WIRED

The bromance continues between Jeff and producer extraordinaire George Martin and the whole Mahavishnu scene. The results were amazing with the previous album, the Grammy Award winning Blow by Blow, but for this project it's the Jazz-Funk side of the Jazz-Rock Fusion scene that has Jeff enamored and excited, thus the employ of Narada Michael Walden--who has written four of the album's eight songs.

1. "Led Boots" (4:03) hard rockin' and funky, this oddly-timed and syncopated music credited by bassist Wilber Bascomb is a bit tough to access. The bass, drums, and clavinet play are so aggressive and, at the same time, syncopated to almost form a line of defense preventing any listener inside the melodies or structures. Jeff's guitar playing, both rhythmically and in the lead passages, are about as hard and aggressive as you've ever heard them--and they're impressive!--but there is very little melody to grab onto. The same goes for Jan Hammer's Moog solo in the final minute. An impenetrable wall of sound. (8.75/10)

2. "Come Dancing "(5:55) this layered presentation of coordinated instruments from Narada Michael Walden comes across as a mega-funked pseudo dance tune that will attract neither sing-a-long listeners or dancers. It's as if The Ohio Players tried to play Bob James' jazz-rock. (Max Middleton's Fender Rhodes play reminds me, over and over, of Bob James' approach to that same instrument.) Wilbur Bascomb's bass remains true to the funk without ever getting funky (no embellishments) while Jeff and Jan's leads are impressive, interesting, and, at times, "cute" (generating smiles). (8.875/10)

3. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (5:31) Jeff displaying his one-of-a-kind incredible touch on the guitar while Max Middleton, Richard Bailey, and Wilbur provide the support for their rendition of this Charles Mingus classic. The the rhythm section is awesome--each filling the space with brilliantly creative nuances--this is Jeff's show, pure and simple. (9.125/10)

4. "Head for Backstage Pass" (2:43) Wil Bascomb's second contribution to Jeff's album sees another rockin' funk jam on which Jeff's rock skills are on full display while Wil and Narada flail away on their prospective instruments. Interesting to hear Jeff duelling with himself in the second minute. I don't think I've ever heard that before! It's a very solid and surprisingly engaging tune despite it's syncopated rhythm track. (9/10).

5. "Blue Wind" (5:54) this Jan Hammer tune is a duet: there are only two musicians performing here (thanks to multi-tracking and the engineering genius of George Martin). The composer plays drums, bass (a cool wobbly synth), and leads on multiple synths--all of which are quite impressive--while Mr. Beck plays a lot of rhythm guitar in support with some lead time using an unusually treated guitar sound. It's actually quite good--quite accessible and enjoyable. (9.125/10)

6. "Sophie" (6:31) Narada Michael Walden's second song contribution sounds very much like the music that Michael will be putting together for the next five to ten years for his solo projects: very accessible, melodic and rock-oriented. It starts out very slow and sparsely populated but then slowly builds in both instrumental palette and intensity until 1:00 when Narada leads the band into a jump start into another rollicking cruising song based on a slowly ascending arpeggiated five or six note chord progression. Max's clavinet and Rhodes and Wilbur's staccato bass playing do an excellent job pairing up with Narada Michael to hold down a very dynamic rhythm track beneath the lead performances of Max's keyboard synth (a Moog?) and Jeff's guitar. In the third minute the band stops to restart, same motifs only performed in more abbreviated fashion. This next section is where the individual band members really shine--all of them--while supporting Jeff left-channel electric guitar dynamics and Max's excellent Moog(?) soloing. Again, the instrumental performances are much better, more interesting, than the overall song--plus, Jeff's guitar play is not his usual mind-blowing "how does he come up with that" stuff. (8.875/10)

7. "Play with Me" (4:10) Narada's third contribution to Jeff's album is a funky rocker with some stunning soloing from both Jan, Max, and Jeff--often together, at the same time. A typical catchy Narada Walden melody keeps one engaged and interested. Very solid but, like a lot of NMW compositions, the song is rather one-dimensional--relying more on the hopes that its heavily-repeated main melody will be a winner. (8.875/10)

8. "Love Is Green" (2:30) the fourth and final song composed by Jeff's drummer is slow and melodic, with Narada's piano doubling up the isolated main melody lines with Jeff's acoustic guitar while woven beneath is Wilbur's bass. There is, of course, some wailing electric guitar and synth taking over the melody for a bit in the second minute, but mostly it's a fully formed and quite lovely piano and guitar duet. (9.125/10)

Total Time: 37:17

This is one of those albums that impresses without conjuring up a desire to come back for the joy of the listening experience.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of funky power Jazz-Rock Fusion. The musicianship is amazing--everybody firing on all cylinders--but the compositions are often lacking multiple dimensions and/or engaging chord and diversified melodies: the producers are banking on impressing you with the dynamic performances of the individuals more than constructing engaging grooves that might make your feet and hips want to move.

Social review comments

Review related links

• Send comments to BrufordFreak
• Report this review (#459504)
• Buy JEFF BECK music online with PA partners
• Show all JEFF BECK MP3/Stream
• Go to JEFF BECK page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Wired page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for JEFF BECK related discussions