Les Paul Foundation launches website on late guitar innovator's 95th birthday

Twenty-three years ago today, when Les Paul turned 72 years young, Jimmy Page turned up at Fat Tuesday's jazz club in New York for a jam session attended by stars including Jeff Beck.

On Monday nights between 1984 and 1996, Paul played weekly sets there. From 1996 on, he moved those gigs to his own New York jazz club, the Iridium. The innovator of modern guitar and recording was just that accessible to fans long after he was said to have "retired from performing" all the way back in 1964.

Last night, Beck returned to New York, performing at the Iridium the first of two shows, in part to celebrate the first Les Paul birthday since his death last summer. Beck's second show takes place tonight, on the same day a foundation established in Paul's name officially launches a new, interactive website, www.LesPaulFoundation.org.

New album from Jeff Beck ought to inspire Jimmy Page

Much has been made of the extent to which Jimmy Page did or did not craft the earliest of his tremendously successful musical ventures in the image of Jeff Beck. Not only were they bandmates in the Yardbirds for a brief time in 1966, but they'd been buddies since their teens or even pre-teens. Lately, Beck's been out touring a lot, raising his profile among crossover audiences. No longer is he exclusively the subject of idol worship by just guitar aficionados. Beck's name recognition is at an all-time high, on the eve of the release of something like his 15th album (depending on which ones you count). With all its diversity and unpredictability, Emotion and Commotion is a truly worthy addition to his life's work.

Jimmy Page hasn't released a new studio album in 12 years, and he is also coming up on a decade since his last concert tour. Now would be a fine time for him to end his drought -- and why not siphon Beck's aqueducts? I suggest this because Beck's new album has it all. But mostly what it has is what its title implies: Nearly every one of the 10 tracks on the disc could be pigeonholed into either the "Emotion" or the "Commotion" category. Those I consider leaning toward "Emotion" exemplify the "light and shade" Page always attempted to incorporate in his music, while the tracks I label "Commotion" are strictly the loud and frantic rock numbers. On both kinds, Beck relies somewhat on the backing of a 64-piece orchestra.

The high point of the orchestra's use, as far as the "Emotion" tracks, occurs on his take of "Nessun Dorma." Yes, seriously! Jeff Beck covers an aria from a Puccini opera! Now, before you go knocking it because you despise the genre, consider that Hollywood has contributed to sustaining this music's hold on popular culture ever since its public debut in 1926. It's timeless music; Beck won't steer you wrong. Plus, this turns out to be the most emotive track on the CD, and that's all I'm going to say to silence the opposition.

Also on the "Emotion" half is another musical work that has survived more than 70 years, "Over the Rainbow," from "The Wizard of Oz." I can hear the collective yawn from people reading this: The song's a cliche, everybody and their sister has played it to death, and no one in 2010 can possibly add anything new to it. Just listen. Absorb yourself in this key-shifting arrangement, and you'll likely forget you're listening to an electric guitar as the melody swirls around and soothes you.

A review of the album by Stephen Thomas Erlewine says this is the first time Beck has "sustained this level of grace for a full record." I don't know if the wordsmith's use of the word "grace" was intended to be a pun or not, but Beck twice echoes Jeff Buckley's song choice on his landmark 1994 disc, Grace. Neither "Corpus Christi Carol" nor "Lilac Wine" was written by Buckley, but the late singer commanded them to be his own with his powerful, soulful and often delicate voice. Here, Beck's guitar recreates that style very effectively. Parts of "Lilac Wine" are sung by relief pitcher Imelda May, a jazz singer born in Ireland.

Hers isn't the only voice heard on the disc. There's an uncredited female adding background texture on "Serene." Beck seems to prefer surrounding himself with women's vocals, as Olivia Safe lends her operatic stylings on the album-closing "Elegy for Dunkirk" while the immensely hip Joss Stone freaks us out with the Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover "I Put a Spell On You" and stuns us with an original she co-wrote with jazz fusion keyboardist Jason Rebello, called "There's No Other Me."

