BLOW BY BLOW

After the disastrous BBA project (even if the double live album, released only in Japan, is much better than their sole album), Jeff Beck definitely left the rock realm for the next few years and entered the jazz-rock/fusion (as already hinted with 71's R&R album) where incredible critical acclaim finally met a bit of a commercial success (all things staying relative since we're talking of jazz rock albums). For many, BBB and Wired are often regarded as Jeff's apex and in a strange way, I can't deny it is the case. While BBB has some real fine moments, I could never help wonder why so many made mountains out of this molehill.

While Beck & Co, reach some real peaks with Scatterbrain (but listen to the live version in 78) and the slow Cos We Ended Up As Lover and the wild Freeway Jam (also present on the 78 live album in a livelier version), there are a bunch of tracks that this writer finds incredibly boring, unable to cast a sort of torpor that seems to muffle the group in the slower tracks. Again as in BBA, Middleton is present with ghis favourite Fender Rhodes electric piano. I know some will have death threats ready for me when they will read that I fond most of the other tracks little more than uninteresting and even one of two fillers. The Beatles' She's a Woman is very deceiving and the Monk tribute Thelonius is just a miss. Even the lengthy Diamond Dust is a just plain boring and overstays its welcome. A big part of the negative critics I have for this album are aimed at Sir George Martin's unsufferably horrifyingly cheap and cheesy string arrangements; much like he's sullied Stackridge's bowler Hat album and to a lesser extent Mahavishnu's Apocalypse album.

As I said above, this writer's opinion is most likely to contrast sharply with other usually over-appreciative opinions, so see for yourself on BBB and Wired. Difficult to give less than three stars though!!