THE BEST OF Jeff Beck...IN HIS OWN WORDS

Brian May called him the Guv'nor. Fellow Yardbird Chris Dreja called him "a fucking genius", and he's been enlisted by everyone from Mick Jagger to Stevie Wonder. In 2008, Jeff Beck talked us through his favorite moments from a career that's included stints in the Yardbirds, the Jeff Beck Group and a series of solo albums that redefined what the guitar can do.

- HUGH FIELDER

THE MOST MERCURIAL guitarist of his generation, JeffBeck never conformed to the conventional image of a guitar hero, except maybe when it came to looks (and to that end, he almost certainly inspired the sartorial style of Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel). Beck repeatedly left or broke-up bands before their commercial potential could be realized. He restlessly changed style from one album to the next, refusing to be tied down musically. And his live performances were intermittent, although seldom short of breathtaking.

But what did he think of his own catalog? In 2008, we asked Beck to give us the details behind his favorite tracks. These are the few that remained dear to his heart, right up to the end.

TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN’
The Yardbirds Single release (1965); Beckology (1991)

“We did that with Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis on our first tour of America. Giorgio Gomelsky, who was in charge of the band, phoned him up, and Sam said, ‘It’s Sunday. We’re closed.’ Giorgio told him he was missing a great opportunity to record a happening band, and persuaded him. So we went down and recorded a couple of tracks.

“To be honest, our version of ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’ ’ was pretty awful, but it was different. I’ve studied the Johnny Burnette Trio version since, and it’s still the most amazing track ever. It’s also kept Aerosmith going for quite a while. In fact, it backfired for me when I put it back in the set. People would come up and say: ‘I loved that Aerosmith track you played.’”