Jeff Beck Blends Classical With Rock on April 13th Album "Emotion & Commotion"

Two months after Jeff Beck performs at Madison Square Garden along with Eric Clapton, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist will release his solo album Emotion & Commotion, his first studio LP in seven years. April 13th's Emotion will boast both originals and covers, including renditions of Jeff Buckley's "Corpus Christi Carol," The Wizard of Oz's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell On You," featuring Joss Stone on vocals.

Look back at photos of Jeff Beck, onstage and off.

Emotion also finds Beck teaming with a 64-piece orchestra for a handful of tracks, like Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 5," the Atonement score's "Elegy for Dunkirk" and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma." "It turned out amazingly well, but I didn't want to commit to an entire album of classical music," Beck said. "What appealed to me instead was the idea of bringing together these seemingly contradictory sounds on different kinds of nonclassical music."

Joss Stone will also appear on the track "There's No Other Me." The original rock compositions on Emotion & Commotion include the wah wah pedal-heavy opener "Hammerhead" and the airy "Never Alone." Frequent collaborators drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassist Tal Wilkenfield and keyboardist Jason Rebello join Beck on the disc, which was produced by Steve Lipson and Trevor Horn.

Check out all of Rolling Stone's essential guitar coverage.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Beck and Clapton will team up for a trio of North American shows — in Toronto, Montreal and New York — before Beck embarks on his own solo tour, which will feature a stop at the New Orleans Jazz Fest on May 1st. For more on Clapton and Beck, check out the current issue of Rolling Stone.

Related Stories:
• Jeff Beck Opens Up About Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Gigs With Clapton, Jeff Beck Group Reunion
• Jeff Beck's Road to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Mick Jagger Joins U2, Metallica, Aretha Franklin at the Rock Hall's Epic 25th Anniversary Bash

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter