THERE & BACK

When I played my Jeff Beck LP's Wired and There And Back yesterday evening I was a bit disappointed about this album. I hadn't heard it for many years and I still had the idea from the past that the quality was almost similar. The start of There And Back is excellent and very exciting with Star Cycle featuring spectacular sequencing by Jan Hammer, a powerful and propulsive rhythm-section with a catchy beat and distinctive Jeff Beck guitar work with fiery and biting runs. Halfway Jan Hammer delivers flashy synthesizer flights and we can enjoy some great duelling between Beck and Hammer. But then .... Too Much Too Lose with that disco-like pumping beat, horrible! Next the songs You Never Know (funky bass and catchy beat, halfway great interplay and finally heavy guitarplay in a very dynamic atmosphere) and the mellow The Pump (slow rhythm and howling electric guitar runs), another contrast by Jeff Beck, also to be found on the following compositions: dynamic in El Becko (sparkling piano intro, an exciting accellaration and excellent guitar work, from slide to heavy outbursts) and Spae Boogie (great drumming and biting guitar along delicate Fender Rhodes electric piano drops) and mellow in The Golden Road (slow synthesizer solo and fiery elctric guitar solo) and The Final Peace (soaring keyboards and sensitive electric guitar with subtle use of the tremolo-arm). A good album with lots of exciting and dynamic jazzrock but some tracks are not my cup of tea.