Jeff Beck-ophiles have been happy with — and perhaps a bit amused by — the sudden wave of attention the guitarist has received in the past year or so. By choice if not calibre, he’s always been the least renowned of the so-called British Triumvirate of rock guitar heroes, behind Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

Yet his latest CD, Emotion and Commotion, debuted at the highest chart position of his career, and he was recently inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame for the second time. In my opinion, the hall could induct him a third time — in a Just Because We Can category. That’s how good and unique Beck is.

Anyhoo, one cool thing we Beckists like to do is debate which version of the Jeff Beck Group was the best. There’s the more famous unit, with Rod Stewart as the front man, and then there’s the subsequent band with Bob Tench singing.

I’m probably in the minority, but I prefer the Tench outfit, particularly the Rough and Ready album, which is my favorite of all Beck releases and probably one of those records you’d find securely placed out of harm's way in a coconut tree on the desert island where I lived.

There’s precious little video footage of any Jeff Beck Group stuff, but I woke up today and found an email from my close pal Patrick Gaudin — a Music Head of impeccable taste (despite the fact that both of us unabashedly enjoy Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Along Again, Naturally.” You’d find it in our respective collections filed just after the entire Gentle Giant catalog and just before the first Gin Blossoms' album.)

Most importantly: in the body of Patrick’s email were links his equally-hip brother Philip found to recently discovered television performances of several tunes by the Tench version of the Beck Group. Apparently, these were recorded on the Beat Club show in 1972 — and the quality’s pretty amazing.

Here they are:

“Situations”

“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”

“Morning Dew”

“Going Down”

“Got the Feeling”

Enjoy, thanks to Patrick and Philip, and let me know what you think.