By the way, that's one track that definitely falls straight into the "Commotion" category; the loud rock piece is the only thing on the album heavy enough to follow "Nessun Dorma." Frustratingly, "There's No Other Me" fades out just as Beck seems ready to lay down an amazing guitar solo. Another of the few originals on this disc is the elegantly titled "Hammerhead," where the orchestra supports Beck's fast and heavy riff that's a decided throwback to classic Beck of the 1970s.

Minutes after Jimmy Page inducted Jeff Beck into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one year ago, they stood together and took questions from a pool of reporters gathered there in Cleveland. When Beck was asked about the prospect of releasing a new album, he explained why it had already been six years since his last. "I got this release phobia," he said. "I get halfway through a project, and I just go, 'Oh, that's no good. I don't think that's gonna work.' And then, I listen to it again about a year later and I think, 'Ehh, it would have worked. It's just too late now 'cause it's old-fashioned.' So it never gets done."

However, Beck immediately credited his backing band -- Jason Rebello on keyboards, Tal Wilkenfeld on bass and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums -- with being enough reason to get a new studio disc out. Emotion and Commotion was recorded by the end of the year, with the 64-piece orchestra and all.

Well, Jimmy Page says he has new music in the works to debut this year. Who wants to bet he has a 64-piece -- no, wait, make that a 65-piece orchestra lined up to back him on new renditions of Bizet's "Carmen," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," and the overture from "Gone with the Wind"? Bonus points if Pagey has Adele sing "I'm Your Witchdoctor"!

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame releases massive DVD set including all-star jams

In December 2007, Jimmy Page played on the stage of the O2 arena in London, leading a Led Zeppelin reunion. Almost two years later, Jeff Beck said Page was "too chicken" to join him onstage at the O2's smaller venue, the IndigO2.

Of course, Beck was kidding.

And he also called out Ron Wood. Both Page and Wood were attending Beck's IndigO2 gig, but they were up in the balcony. (Thanks to reporter Simon Hays for the above details.)

Page and Wood weren't too chicken this April when they jammed with Beck and others in Cleveland on the occasion of his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their onstage collaboration on "Train Kept A-Rollin'," also with Joe Perry and members of Metallica, is a fine example of the caliber of jamming the Rock Hall draws year in and year out.

And now, finally, as if it's never been a good idea before, there's now a giant box set release courtesy of Time Life that compiles many of those induction ceremony jams. One edition of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame LIVE includes nine DVDs, and another includes 14 DVDs plus a booklet.

In either set, a disc called "Feelin' Alright" includes Beck and Page jamming on "Beck's Bolero" with an "Immigrant Song" interlude from this April, and a disc called "Whole Lotta Shakin'" includes the "Train Kept A-Rollin'" electric guitar blitz!

Beck's also included on another disc called "Come Together," where he jammed with Jonny Lang on Gene Vincen't "Be-Bop-a-Lula" in 1999, and also played the Curtis Mayfield track "People Get Ready" in 1994 as a tribute to Rod Stewart.

See, this archive really does go back a while! It also includes the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which took place in September 1995, upon the Cleveland museum's opening.

Alas, the DVD set does not include any of Led Zeppelin's reunited performances on the night of the induction in 1995, but that may be a matter of the performance being vetoed for release. That's why the Page-Plant-Jones performance at Live Aid in 1985 wasn't included on the official DVD release of those concerts either.

But what this new set does include is pretty amazing!

Suggestion of Page-Beck album not a bad idea

While Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were taking questions from the press backstage at Public Hall last night, one quick exchange took place that has stuck in my mind for the past 24 hours.

Beck and Page had just come off the stage immediately following their performance of "Beck's Bolero" with the "Immigrant Song" interlude, and Beck's solo performance of the "Peter Gunn" theme.

The all-star jam on "Train Kept a Rollin'" with both of them was yet to come by another hour or so.

For now, the reporters gathered there had a few questions on their mind, like the unimaginative yet obligatory "How does it feel to be inducted?" But here was one that came out of left field:

Q: "Do you see an album in the future?"

[Raucous cheers of "yeah" and applause]

Q: [Another faint comment from the gallery]

Q: "When?"

Jeff Beck: "What's he saying?"

Jimmy Page: "Haven't heard what he said. I didn't hear that. It was so enthusiastic we didn't get the question. Ha ha ha!"

