The Price of Glee review: A cheap rehash of other people's tragedy

 The three-part series from Investigation Discovery is a tawdry exercise in misery porn.

The Price of Glee is full of low points, but the lowest has got to be the interview with the guy who calls himself a "celebrity researcher."

In episode 2 of Investigation Discovery's three-part schlockudrama, said researcher — who posts video tours of landmarks related to celebrity deaths on his YouTube channel — stands outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver, where Glee star Cory Monteith was found dead in 2013. He repeats some of the well-known facts about Monteith's accidental overdose, and then wonders aloud: "Why did this celebrity relapse.

That dude has no idea. Nor does The Price of Glee have answers about any of the Glee-related subjects it examines with such ghoulish intensity: Monteith's overdoseNaya Rivera's drowning; Mark Salling's suicide; Melissa Benoist's experience as a survivor of domestic violence; Lea Michele's reputation for being "difficult." The program is, as expected, a tawdry and slight exercise in misery porn, a rehash of tragedy told largely by talking heads,crew members, and people who call themselves friends of the deceased. (No cast members or family members appear in the series, with the exception of Rivera's father, George Rivera.)

The first hour recaps the Glee phenomenon, which began ith the show's premiere in spring 2009. Patching together news clips with shaky fan-cam footage and video from public events, The Price of Glee chronicles the cast's transformation from fresh-faced newcomers doing autograph signings at Hot Topic to international stars who literally could not go anywhere without being mobbed by screaming fans. The head of the hair department from season 3 says the cast became competitive about who could amass the most followers on social media. A psychotherapist who did not work with the cast says that sudden-onset fame can present a tremendous mental health challenge. Chris Colfer's stand-in says that Monteith, who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction since the age of 13, "wasn't always coming to set prepared." Do you need to take a shower yet?

When The Price of Glee is done speculating about why Monteith lost his battle with substance use disorder — Was it the show's punishing schedule? The actor's insecurities about his ability as a dancer? — the series turns its attention to his costar and former girlfriend, Lea Michele.

"Lea's a narcissist," sniffs a man who worked as an assistant to an executive producer in season 1. "It was about her, always," notes a set director from seasons 1 and 2. The second episode features an interview with a background player who says the actress slighted him during a lunch break. Reader, we all know Michele has never been in the running for Miss Congeniality, but The Price of Glee works overtime to paint her as a heartless shrew who demanded that everyone go back to work two weeks after Monteith's death. As creator Ryan Murphy has said many times publicly, he and the producers made the decision together after consulting with Michele. Truth is overrated; sexism is forever.

The rapid-fire final hour hits several beats, including the story of Mark Salling, who died by suicide in 2018 after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. The Price of Glee reminds us that Salling played bad boy Puck, a lothario who prided himself on his many sexual conquests; that the actor and Rivera had a tumultuous romantic relationship; that no one on set had any idea that Salling was so deeply troubled. "What really was going on inside of him, I'm really not sure," says Glee's key assistant location manager (seasons 1-4).

Rivera's father, meanwhile, reminisces about his daughter as a driven and talented performer, one who transformed Glee's Santana from a barely supporting part into a lead role through the sheer force of her undeniable charisma. Rather than leave it there, though, producers also feel the need to interview a former coroner who did not write Rivera's autopsy report but nonetheless has "some theories" about the awful boating accident that ended her life as her toddler son watched. Cool.

The Price of Glee has nothing new to tell us about any of these terribly sad events — and even if it did, do we really need more information? The true tragedy of this show is that networks and streamers will continue to crank out junk like it as long as viewers continue to watch. Skipping it, however, doesn't cost a thing. Grade: D-

 

Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis, dies at 54 after a brief hospitalization

Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, has died at age 54.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla Presley said in a statement to The Associated Press. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”

A statement sent to USA TODAY on behalf of Priscilla and the Presley family expressed shock at “the tragic death of their beloved Lisa Marie. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.

Presley had started the week in a festive mood, first celebrating what would have been her father's 88th birthday with fans at Elvis' Memphis home, Graceland, and later tearfully applauding alongside her mother as Austin Butler received a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal of the King of Rock 'n' Roll in Baz Luhrmann's biopic "Elvis."

