JEFF BECK GROUP: BECK-OLA

After the success of Truth, the Jeff Beck Group was slated for another tour of the United States in 1969 and felt they needed to justify it by having an album to promote. Now, a lot of people accuse artists of slapping together a second album with little to no concern for quality just to cash in. This album would seem to be like that because it was put together very quickly, barely clocks over 30 minutes, and contains two new renditions of classic rock and roll songs. But this is The Jeff Group, the guys who invented heavy music. Though short, it packs a serious punch.,

The album is more raucous and bluesy than its predecessor and not as diverse. Yet again, they take the familiar, in this case the two Elvis classics All Shook Up and Jailhouse Rock and render them virtually unrecognizable until you get to the vocals. Once again, Rod Stewart sings as if his throat had been torn out and sounds great doing it. Beck himself plays with greater abandon and rips some serious lines out of his axe, flashy and intense. Ron Wood is still playing bass, and Nicky Hopkins has become a full fledged member of the band. In fact, his piece, Girl From Mill Valley adds an unusual soft tune, soft and smoky that is. This is no frills rock, but performed with imagination and grit. Progsters will be most interested in the final tune, Rice Pudding, which contains a rippin' riff, nice dynamics, sheer power, and unfortunately and abrupt ending (the kind I really do not like). All seven tracks were recorded over a two week span. The 2006 version, however, contains a few more tracks, some recorded earlier, which includes alternate versions of the Elvis tracks.

Finesse was not Beck's purpose at this time. He wanted to rock and he wanted to rock hard. There is no attempt here to do otherwise. Although Beck-Ola does not rise to the same heights as Truth, it kicks even more. For those that want to hear GOOD raunchy rootsy bluesy rock, they will be well advised to give this one a spin.