Press agent: "Do you see an album coming out? Do you see an album coming out?"

Jeff Beck: "Who, me?"

Press agent: "The two of you."

Jeff Beck: "All right. I don't see no album coming out."

Jimmy Page: "You've got an album coming out."

Jeff Beck: "I just started. I get this release phobia, you know. When I get halfway through a project, I just go, 'Eh, that's no good. I don't think that's going to work.' And then I listen to it in about a year, and I just think, 'Eh, it would have worked, but it's just too late now because it's old-fashioned.' So it never gets done. But I will. Having [drummer] Vinnie [Colaiuta] and [bassist] Tal [Wilkenfeld] and [keyboardist] Jason [Rebello], there's no excuse for there not to be a release."

At least a couple of things can be gleaned from this. For one thing, both guys might have missed the point entirely, if the point was to suggest a collaborative album. It beats me if that was the point, but it's a heck of an idea.

What Jimmy Page likes about Jeff Beck's solo career, according to the speech he had just given, is how progressive Beck's sound is:

"... you'd sort of listen to Jeff along the way, and you go, 'Well, he's getting really, really good, Jeff.' And you'd hear him a few years later, and he'd just keep getting better and better and better, and he still has all the way through, and he leaves us mere mortals, believe me, just wondering."

And Page says Beck's nowhere near finished either:

"... he's done so much for rock 'n' roll, and he always will."

Meanwhile, Page's 11-year dry spell without releasing any new music is set to end this August when a movie comes out with a couple original instrumentals of his in it. Wouldn't it inspire Page to have someone so closely aligned to him at his side?

They both seem to suffer from that "release phobia," as Beck puts it, although Beck's output of new material over the past 10 years eclipses Page's. Well, that would be true of most active artists, but Beck was releasing a new album every other year between 1999 and 2003. Not to mention the fact that he's been on the road and has released two live albums and a concert DVD in the past three years!

So, Beck may not be the most productive artist in the world, but he would provide Page with some reason to get off his couch and get back into the studio!

Oh, and by the way, in case you couldn't tell already, you can add a collaboration with Jeff Beck to my list of concert lineups I'd like to see Page in. Page has been on the road only once during the creative dry spell that began once Robert Plant backed out of continuing their partnership past 1998. Now, granted, Page did have a back injury during some of that time, and that's what cancelled his first tour early and kept him off the road for a while after that. But he's too great of a talent to be in hiding year-round when older guys like B.B. King are out there with non-stop tour itineraries.

We fans just want so much more from Page than what we've got. And please don't misinterpret that. We love the Led Zeppelin albums. We're all about what happened 40 years ago. We're all about what happened 30 years ago. We love what we have from Page. But excuse us if we feel time Page spends with a beating heart should be spent converting a thumping beat into something else we can all listen to and enjoy for another 40 years.

Would an album with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page be a good idea? Sure, it would!

But so would just about anything from Page right about now.

Please, Jimmy?

Jimmy Page joins induction ceremony's all-star finale for 'Train Kept a Rollin''

Having just performed "Beck's Bolero" together a few minutes earlier, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck strapped on guitars for the second time Saturday night, to join the newly inducted Metallica and Ron Wood, and others, in an all-star jam on "Train Kept a Rollin'."

James Hetfield handled vocals for the song, introducing "Mr. Beck" as the first guitarist to take a solo. Wood appeared to stay in the background alongside Page, while Kirk Hammett and Joe Perry of Aerosmith seemed like the other guitarists responsible for solos.

For one moment, it looked as if somebody was behind Page, perhaps helping to reapply his guitar strap. Hopefully, I'll have some confirmation of this later. For now, see the picture to the right, taken from the YouTube video below.



Immediately following Beck's induction was Metallica's, which saw two members recognize Page and Beck by name.

Bassist Robert Trujillo was the first to drop their names, saying:

"Wow. This is extremely special, amazing. All of my favorite superheroes in the audience tonight -- Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck. This is a wonderful moment for me."

Trujillo then mentioned his parents by name, and his father in particular, "for turning me on to such great music of all styles -- no rules on music: Whether it is mariachi music, flamenco, James Brown or Led Zeppelin, we had it in the house."