Earlier: Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' daughter, hospitalized after apparent cardiac arrest

Remembering those we lost: Celebrity Deaths 2023

But on Thursday, she suffered apparent cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, just north of Los Angeles, and was taken to a local hospital, according to TMZ, the first to report the news. She died hours later. 

Although Presley was famous from the moment she was born and a singer in her own right, releasing three albums, she truly leaped into the pop culture vortex with her surprise marriage to embattled pop superstar Michael Jackson and, later, Elvis aficionado and actor Nicolas Cage.

How did Elvis Presley die?A look inside the rock legend's death and health.

Both those marriages were short-lived, although more lasting unions brought four children, including her son, Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 and was laid to rest at Graceland.

Mostly, Presley, with her hooded eyes and smoldering looks that were patently reminiscent of Elvis, became known largely as keeper of his legacy and inheritor of his estate.

'I think that he'd be proud':Lisa Marie Presley, fans celebrate Elvis' 88th birthday

Lisa Marie Presley recently celebrated Elvis' 88th birthday with fans at Graceland

Four days before her death, Presley was at Graceland to help fans celebrate what would have been her father's 88th birthday. 

“It’s been a while. I missed you," she told the crowd Sunday. "I keep saying you’re the only people that can bring me out of my house. I’m not kidding."

Two nights ago, Butler thanked her from the Golden Globes stage for her dedication to honoring her father.

"Thank you for opening your hearts, your memories, your home to me," he told the Presleys in his acceptance speech. "Lisa Marie, Priscilla, I love you forever."

Fact checking the new 'Elvis' movie:Did he really fire Colonel Tom Parker onstage in Las Vegas?

Lisa Marie Presley grew up in the shadow of her father's fame – her name even adorning his jet – until her parents' divorce in 1973. She seemed destined to lead a life in the public eye, thanks to looks that mirrored those of her father and a notable singing voice to match.

Despite being the only child of a global icon, Presley at times seemed to wonder what all the fuss over her was about.

“I thought it was an amusing notion, but I didn’t really see how other people would find it interesting," she told USA TODAY in 2012, discussing a new Graceland exhibit called "Elvis ...Through His Daughter's Eyes." 

Among the more touching personal effects were a blue record player that spun her first 45s, her footprints stamped on a hospital birth record, and a re-creation of Presley’s nursery. "It’s all so personal and subjective," she said. "But it turned out well.”

Lisa Marie Presley, Grant Wahl, Stephen 'tWitch' Boss:And the trauma of a sudden death

Her shocking marriage to Michael Jackson

She made pop culture waves in 1994 when she divorced musician Danny Keough, the father of her children Riley and Benjamin, and married Jackson. Less than two years later, they divorced, although Presley remained a staunch defender throughout years of accusations of child abuse brought against the star.

She married Cage in 2002, but that lasted just a few months before they split. In 2006, she married guitarist Michael Lockwood; they divorced in 2021 and have twin daughters together, Finley and Harper, 11. 

If Presley found solace amid the storm of being the only child of Elvis, it was overseas in Kent, a bucolic English suburb southeast of London that claimed a lot of her time and heart about a decade ago.

Speaking to USA TODAY in 2012 before the release of her album "Storm & Grace," Presley said she was eager to get back to her non-celebrity life in England.

'Eternal bond':Lisa Marie Presley remembers son Benjamin Keough two years after his death

"I just love it over there," she said. "I garden, go on long walks, cook. I have really sweet neighbors – we'll often meet up down at the local pub. Not that we can keep up with them there. It's so fun, though, it's where you see everyone from the village."

In that same interview, Presley spoke of feeling emotionally and fiscally robbed by her closest confidants.

"I was slowly starting to self-destruct, and I didn't know where that was coming from," Presley told USA TODAY, and suggested the damage was both personal and professional. "I got bad advice. I was insulated with no grip on reality. They were taking my soul, my money, my everything."

Overcoming opioid addiction left Lisa Marie Presley feeling 'grateful to be alive

Presley's demons also included drug addiction. In 2019, she detailed her dependence on opioids in a foreword to the book "The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain."

Noting that she felt "grateful to be alive," Presley said painkillers prescribed after the birth of her twins eventually led to a full-blown addiction.

"It's a difficult path to overcome this dependence, and to put my life back together," she wrote. "Even in recent years, I have seen too many people I loved struggle with addiction and die tragically from this epidemic. It is time for us to say goodbye to shame about addiction. We have to stop blaming and judging ourselves and the people around us. … That starts with sharing our stories."

