JEFF

After setting the world on fire in the 1960s with the Yardbirds and as a solo act as a part of the hard rock JEFF BECK GROUP, the liberated JEFF BECK stunned the world with his trilogy of jazz-fusion albums in the 1970s however BECK was always looking for new musical avenues to explore and unlike many other old timers never got stuck in a rut. Fast forward to the end of the millennium and BECK was at it again, that is finding uncharted soundscapes to insert his feisty bluesy guitar licks into and after recruiting some young and suitable talent, BECK released another trilogy of albums, this time in the context of industrial electronica meets old school blues guitar rock. Revered by some and loathed by many, BECK was always about pursuing music he found interesting and didn't let public expectations pigeonhole his talents.

"Who Else!" emerged in 1999 just in time for the first Matrix film and given its Nine Inch Nails meets John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers effect very well could've made the cut for inclusion! The album was followed by "You Had It Coming" which streamlined the cross-pollinating effect even more tightly and finally in 2003 BECK released the last of this style of fusion with the silly titled album JEFF. Despite the generic almost self-gratuitous album title, the music continued the electro-blues world into a satisfying conclusion, well at least for those who were as opened minded as Mr JEFF BECK himself! For some reason the music industry ate these albums up and another Grammy was awarded in 2004 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. It makes me think that that association doesn't listen to a lot of instrumental rock albums therefore by de facto Mr BECK was awarded a sort of lifetime achievement award or something!

Another album, another cast of members. Of course BECK himself handles all guitar duties but the bulk of the album's creation was given to many other hands. The emphasis on JEFF like the previous two albums was placed squarely on the production, engineering and mixing. These were designed to sit side by side by all those cutting edge albums of the time like artists such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and Apollo 440, the latter of whom appears on this album as a vocalist, engineer and producer. The album features eight guest vocalists, a cameo orchestration from the London Session Orchestra, 11 mixers and engineers and a couple drummers, a seat that was filled mostly this time by Steve Barney. Tony Hymas also made a cameo but only as a mixer of one track. The result of all the vocalists rotating gives the album more of a various artists type feel than the more uniform "You Had It Coming."

JEFF pretty much continues where "You Had It Coming" left off. The opening "So What" features the same techno-infused blues rock guitar fusion effects of the previous two albums so any wow factor is completely absent. With the novelty of it all out of the way the focus on the music becomes primary. This album features 13 tracks at a running time of 51 1/2 minutes and is a bit more playful than the previous offerings. With a bit more emphasis on blues guitar riffing, the techno and electronica become a bit more subordinate to BECK's guitar playing rather than him adapting to the electronic wilderness. The track "Hot Rod Honeymoon" sounds like something The Beach Boys would have crafted in their surf rock days only set to the contemporary tastes. "Line Dancing With A Monkey" is more trance than techno with a hypnotic groove with squalling guitar cries emerging. Although the percussion is electronic, they often take on tribal drum circle vibes.

Overall this just isn't as consistently good as "You Had It Coming." JEFF reverts back to what was flawed on "Who Else!" which was basically not enough high energy adrenaline fueled tracks and too many mellow tracks that all sound too similar. This album should've been trimmed down and edited a bit more and it would've been much better. Also i absolutely hate album titles that only use the artist's first name especially when the album at hand is the result of a massive team effort. The album should've been called "Techno Blues Ecstasy" or something more in line to what's offered. All in all not a bad effort but i don't find the vocal tracks to work so well on this one. An all instrumental affair may have served better. Wisely BECK would ditch the techno blues and return to his hard rock / blues rock roots on his next album "Emotion & Commotion."