After Hammett thanked several people, he turned his attention to Beck and Page and two others in the room:

"I'd also like to throw a message to Jeff and Jimmy and Joe [Perry] and Ronnie [Wood] over here because you guys have helped shape my own musical talent. Thank you, guys."

Metallica's original guitarist, Dave Mustaine, attended the Led Zeppelin concert at the O2 arena on Dec. 10, 2007.

Page, Beck jam on 'Beck's Bolero' with 'Immigrant Song' section

Jimmy Page joined Jeff Beck onstage at Cleveland's Public Hall Saturday night for the first of two instrumentals following Beck's solo induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Beck and the members of his current touring band opened with "Beck's Bolero," the B-side of his 1967 single, which included Page on guitar.

Halfway through the piece, Beck introduced Page as "a big chunk of Led Zeppelin," and they launched into a jam based on "Immigrant Song." Beck handled the viking call melody on lead electric guitar, with Page concentrating on an ostinato F# line in the background on his electric guitar. Beck soloed for a while on that rhythm.

Upon Beck's signal, the band segued into the middle section of "Beck's Bolero" and finished that instrumental.



Page was no longer on the stage when Beck's group finished off with a version of the "Peter Gunn" theme.

Before the performance, Page said he and Beck knew each other since they were 14 or maybe 13. Beck later said backstage they went to 11.



Also during Page's speech, he namechecked Beck's album Blow by Blow as an example of an album that would keep him on his toes:

"Jeff started making solo records, and I carried on with the Yardbirds for a while, and we both started to continue in our own sort of way. I sort of had Led Zeppelin, and Jeff kept going, and I've gotta tell you -- I've gotta tell you that you'd sort of listen to Jeff along the way, and you go, 'Well, he's getting really, really good, Jeff.' And you'd hear him a few years later, and he'd just keep getting better and better and better, and he still has all the way through, and he leaves us mere mortals, believe me, just wondering. ...

"I have so much respect for him because Jeff's whole guitar style is just totally unorthodox to the point that anyone was taught, and he's just developed a whole style of expanding the electric guitar and making [it] into something which was just sounds and techniques totally unheard of before, and that's just an amazing feat, believe me. But, you know, he's done some amazing sets, some amazing fusion records -- um, Blow by Blow, for a start, was just a solo record that, you know, just established him as the most incredible soloist of our time, you know? And he just doesn't stop! He gets better and better and better.

"I tell you, I'm really honored to be here to induct Jeff into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because he's done so much for rock 'n' roll, and he always will."

Once during the speech, Beck was hiding his blushing face. When Page concluded his speech, he called Beck to the stage ("Come on, Jeff"). Beck rose from his chair, applauding jubilantly with his arms raised in the air at Page. The two embraced for several seconds onstage, and Page walked out of the spotlight to allow Beck to say a few words himself.

Prior to Page's speech, a clip was shown of Beck's prior induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1992, as a member of the Yardbirds. At that time, he remembered he had been kicked out of the group.

(Here's that clip.)


Backstage at the ceremony, Beck commented backstage that it felt better to him this time around, being recognized by the Rock Hall for his solo work.

Beck, in his speech, recognized two of Elvis Presley's sidemen who were present: drummer D.J. Fontana, who had earlier been inducted along with late bassist Bill Black, and guitarist Scotty Moore, a previous Hall of Fame inductee and the first guitarist whose work impressed Page enough to pick up a guitar:

"To stand here in front of Scotty is just more than I ever could believe ... Jimmy, you'll back me up on this. You know, we used to sit and just, you know, dribble over your playing. You're fantastic. Thank you for that."

Guitar summit rumored for Rock Hall induction

Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Ron Wood may be among guitarists jamming on "Train Kept a Rollin'" at the end of tonight's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, if you believe the rumor just reported online by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's ongoing live backstage coverage of the event. If you're lucky enough to get Fuse TV, keep your eyes on it tonight.

Any requests for Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck's Saturday jam session?

How about that April Fool's gag yesterday?

So, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck are to share a stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony held in Cleveland this Saturday.