Lisa Marie Presley to be buried at Graceland:She'll be laid to rest next to Elvis, son Benjamin

Presley would be forced to confront a different kind of pain in 2020, when her 27-year-old son died by suicide. This past fall, in honor of National Grief Awareness day, Presley wrote an essay for People about the pain her family has dealt with since her son's death. 

“My and my three daughters’ lives as we knew it were completely detonated and destroyed by his death. We live in this every. Single. Day,” she wrote. “Grief is something you will have to carry with you for the rest of your life, in spite of what certain people or our culture wants us to believe. You do not ‘get over it,’ you do not ‘move on,’ period.” 

In the end, Presley might well have found the peace she sought throughout her life if she had only been able to spend more time in the place she truly called home.

"I love Graceland," she told USA TODAY in 2012. "My heart will always be there."

Elvis Presley's greatest songs:20 essential cuts you need to hear now

 

ChatGPT: what can the extraordinary artificial intelligence chatbot do?

Ask the AI program a question, as millions have in recent weeks, and it will do its best to respond

Since its launch in November last year, ChatGPT has become an extraordinary hit. Essentially a souped-up chatbot, the AI program can churn out answers to the biggest and smallest questions in life, and draw up college essays, fictional stories, haikus, and even job application letters. It does this by drawing on what it has gleaned from a staggering amount of text on the internet, with careful guidance from human experts. Ask ChatGPT a question, as millions have in recent weeks, and it will do its best to respond – unless it knows it cannot. The answers are confident and fluently written, even if they are sometimes spectacularly wrong.

The program is the latest to emerge from OpenAI, a research laboratory in California, and is based on an earlier AI from the outfit, called GPT-3. Known in the field as a large language model or LLM, the AI is fed hundreds of billions of words in the form of books, conversations and web articles, from which it builds a model, based on statistical probability, of the words and sentences that tend to follow whatever text came before. It is a bit like predictive text on a mobile phone, but scaled up massively, allowing it to produce entire responses instead of single words.

The significant step forward with ChatGPT lies in the extra training it received. The initial language model was fine-tuned by feeding it a vast number of questions and answers provided by human AI trainers. These were then incorporated into its dataset. Next, the program was asked to produce several different responses to a wide variety questions, which human experts then ranked from best to worst. This human-guided fine-tuning means ChatGPT is often highly impressive at working out what information a question is really after, gathering the right information, and framing a response in a natural manner.

The result, according to Elon Musk, is “scary good”, as many early users – including college students who see it as a saviour for late assignments – will attest. It is also harder to corrupt than earlier chatbots. Unlike older chatbots, ChatGPT has been designed to refuse inappropriate questions and to avoid making stuff up by churning out responses on issues it has not been trained on. For example, ChatGPT knows nothing in the world post-2021 as its data has not been updated since then. It has other, more fundamental limitations, too. ChatGPT has no handle on the truth, so even when answers are fluent and plausible, there is no guarantee they are correct.

Prof Michael Wooldridge, director of foundational AI research at the Alan Turing Institute in London, says: “If I write a text message to my wife that starts: ‘I’m going to be ...’ it might suggest the next words ‘in the pub’ or ‘late’, because it’s looked at all the messages I’ve sent to my wife and learned that these are the most likely ways I’ll complete that sentence. ChatGPT does exactly the same thing on a massively large scale.

“These are the first systems that I can genuinely get excited about. It would take 1,000 human lifetimes to read the amount of text the system was trained on and hidden away in all of that text is an awful lot of knowledge about the world.”

As OpenAI notes: “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers” and “will sometimes respond to harmful instructions or exhibit biased behaviour.” It can also give long-winded replies, a problem its developers put down to trainers “preferring long answers that look more comprehensive”.

“One of the biggest problems with ChatGPT is that it comes back, very confidently, with falsities,” says Wooldridge. “It doesn’t know what’s true or false. It doesn’t know about the world. You should absolutely not trust it. You need to check what it says.

“We are nowhere near the Hollywood dream of AI. It cannot tie a pair of shoelaces or ride a bicycle. If you ask it for a recipe for an omelette, it’ll probably do a good job, but that doesn’t mean it knows what an omelette is.” It is very much a work in progress, but a transformative one nonetheless.

