proper video of that band (with or w/out Pino). That is the side of Jeff I wish more people got to see. The band w/Jen Batten was also great, particularly w/Steve Alexander drumming. When I saw Jeff in 2001, Andy Gangadeen was drumming...which was fine (check out 'Live at Massey Hall, Toronto'), though not as dynamic. In an interview some years later, Andy admitted that he was out of his league in that band. I also wish there was something of the 'Blow by Blow' lineup (w/Richard Bailey, Phil Chen), though that tour had Bernard Purdie and Wilbur Bascombe. I've know some of the drummers (Appice, Bailey, Purdie, Bozzio) for years but never really discussed their time with Jeff. I did read where Purdie said tour w/Jeff was probably the best experience in his professional life. "I was treated like a king."

It was John Giblin, Scottish bass player who also worked with a who's-who of artists.

The very man. He talks about Sin After Sin with me, here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XojAbpkGiQQ.htmlsi=42rMjFu7Huv430rH

Every great guitarist with a distinctive recognisable oeuvre and sound plays Strats, they’re all from the British Isles and I signed them all to rebrand Fender!

Sorry mate, but when it comes to Jeff.....well, if I have to explain, then you don't understand.....and I've been playing guitar for 53 years and taught at college level...

Jeff was certainly a supernatural being. He had a perfect ear, was obsessed with guitars, had an innate sense of melody, unique phrasing and put tens of thousands of hours into honing and perfecting his craft. So no, it's not easy by any stretch.

@@martinspencer366 Exactly so Martin, well said. I've followed Jeff's career avidly since the seventies, and for me he was like a conduit. The music chose him, and he was obligated to use his gift and develop his craft in order to be able express what he was hearing, to be available to it and for it. That's why he had to constantly reinvent himself, develop new techniques (that no one else did) and was always searching, developing, improving, right to the end. He was on a singular path, a true innovator who always went his own way because he had to. Every guitarist out there takes influences from others and Jeff was no different. But what did make him different was what he did with it, and that was why he never repeated himself (or others.) I think he worked just as hard at being a 'better receiver' as he did on inventing the techniques required to facilitate it, and that 'connection', his dedication and devotion to it and his uncanny ability to 'get out of the way' and let it speak through him was what made him so special in my opinion. I saw Jeff live many times, and it was always like watching a boxer enter the ring to do battle. It could go either way, it was always high risk, uncompromising, and things had to be just right for the magic to happen. I think this delicate balance is what led to his occasional bouts of petulance, especially on the road, and it wasn't so much that HE was difficult, it was what he trying to DO that was so very difficult, and when it worked and you got to witness it, it really was truly magical. It that is all too deep, then you could look at this way....if you think of it like sex, some people play guitar to give themselves orgasms.....but some people play to give OTHER PEOPLE orgasms....If ever there was a case of 'learn the lick, but more importantly, learn FROM the lick', it was Jeff. I studied his playing for years, even performed 'Where Were You' once live (hardest thing I've ever attempted), and taught some his pieces, but I always told students to try and cop some of his attitude, even more than some of the techniques. When we lost Jeff my partner Wendy heard the news first and didn't know how to break it to me.....I don't mind admitting that I cried my eyes out and was in bits for a few days, and I wasn't the only one that felt that loss so deeply. I have never seen the like of the outpouring of grief that followed in the music world. There was a reason for that.....There is also a reason that you can count the number of Jeff Beck tribute acts on less than one finger......he was a one-off and we will never see his like again. Thanks for everything Jeff, especially for teaching me what is really important about playing the guitar and what it is for.

Jeff was an alien. You can't teach, or learn, how to play like Jeff Beck. As Steve Vai said, Beck was the chosen one.

When and where? Would love to look for the video here on RU-vid

​@SkateOrDie666 it's a gig in Japan with Santana and Lukather.