No word if they plan to jam together, but I'm hopeful. In the event that they do, what should they play? There's a list of likely choices.

• "Train Kept a Rollin'" or "Stroll On"
  "Train" was a favorite that all Yardbirds guitarists had to do, and it became so much the group's trademark tune that even when the rights weren't in place for them to perform it for the film Blow Up, they took credit for a basic lyrical rewrite of it called "Stroll On." Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith took "Train" to greater heights, but it's that riff that Beck and Page are playing the only time they were ever filmed playing together as Yardbirds members.
  
• "Shapes of Things"
  Beck's first big tune from the Yardbirds days provided fodder for his Rod Stewart-led Jeff Beck Group lineup on the album Truth. Page evidently liked Beck's arrangement of it as he brought it out on tour with the Black Crowes in 2000.
  
• "Beck's Bolero"
  It doesn't matter which one of these guys wrote the chords or the melody. The point is they played it together, and it's gone on to become one of the biggest B-sides ever laid to vinyl. The recording sessions for it led to the development of the name "Led Zeppelin" by either John Entwistle or Keith Moon (again, it doesn't really matter which).
  
• "You Shook Me"
  It was a prerequisite for any British rock band inspired by the blues to use a Willie Dixon song or three. Both Led Zeppelin and the Jeff Beck Group went with this one (with John Paul Jones on keyboard on both). Here's a track that wouldn't need much rehearsal.
  
• "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"
  Here's the only Yardbirds single that featured both Beck and Page on it (Page on bass), but by the time it was released, Beck was out of the band. The song features a chunk-a-chunk rhythm guitar and one fireball of a guitar solo, both courtesy of Beck. But it was Page who carried the song on over the course of the Yardbirds' final year and made it become one of those heavy Yardbirds tracks now revisited as having foreshadowed the musical direction Jimmy was destined to go in with Led Zeppelin. The tune is made complete with a maniacal insult that pointed out the typical criticism of the long-haired rocker. People used to laugh at musicians and their effeminate manner of dress. Now who's laughing?
  
  

Jeff Beck's second Rock Hall induction could spur reunion of Yardbirds guitarists

Not entirely Led Zeppelin news-related, but close enough -- especially considering Jeff Beck will soon be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, having been previously inducted alongside Jimmy Page as members of the Yardbirds.

April 4 is when this year's crop of inductees pop up in Cleveland to be honored. It could very well be a memorable and historic occasion if Jimmy Page turns out to honor his former Yardbirds bandmate, and if Eric Clapton shows up as well. It would be great to listen to the three of them jam on any old song.

The last time all three guitarists played together was on the ARMS tour in 1983. On several nights, they jammed on "Stairway to Heaven" and "Layla," to name a couple. Pairings of these guitarists existed on only a handful of occasions, the longest-running of which was between Beck and Page.

Those two were bandmates briefly in 1966 when they were both in the Yardbirds. Page initially joined the group on bass before switching to dual lead guitar with Beck. That lineup lasted under three months but did see the two guitarists playing side-by-side in the movie Blow-Up. They can also be heard on the songs "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" and "Psycho Daisies," the latter with Page on bass.

After Beck stopped showing up to some Yardbirds gigs, he got himself fired by the band -- as he joked at his 1992 induction with the Yardbirds. But that didn't end Page's friendship with Beck. In 1967, Page guested on a Jeff Beck B-side called "Beck's Bolero." In 1969, Page and Beck shared some stages together in Miami and New York. Once Led Zeppelin had retired, Page's first onstage appearance was at a Jeff Beck concert.

Pictured alongside Page and Beck are, at left, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and, at right, Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. Photo taken Nov. 5, 2007, by Ross Halfin, at the 2007 Classic Rock Awards.

In July 2007, Beck and Page were rumored to be in talks of rejoining the Yardbirds, whose only surviving participants from every era of the group between 1962 and 1968 had been using the band name since around the time of the 1992 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Beck and Page had even attended a Yardbirds show in 1996, reportedly playing air guitar from their seats. But they didn't end up rejoining the Yardbirds in 2007, and that September's announcement that Led Zeppelin was to reunite for a single concert at the end of the year made pretty much everybody forget about the earlier rumor.