Scary monsters: how virtual reality could help people cope with anxiety

Guardian science correspondent is put to the test in the panic-inducing VR world of a game that teaches breathing technique

Tethered to a chair, in a gloomy basement, I’m doing my best not to panic – by breathing in for four seconds, holding for seven, and slowly releasing for eight. But when a bloodthirsty monster appears at my feet and starts crawling towards me, I don’t need a dial to tell me that my heart is pounding, and I’m in imminent mortal danger.

Welcome to the future of anxiety treatment: a virtual reality (VR) game that teaches you a breathing technique to help calm your nerves, and then pits you against a monstrous humanoid that wants to eat you, to practise deploying it in genuinely panic-inducing situations.

Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, with help from a local video game company, Ninja Theory, the game is being tested as a means of teaching people a strategy to cope with everyday anxiety. For me, this could include filing a story for the Guardian, at extraordinarily short notice, or trying to get out of the door with two children, when I’m already running late.

“We are looking at anxiety as a thing that most people experience, as opposed to a specific anxiety disorder, trying to teach emotion regulation techniques that could be useful to most people at some point in their life,” said Lucie Daniel-Watanabe, a doctoral student who is leading the research.

Therapists often ask people to learn techniques, such as breathing techniques, in totally static and unengaged ways, and then say: ‘Try this while you’re stressed.’ But there’s no way of getting people to try it when they’re stressed in that therapeutic situation. VR allows you to completely manipulate the environment that people are in, which can be really useful in that regard.”

With the VR headset in place and a heart-rate monitor attached to my finger, I’m transported on to a rowing boat, on a tranquil lake at sunset. A soothing voice encourages me to breathe in, hold my breath, and exhale at the appropriate time points, and as I feel increasingly relaxed and my pulse slows, the boat moves gently forwards.

After about five minutes of this, I’m ready to begin the next stage of my training: the dungeon. Even though I know it’s just a game, the immersive nature of VR helps to suspend my disbelief, and I’m surprised to hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears. In the top corner of my vision, a small dial tells me that my heart is pumping significantly faster than when I was on the boat, which reminds me of what I am here for. I start to slow my breathing, and the dial creeps gradually downwards too – even when I hear a fellow prisoner screaming, and look to my left to see a body being dragged backwards out of sight.

Then, suddenly, the monster is in front of me, emaciated, grey-skinned, and blindfolded with a horrible smile on its mouth. I’ve been told that it can’t see me, but it can use my heartbeat to sense my location; the only way to avoid death is to use the relaxation technique to bring my heart rate down.

I try my best, but the monster is too close, and too horrible. Afterwards – once the monster has jumped on me, and the screen has gone black – Daniel-Watanabe tells me she deliberately put me on a more difficult level, because many of subjects she’s tested it on so far were too good at avoiding death.

Striking the right balance, not to mention validating the approach among larger and more diverse groups of individuals, could take some time. But other VR-based approaches are already being trialled within the NHS, for example to help people who are suffering from social anxietysocial anxiety or agoraphobia to practise everyday scenarios, such as being in the street or inside a shop, under the guidance of a virtual coach.

Partnering with a gaming company could take such experiences to a new level. Gamification of the process may also help motivate people to practise useful techniques, such as breathing exercises, rather than relying on internal motivation – “which, if you’re in a really rough place, might be hard”, Daniel-Watanabe said.

While she would never wish to see VR used in place of therapy, “it might be a resource that people could use if they were on a waiting list for cognitive behavioural therapy, to learn some basic techniques in the interim”, she said.

As for me, while I’d be reluctant to go back into that dungeon, the encounter has reminded me to try slow breathing, when I’m feeling stressed. Even an imminent deadline is no match for that monster.

Storm Reid Holds Hands with 'Super Sweet' Boyfriend Shedeur Sanders on 'Missing' Red Carpet

The actress and the college football player made their red carpet debut together at the L.A. premiere of her new movie Missing

Storm Reid is making it red carpet official with her beau.

On Thursday, the Euphoria actress, 19, celebrated her new movie Missing at its world premiere held at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown Los Angeles, holding hands with quarterback Shedeur Sanders as they posed for photos together.

The 20-year-old college football player is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, and recently transferred to the Colorado Buffaloes, where his dad is head coach.

