The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
Geoffrey Arnold Beck is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus on innovative sound, and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Blow by Blow is the second album released under the name "Jeff Beck". It was recorded in October 1974 and released via Epic Records in 1975. A purely instrumental album, it peaked at No. 4 on the American Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA.
Cozy Powell was an English rock drummer, who made his name with many major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, Brian May, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell, and Black Sabbath.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. The band's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band.
Pure Prairie League is an American country rock band whose origins go back to 1965 and Waverly, Ohio, with singer and guitarist Craig Fuller, drummer Tom McGrail, guitarist and drummer Jim Caughlan and steel guitarist John David Call. Fuller started the band in 1970 and McGrail named it after a fictional 19th century temperance union featured in the 1939 Errol Flynn cowboy film Dodge City. In 1975 the band scored its biggest hit with the single "Amie", a track that originally appeared on their 1972 album Bustin' Out. Pure Prairie League scored five consecutive Top 40 LPs in the 1970s and added a sixth in the 1980s. They disbanded in 1988 but regrouped in 1998 and continue to perform as of 2021. The line-up has been fluid over the years, with no one member having served over the band's entire history. The band's most recent line-up consists of Call, long-time bassist Michael Reilly, guitarists Donnie Lee Clark and Randy Harper and drummer Scott Thompson. Among the other notable past musicians to have played with Pure Prairie League include guitarists Vince Gill, Gary Burr and Curtis Wright.
The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music.
John Voorhis "Tim" Bogert III was an American musician. He graduated in 1963 from Ridgefield Memorial High School in his hometown of Ridgefield, New Jersey. As a bass guitarist and vocalist he was best known for his powerful vocal ability and his fast runs, fluid agility and ground-breaking sound on his Fender Precision bass. He was one of the pioneers of using distortion with his bass to help it cut through the mix with the low-powered amps of his time which also imparted a very sharp-edged sound to it. He was a frequent collaborator with drummer Carmine Appice; the duo performed in such bands as Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice.
"Beck's Bolero" is a rock instrumental recorded by English guitarist Jeff Beck in 1966. It is Beck's first solo recording and has been described as "one of the great rock instrumentals, epic in scope, harmonically and rhythmically ambitious yet infused with primal energy". "Beck's Bolero" features a prominent melody with multiple guitar parts propelled by a rhythm inspired by Ravel's Boléro.
Roger the Engineer is the only UK studio album and third US album by English rock band the Yardbirds. Recorded and released in 1966, it is also the only Yardbirds album with guitarist Jeff Beck on all tracks and contains all original material. It was produced by bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and manager Simon Napier-Bell.
Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds, or simply Having a Rave Up, is the second American album by English rock group the Yardbirds. It was released in November 1965, eight months after Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton on guitar. It includes songs with both guitarists and reflects the group's blues rock roots and their early experimentations with psychedelic and hard rock. The title refers to the driving "rave up" arrangement the band used in several of their songs.
Rough and Ready is the second studio album by the Jeff Beck Group and the first of two by the second Jeff Beck Group. Released in 1971 by Epic Records, it featured more of a jazz, soul and R&B edge to counter Beck's lead guitar. As a songwriter, Beck contributed more pieces to Rough and Ready than he had before, or ever would again. Beck enlisted Bobby Tench as vocalist and it is also the first time keyboardist Max Middleton is heard. Other members of this line up are drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Clive Chaman.
David Bunce is a British independent music producer, born in London, England. He was a member of the Epic Records signed group Upp, which included Jeff Beck, Andy Clark and Jim Copley. The group's albums, Upp (1975), and This Way Upp (1976), were both produced by, and featured Jeff Beck. More recently, under the name Zak Starstosky, Bunce is currently a member of the UK based blues/rock band Driving Sideways, releasing two albums, In the Beginning (1997) and Live at The Casino Ballroom in 1999. As of 2007, he is teaching the guitar to students and producing music for films, advertising, and television. As of 2018, he was performing an acoustic solo act.
Ultimate! is a comprehensive career retrospective album by English rock group the Yardbirds. The 52-song two–compact disc compilation was released in 2001 by Rhino Records. The tracks span the period from the group's first demo recordings in 1963 to the last singles in 1968. They include all 17 of the group's singles, both A-side and B-sides, supplemented with more than a dozen album tracks, their performance for the film Blow-Up, and three early solo numbers by singer Keith Relf.
James Frank Copley was an English rock drummer.
Jeff Beck Group is the fourth and final studio album by the Jeff Beck Group and the second album with the line up of Jeff Beck, Bobby Tench, Clive Chaman, Max Middleton and Cozy Powell. The album was produced by Steve Cropper and often referred to as the Orange Album, because of the orange which appears prominently at the top of the front cover.
Upp is the debut self-titled album by British rock/jazz fusion band Upp, which was released in 1975. The album was recorded at Escape Studios, Kent. The opening track, "Bad Stuff," showcases charismatic guitar playing by Jeff Beck. There is a strong influence of funk music is felt in the tracks "Get Down in the Dirt," "Friendly Street," and "Give It to You." Jeff Beck produced and played guitars on this album with no mention of him in the album's liner notes, which met with some controversy. "Give it to you" contains one of the most-sampled breakbeats of all time, and is featured in the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series.
What a Lemon is an album by Danish rock band Gasolin', released 1 August 1976 on Epic Records in the United States, some parts of Europe, Japan and Australia. It is the third of four albums with English lyrics that Gasolin' released between 1974 and 1978 in an attempt to break the international music market. The album received good reviews from leading American rock critics, but lack of airplay and the fact that the record company invested only small efforts in promotion and distribution meant that it never earned the band the public acclaim it was striving for.
Robert Tench, also known as Bobby Tench, is a British vocalist, guitarist, sideman, songwriter and arranger.
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith. The band is known for starting the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things", and "Over Under Sideways Down".