Back to 2009: Beck and Clapton have announced their solo shows in Japan this coming March will converge with two one-off shows seeing them play together. They first jammed onstage together at the Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International in 1981. Aside from the ARMS shows in 1983, the only other times they did this were at Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festivals in 2004 and 2007, and at a London gig of Beck's in November 2007.

As for Page and Clapton, they jammed on some demo-quality recordings in the early 1960s that have been released hundreds of times over, often with other musicians added to the recordings as an afterthought to make them sound more finished.

Clapton did not attend the Yardbirds' 1992 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He had better things to do, namely record a set of acoustic songs for a one-off TV appearance and an album he thought would never sell a single copy. That supposedly undesirable album of his was called Unplugged, and it sold 10 million copies over the next four years.

So we can go ahead and legitimately question Eric's taste in music based off of that little incident.

Which makes it fine to say Eric ought to reconsider not playing any Yardbirds material when he and Beck play their shows together in Japan. Beck tells Rolling Stone he doesn't think they'll be doing anything that old because of Clapton's tastes.

But Beck also says that he doesn't like reunions for the sake of making money. He says:

"Reformation of bands is never my idea of a good idea. Leave well enough alone, especially 35 years after it happened. It usually indicates there isn’t anything else happening in someone else’s career, otherwise you wouldn’t entertain it."

Beck recently said he didn't like the idea of a Led Zeppelin reunion without Robert Plant, even though that really wasn't ever up for consideration.

Metallica's also being inducted this year, and we know guitarist Kirk Hammett's a Jimmy Page fan. So that's all the more reason for Page to show up in April! He can jam with one of his many admirers in Cleveland. Hammett was quoted in the October 2007 "Guitar Heroes" special issue of Q magazine on his appreciation for the live version of "Dazed and Confused" from The Song Remains the Same:

"I used to listen to it every day when I was learning how to play guitar. That's a total guitar wankathon. Jimmy Page cycles through so many moods and levels of intensity, then he breaks out the violin bow."

Yardbirds hatch new album; Jeff Beck returns for guest spot on 'Birdland' CD

This news originally appeared in an edition of the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

Released today in the United Kingdom and Tuesday in the United States is Birdland, the first studio album by the Yardbirds since 1967's Little Games, when Jimmy Page was the lead guitarist of the group. Two of his former bandmates, founding members Chris Dreja (guitar) and Jim McCarty (drums), remain in the lineup today. Joining them are lead guitarist Gypie Mayo, singer/bassist John Idan, and Alan Glen on harmonica. The group's modern-day live act depends on new versions of the songs made famous by the Yardbirds 1963-1968. For this reason, it's no surprise that remakes of songs including "For Your Love," "Train Kept A Rollin'," "Shapes of Things" and "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" grace more than half the album.

Some of the real treasures, however, are heard in seven of the 15 songs on Birdland. These are the moments that prove the Yardbirds is still relevant today, some 40 years since the group's beginnings in London. The new material bears more than a few allusions to the old days. Ex-Yardbird Jeff Beck sits in on one track. Some of the new songs feel like they are sculpted as re-workings of classic tracks. No less than three of them feature the Gregorian chant-style singing that was the trademark of such Yardbirds songs as "Still I'm Sad" and "Heart Full of Soul." The album's brilliant closing track, "An Original Man," is dedicated to Keith Relf, the group's original singer who died in 1976.

If there is anything wrong with the CD, it would be that the revolving door of guest musicians impedes the album's continuity. The guitar work of Gypie Mayo, a name recognizable to fans of Dr. Feelgood, holds up to the expectations being a guitarist for the Yardbirds obviously brings with it. He shines especially on the CD's first original, "Crying Out for Love," with a guitar solo that could be revered and dissected by the guitar students of tomorrow as if it were "Comfortably Numb." But he isn't given the chance to shine when guest guitarists step in. Still, names like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Slash, Brian May, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Steve Lukather are nothing to sneeze at, and so any distractions they cause can easily be forgiven.

You can catch the Yardbirds on tour. Some dates in Europe and the United Kingdom will be followed in June with a tour of North America. Dates that have been announced can be seen at the group's new official Web site, theyardbirds.com.