He's super sweet, super talented," Reid said of Sanders while speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the premiere. "I'm just glad to have him here supporting me."While it marked the first time they hit the red carpet together, Reid has quietly supported Sanders from the sidelines, most notably attending his last team's season-opening game (Jackson State) in Miami versus Florida A&M.

For the occasion, she shared an Instagram carousel that included various game images and showcased one where they posed inside the team's locker room together.

"2 can play this game!!!! congratulations @gojsutigersfb," she wrote in the caption.

Now that Sanders is about to embark on a new football journey in Colorado, she told ET she hopes to make it out to more games since she is currently enrolled as a student at the University of Southern California.

"I've been on set allllllll day, and I wanted to wait to get home to open this. Was a ball of nerves all day. I got my first college acceptance two weeks ago, but I've been waiting on this one for a hot minute. WE GOT INTO USC BABY," Reid wrote in a March 2021 Instagram post after learning she would be attending the school.

Her new film finds her in a leading role, with Nia Long playing her onscreen mom.

According to the film's synopsis, the film is a "roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June's search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it's too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers...and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all."

Amy Winehouse Biopic: See 'Industry' Actress Marisa Abela Channel the Late Singer in First Photo

Watch out everyone!" said director Sam Taylor-Johnson as she teased the upcoming film Marisa Abela is the spitting image of Amy Winehouse in the first photo from director Sam Taylor-Johnson's upcoming biopic Back to Black.

The Industry actress, 26, stars as the late singer in a photo the director shared on Instagram Friday, showing Abela rocking Winehouse's signature beehive hairstyle and large hoop earrings. Marisa Abela … watch out everyone! Cameras roll on Monday. Here we go!" Taylor-Johnson, 55, wrote in the caption.Abela shared the photo on her Instagram Story as well, adding a black heart emoji to her post.

She also posted a photo gallery to her feed, led by a snapshot of herself posing in front of a brick wall that boasted a stunning mural of Winehouse.

" 'And for London. This is for London. Cause Camden Town ain't burnin down,' " Abela captioned the post, quoting Winehouse's 2008 Grammys speech. She concluded, "I love you, Amy. ❤️"

The upcoming film will chronicle the late Grammy winner's "vibrant years living in London in the early aughts and her intense journey to fame," according to a press release obtained by Entertainment Weekly.

Taylor-Johnson, who directed the first installment of the popular Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, confirmed in July that she'd be directing Back to Black, which shares the name of the singer's second and final studio album.

"This is a dream movie to helm," the filmmaker wrote in an Instagram caption at the time while sharing a post from Deadline, which first reported the news. "I'm ready, let's go … #amywinehouse #backtoblack."

Writer Matt Greenhalgh wrote the screenplay, while Studiocanal is producing with Alison Owen and Debra Hayward, alongside Tracey Seaward, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project has also received support from Winehouse's estate.

In a statement to EW, Taylor-Johnson said her "connection to" Winehouse, who died from alcohol poisoning at her home in London in July 2011 at the age of 27, "began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden."

"I got a job at the legendary KOKO club, and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop and street," she continued. "A few years later Amy wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA."

Noting Winehouse's "genius," Taylor-Johnson added, "As a filmmaker, you can't really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to realize Amy's beautifully unique and tragic story to cinema accompanied by the most important part of her legacy: her music.

I am fully aware of the responsibility, with my writing collaborator Matt Greenhalgh I will create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy," she added.

 

Jeff Beck’s 10 Essential Songs

The guitarist, who died on Tuesday, could make his instrument slash, burn and sigh. Listen to tracks released from 1966 to 2010 that reveal his range and intensity.

Songs could barely contain Jeff Beck’s guitar. It jabbed at tunes with brute-force riffs. It sparred with singers for the spotlight. It clawed at the limits of verses and choruses, screaming melodies of its own, making notes slide and wriggle; sometimes it scraped out funky, contentious rhythm chords.Yet in quieter moments, Beck’s guitar could also be startlingly tender, cherishing a melody or proffering teasing, insinuating undercurrents. Beck, who died on Tuesday at 78, was also a master of electric guitar tones, of amplification and distortion. He could make his Stratocaster sound icy, searing, slashing and otherworldly in the course of a single track.

