BLOW BY BLOW

After having Truth in my collection for quite some time I didn't really have any plans on exploring the rest of Jeff Beck's discography. Those plans had to be readjusted for this particular occasion after seeing this album in one of my friends' CD-collections. Considering that this particular friend didn't have much of a collection since it literally consisted of 30-40 carefully picked albums. The inclusion of Blow By Blow did in fact peak my interest and after hearing some of its highlights I just had to hear the rest!

After listening through the album in its entirety for the first time it was safe to say that this release didn't have much in common with Beck's early material! Gone were most of the blues-passages and if anything I'd say this music sounded more like pure fusion and nicely crafted such as well. To tell you the truth I've never been a fan of guitar driven fusion so I usually try to stay away from solo albums from the likes of Allan Holdsworth and John McLaughlin. With that in mind some of the more wailing guitar sections were too much for my ears, still I did manage to appreciate the overall atmosphere and there were even a few highlights scattered here and there.

The most notable highlights here are the two Jeff Beck/Max Middleton penned compositions You Know What I Mean and Scatterbrain. I like the former for its playfulness and the latter for going beyond fusion territory and actually reminding me of a light version of RIO/Avant-Prog!

Not being a fan of the guitar driven fusion has taken its toll on my final rating and I definitely envy everyone who is into this type of music because they're going to have a real blast with this material. For me, this album is somewhere between the excellent and good ratings and I'll have to go for the latter which may be unfair but that's just how I roll!

***** star songs: Scatterbrain (5:39)

**** star songs: You Know What I Mean (4:07) Constipated Duck (2:48) Air Blower (5:10) Cause We've Ended As Lovers (5:42) Diamond Dust (8:26)

*** star songs: She's A Woman (4:31) Thelonius (3:17) Freeway Jam (4:58)