Album 18
Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp
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"He simply blew me away. The song ("This Song is for Hedy Lamarr") is one of the reasons I asked him to do an album with me.... It's been ages since I last had a creative partner of his stature. He was a driving force on this record. I just hope people take him seriously as a musician, because it's hard for some to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock 'n' roll."
Jeff Beck
July 15, 2022 released the album 18.
18 brings together two kindred spirits. Two people who perfectly complemented each other despite different paths in life. Both have always chosen the more uncomfortable path in life. Two who made each other laugh and shared the love of music.
This is what you hear on the album, it is this mixture of covers and Johnny songs, which is as diverse as life itself.
The record tells of the dark times in life (Hedy - Song), of love (Let it be me), as well as the courage to take unconventional paths (Sad Motherfuckin' Parade). The cover songs revel in fond memories and tell of crises overcome.
Johnny surprised many of us with his vocal range and songwriting qualities. Jeff, on the other hand, leaves us speechless anew because of his masterful skills.
(Susanne - October 2023)
Midnight Walker (Davy Spillane)
Is a piece of music by the Irish musician Davy Spillane from 1991. The original is played on the uilleann pipe. This is an Irish bagpipe, which is supplied with air by a bellows. Due to the difficulty of coordinating fingers, hand and arm, it is considered the most difficult bagpipe to play, but also the most expressive.
Jeff wondered if it would be possible to interpret this feeling he uilleann pipe with the guitar. When he met Davy Spillane (who he had covered before) and told him he didn't want a rock track, Spillane said "OK, you want one that cuts deeper" and yes Jeff's guitar in Midnight Walker "cuts deeper".
An additional depth was sadly added to Midnight Walker after Jeff's death. When it was first performed at his funeral in the Lament version. Imelda May combined the track from album 18 with a poem she had written at Jeff's suggestion.
(Susanne - Oktober 2023)
“Imelda’s poem on ‘Midnight Walker Lament’ on top of Jeff’s beautiful guitar work brings tears to my eyes.”
Sandra Beck (his wife)
Death and Resurrection Show (Killing Joke)
This song has a special meaning for Johnny Depp and so he asked Jeff to record it.
In the Underground Garage interview with Stevie van Zandt, he says that this song helped him through his opiate withdrawal. He listened to the song for 5 days straight while sitting on a metal chair enduring the withdrawal symptoms and hoping for the "rebirth" sung about in the song.
The original was written by Killing Joke and was released in 2003.
(Susanne - November 2023)
Sad Motherfuckin' Parade (Johnny Depp+Jeff Beck)
This song goes way back in Johnny's history. When he was on Vanessa's concert tour in 2020 as a "tour daddy for his then one-year-old daughter", he played around with various rhythms and melodies on the computer and created the basis for Sad Motherfuckin' Parade. Jeff Beck said "That sounds like something...". A copyright dispute that arose in 2022 over some of the lyrics was settled.
(Susanne - November 2023)
This is a song for Hedy Lamarr (Johnny Depp+Tommy Henriksen)
Hedy Lamarr was born as Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna and spent 24 years in Vienna. After her first, disastrous marriage, she fled to Paris and London, where she was discovered by Louis B. Mayer, a well-known Hollywood producer, and gave her the stage name Hedy Lamarr. Mayer took her to New York, where Hedy conquered the film business in no time.
She was not only beautiful and talented in acting, she also had an enormous technical and scientific understanding. Together with George Antheil, she invented the frequency distribution method, which was designed for the American military to control the radio signals of the torpedo control in the 2nd. World War untraceable.
Johnny Depp saw the movie Bombshell, the story of Hedy Lamarr and was so fascinated by her beauty, strength and intelligence that he wrote her the song, "This is a Song for Hedy Lamarr" which he released together with Jeff Beck in the album 18 in July 2022.
The song is a tribute to a fascinating woman whose life was characterized by ups and downs. Written and musically created by Johnny Depp, Tommy Henriksen and Jeff Beck.
(Nicole - Oktober 2023)
Caroline No (Brian Wilson)
"Caroline No" is a song that Jeff Beck liked very much. He had already recorded it 15 years ago and thought that now was the right time to release it. "This melody just won't let you go".
The original was written by Brian Wilson in 1966.
(Susanne - November 2023)
Ooo Baby Baby (Smokey Robinson - The Miracles)
It started at Johnny's house in France. Jeff and his engineer borrowed Johnny's drum set while Johnny slept.
Jeff played in the drum kit, bass, and a guitar solo. By the time Johnny joined in, the base of the song was done and Johnny was excited. Now it was Jeff who retired to get some sleep and Johnny, meanwhile, recorded three-part harmonies as a little layer under Jeff's guitar later. When Jeff heard them, he was so excited about Johnny's singing that he thought Johnny should sing the whole song, not just the background.
(Susanne - November 2023)
"Who sing that? Is that y-o-u? ....
Oh, you can sing it then"
Jeff Beck
Stars (Janis Ian)
One of the most beautiful and profound songs from the album 18 is the song "Stars".
A melancholy song that describes the transience of fame and how fame can often go hand in hand with loneliness and isolation. Johnny Depp lends the song true expressiveness with his soft and sonorous voice.
"I don't need fame.
I don't need fortune.
All I need is a good friend"
The original was written by Janis Ian, an American singer born in New York in 1951. The famous singer wrote "Stars" at the age of 21 and released the album in February 1974.
(Nicole - November 2023)
Isolation (John Lennon)
The song "Isolation" (original by John Lennon) was restaged by Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck and premiered at Eric Clapton's Crosscoads Guitar Festival in Texas in September 2019.
Actually, the song was supposed to be released later, until the Corona pandemic hit:
"Johnny and I have been working on music together for a while, we recorded this number in the studio last year. Actually, we didn't want to release the song so soon, but with these hard days and isolation that a lot of people are currently going through, we thought now was the right time." - Jeff Beck
Robert Adam Stevenson, Jeff's engineer, explains on his Instagram account how the song came about. The recording took place during rehearsals for the 2019 fall tour in Johnny's studio.
Johnny asked Robert to record all the rehearsals as if it was a live session. So they recorded the band for Isolation in a single take. There were no overdubs and no corrections. That same night Jeff added his excellent guitar solos. A few days later, Johnny recorded his fantastic vocals in a dark room surrounded by candles.
Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon)
A very personal John Lennon cover from 2021. Johnny played all the instruments himself, with the exception of Jeff's great solos of course. It was produced by R. Stevenson and Johnny. Listen very carefully!
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