Jeff Beck has been roaring to life since the new decade dawned. He has a series of dates with Eric Clapton coming up this February and an appearance the New Orleans Jazz Festival in the spring. With such a jam-packed schedule, what else can come next? His first new studio album in seven years, that’s what.

On April 13th, Beck will return with Emotion and Commotion, produced by Steve Lipson and Trevor Horn. Sticking with a trend that’s appeared in many of his previous records, the album will be a mix of original songs and covers. This year’s covers are all over the place, moving from Jeff Buckley’s “Corpus Christi Carol” to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You,” featuring Joss Stone on vocals. Stone also appears on one of the album’s original tracks, “There’s No Other Me”.

Emotion also finds Beck delving into new territory again with as he teams up with a 64-piece orchestra for a few tracks, including Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 5”, the Atonement score’s “Elegy for Dunkirk” and Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma”.

“It turned out amazingly well, but I didn’t want to commit to an entire album of classical music,” Beck said. “What appealed to me instead was the idea of bringing together these seemingly contradictory sounds on different kinds of nonclassical music.”

Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck 2010 Tour Dates:
02/13 – London, UK @ O2 Academy
02/14 – London, UK @ O2 Academy
02/18 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
02/21 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
02/22 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre