Jeff Beck found a kindred spirit in Johnny Depp when the two met in 2016. They bonded quickly over cars and guitars and spent most of their time together trying to make each other laugh. At the same time, Beck's appreciation grew for Depp's serious songwriting skills and his ear for music. That talent and their chemistry convinced Beck they should make an album together.
Depp agreed and they started in 2019. Over the next three years, they recorded a mix of Depp originals along with a wide range of covers that touches on everything from Celtic and Motown, to the BEACH BOYS and KILLING JOKE. In 2020, during the pandemic, they previewed their collaboration with their well-timed cover of John Lennon's "Isolation".
The duo's 13-track album, dubbed "18", will arrive on July 15. Beck explains the album title: "When Johnny and I started playing together, it really ignited our youthful spirit and creativity. We would joke about how we felt 18 again, so that just became the album title too."
"18" will be available on CD and digitally, with a 180-gram black vinyl version coming on September 30. The cover features an illustration of Beck and Depp as 18-year-olds that was drawn and designed by Beck's wife Sandra. All formats are available for pre-save/pre-add.
Leading up to the release of "18", Beck has launched a European tour, with Depp as special guest, which will conclude on July 25 at L'Olympia in Paris.
For the last 12 years, Depp has recorded and toured with the HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, a band he started with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry. The supergroup has released two studio albums that include guest appearances by some of rocks biggest names: Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh. The list also includes Beck, who played guitar on "Welcome To Bushwackers", a song on "Rise", the VAMPIRES' second album, which came out in 2019.
Soon after, Depp asked Beck to play lead on a tune he'd written, the album's first single "This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr", an homage to the actress/inventor. Beck says it was the catalyst for the collaboration and is one of his favorite songs on the new album. "I was blown away by it," he says. "That song is one of the reasons I asked him to make an album with me." The track is available today digitally, along with an accompanying music video. Watch it below.
Of Beck, Depp adds, "It's an extraordinary honor to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother."
In the studio, Beck says he and Depp challenged each other to leave their comfort zones with the songs they chose to cover. "I haven't had another creative partner like him for ages," Beck says. "He was a major force on this record. I just hope people will take him seriously as a musician because it's a hard thing for some people to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock and roll."
Depp justifies Beck's faith on the new album by showing off his incredible emotional range on songs like THE VELVET UNDERGROUND's "Venus In Furs", THE EVERLY BROTHERS' ballad "Let It Be Me" and Marvin Gaye's soul classic "What's Going On". On the instrumentals, Beck demonstrates why he's universally revered as a guitar god with stunning versions of Davy Spillane's "Midnight Walker" and two songs from the BEACH BOYS' masterpiece "Pet Sounds" — "Caroline, No" and "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)".
"18" track listing
01. Midnight Walker (Davy Spillane cover)
02. Death And Resurrection Show (KILLING JOKE cover)
03. Time (Dennis Wilson cover)
04. Sad Motherfuckin' Parade (Johnny Depp original)
05. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) (BEACH BOYS cover)
06. This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr (Johnny Depp original)
07. Caroline, No (BEACH BOYS cover)
08. Ooo Baby Baby (THE MIRACLES cover)
09. What's Going On (Marvin Gaye cover)
10. Venus In Furs (THE VELVET UNDERGROUND cover)
11. Let It Be Me (THE EVERLY BROTHERS cover)
12. Stars (Janis Ian cover)
13. Isolation (John Lennon cover)*
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Amber Heard is on bass guitar isn't she?
If they could get Ringo Starr on drums then they would be rockin'
don't know why but i'm excited for this
I thought the song was odd. I think its impossible for JB to play the guitar without using his tremolo arm.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@jszfunk Hedy Lamar was a gifted and beautiful actress in the 1940's. But how many people, especially under 50, remember her unless they love old movies. I told a young lady running the checkout at the grocery store recently she reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor. " Who is that?" I said you know the movie star. " Which movies? I don't know the name and I love to watch movies but never heard of her."
Its definitely an album track. Not a track that would get a lot of airplay.
As to JB. I bought his Blow By Blow album and loved it. He is pictured on the cover playing a black Les Paul.
When I caught the tour Jeff played a Gibson Les Paul on many of the songs and used a PICK! Even when he played a Stratocaster and one song with a Telecaster he used a pick as I remember it but it's been over 50 years.
Jeff Beck slowly began using a pick less and less until now he may not use a pick at all at most shows and the whammy bar has become as much a part of his playing as finger vibrato is the most players and a slide is to Derek Trucks and Ry Cooder.
I saw JB on TV about 8 years ago in his guitar room at home and he owns many and has Les Pauls, Gretsch, Jackson, Telecasters and several acoustics but Jeff almost always plays a Stratocaster without a pick now.
When he saluted Les Paul (the man) and Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps in Manhattan about 7 or 8 years ago, Jeff played a pretty sunburst Les Paul on the Les Paul (the man) songs. Beck played his black Gretsch on the Gene Vincent part with a blue cap on his head. And a Stratocaster on Apache and Sleepwalk.
I spotted Warren Haynes in the audience.
No whammy bar on this guitar but no pick either.
Here is Clapton on a Les Paul!!! Looks like the one he sold Susan Trucks for $900.00!!
Hedy Lamarr was a lot more than a beautiful actress. She was born in Vienna, raised in a musical family & according to those who heard her a gifted pianist. Her Jewish family deliberately lived in a Catholic neighborhood because it was "safer" in Austria in the 1930s. She studied acting in Vienna as a teen, but quit after being duped into making what's considered the first "erotic" film. W/the frightening political scene, married a "safe" wealthy munitions manufacturer who turned out to be abusive, also Jewish posing as Catholic, and a dealer to both Hitler & Mussolini. She escaped him & his SS friends through a circuitous route to end up in LA where she deliberately befriended studio head Louis B Mayer's wife & was signed to a nice studio contract. Hollywood acting bored her - standing around to be filmed w/various new lighting techniques & not many lines. Hollywood in the early 1940s was selling beauty not acting. She spent her free time at the piano & w/a musical friend, inventing and patenting a radio frequency disrupter to stop torpedoes that the US Navy classified for use "later" but never did but her invention became the technical basis for cell phones. The Navy specifically told her they wouldn't use her superior invention because she was a woman; they just kept using old technology & lengthened the war. In her free time, she supported the French resistance and was part of a network placing Jewish children w/US & Canadian families.
So, yeah, I get that the song could have lyrics about not having much faith in humans dedicated to her.
I tend to listen to songs as a whole - lyrics, music, & instrumentation. This piques my interest. JD's speak-singing, a cellist, and a passable tune appeals to me.
