Longtime Friend & Reader JC_in_PA suggested that I give this one a listen. I did, and so should you. The intro (i.e. the part before Khatia Buniatishvili gets going on the piano) is one of the best live interpretations I’ve ever heard.
Some pics of Khatia:
Lovely.
I’ve studied music, sung it, played it and pretty much been into it ever since I could walk.
But I never got close to figuring out where Jeff Beck was going, ever. I could only listen, marvel and appreciate the man’s endless artistry and talent. And now he’s gone, leaving only his body of work for us to enjoy.
Probably my favorite Beck was his guitar on buddy Rod Stewart’s People Get Ready. Haunting, melodic, beautiful and perfectly suited to the emotion of the gospel hymn, Beck’s soaring riffs turned it from lovely to sublime.
Yeah, sublime — that’s the word I was looking for. Once again, the music world has lost just one more thing of beauty, and the world is a little less lovely.
Damn it, I can’t even write a proper obituary about the man and his music.
R.I.P. Jeff.
Damn it, Fred: leave me alone, willya?
At some point over the past weekend, all the songs from White Mansions have run through my mind.
I last heard the album in the mid-1970s, yet I remember every song. Poignant, yet kinda chilling.
A little touch of Grieg in the night… played by the incredible Khatia Buniatishvili.
Yes, you may thank me now.