With a career that began during the British Invasion, Beck at first tucked his guitar work into songs aimed for pop radio. But by the end of the 1960s, he was leading his own groups, backing his lead singers with roiling, slamming arrangements that made them shout to keep up; he was blasting his way toward metal. Beck’s instrumentals moved to the forefront in the 1970s, as his material shifted toward jazz-rock. But he never left behind the blues and rockabilly that had inspired him from the start.

Here, in chronological order, are 10 tracks that reveal Beck’s range and intensity.

The Yardbirds, ‘Over Under Sideways Down’ (1966)

The pushy, up-and-down, Eastern-tinged guitar line that opens the song, and the squirming guitar riff behind the chorus, turn this track from jaunty British Invasion pop into something far more urgent. Beck’s lead guitar takes over for the entire last minute, melding rockabilly and something like raga, leaving the rest of the band to whoop along.

Jeff Beck, ‘Shapes of Things’ (1968)

Beck’s supercharged remake of a Yardbirds song has Rod Stewart on vocals and a churning, whipsawing arrangement that rivals anything from contemporaries like the Who. The song gallops from the get-go, as Beck answers his own power chords with countermelodies high and low. The bridge rockets into double time, and after the final verse the band stages a neat slow-motion collapse.

Donovan with the Jeff Beck Group, ‘Barabajagal’ (1969)

Beck the bandleader, abetted by wailing backup singers including Suzi Quatro, catalyzed this rowdy song by Donovan, the normally soft-spoken flower-child troubadour. Beck’s electric guitar opens with twangy rockabilly syncopation, sets up the choppy piano groove and pointedly spurs things along. He really starts to wail toward the song’s free-for-all finish.

Stevie Wonder, ‘Lookin’ for Another Pure Love’ (1972)

Beck and Stevie Wonder shared songs and appeared on each others’ albums in the 1970s, and “Lookin’ for Another Pure Love” from Wonder’s “Talking Book” featured the guitarist at his most sweetly melodic in the song’s bridge. His solo eases up to a high note and then casually trickles down, continuing through the track to garland Wonder’s vocals with little slides and curlicues, reveling in the song’s sophisticated chord progression.

Jeff Beck, ‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers’ (1975)

Beck’s best-known ballad is an instrumental version of a Wonder song. He plays it with long-lined phrases and constantly changing nuances of tone: as a dialogue, as a keening lament, as bitter self-accusations, as an anguished plea, as a fragile chance at hope. From start to finish, it sings.

Jeff Beck, ‘Freeway Jam’ (1975)

Written by Max Middleton, then the keyboardist in Beck’s band, “Freeway Jam” is a brisk shuffle that materializes and fades out as if it’s excerpted from a jam session, though parts are clearly mapped out. It gives Beck room to peal some clarion melodies and then attack them with trills, bent notes, blues licks and dissonances. A live version featuring the keyboardist Jan Hammer, released in 1977, makes the tune even more gleefully frenetic.

Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart, ‘People Get Ready’ (1985)

Rod Stewart rejoined Beck for a remake of the Curtis Mayfield gospel-soul standard, “People Get Ready,” that starts out restrained but grows fervid. Beck offers a stately, fanfare-like guitar hook after the first verse, then engages Stewart more and more: taking over the melody with note-bending variations, surging up from below, goading Stewart to shout and leap into falsetto. Despite its dated 1980s production, the song finds the spirit

Jeff Beck, ‘THX 138’ (1999)

Could a player as physical as Beck handle the mechanical drive of electronica? Of course. A tireless programmed drumbeat drives “THX 138,” but Beck rides it in multiple ways: with an Eastern-tinged modal loop, with sustained power chords, with high blues lines, with ferocious stereo call-and-response chords, with a melody that leaps skyward. For all the gadgetry, human hands dominate this mix.

Jeff Beck with Jimmy Page, ‘Beck’s Bolero’ (2009)

Before he formed Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was Jeff Beck’s colead guitarist, and then his successor, in the Yardbirds. In 1966 they collaborated to record “Beck’s Bolero,” written by Page, for Beck’s first solo single. This gracious latter-day reunion for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is noisy, flashy, virtuosic and over the top in exactly the right proportions.

Jeff Beck, ‘Over the Rainbow’ (2010)

For all his speed and dexterity, Beck never underestimated the beauty of a sustained melody. He played this Hollywood standard backed by chords from a string orchestra, sliding through the tune, holding back some notes and using tremolo on others, making every turn of the familiar song sound like a precious discovery.