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Steve Lukather, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin once recorded “a whole bunch of stuff” with David Gilmour on his boat

Lukather also called Beck his “favourite guitar player in the whole world.”

Steve Lukather, Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin

Steve Lukather, Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin. Credit: Per Ole Hagen / Charlie Crowhurst / Peter Van Breukelen / Getty

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Steve Lukather, Jeff Beck, and John McLaughlin once recorded a series of unreleased tracks on David Gilmour’s boat that will never be released.

In a previously unpublished interview with Guitar World that took place in the early 2000s, Steve Lukather revealed the tracks while discussing his unreleased album with Beck. “What happened back then was John had written a piece for the three of us to play, but it ultimately didn’t work out. Jeff’s just trying to find his way and I was trying to help him as we’re friends – he’s my favourite guitar player in the whole world,” Lukather told the outlet.

“I volunteered to help [Beck] and we checked out a whole bunch of stuff. Some of the stuff we did on Gilmour’s boat was pretty amazing; I was surprised he never wanted the stuff to come out. But he got into this techno thing so I respect him for that. I’m sorry it didn’t work out as I thought we did some pretty cool stuff.”

Lukather was quick to stomp out any suggestion that the tracks would someday make it onto a boxset collection, emphatically stating, “I wouldn’t count on it. He’s really funny about that – once he’s changed his mind to not release something he doesn’t want anyone to hear it. I’ve fond memories of what we did, even though it’s not come out.”

Beck passed away on 10 January 2023 from meningitis, having suddenly contracted the illness following a productive year of touring where he even released an album together with actor Johnny Depp titled 18.

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