BLOW BY BLOW

After almost a decade after leaving the Yardbirds, several lineup changes as The Jeff Beck Group and a noble effort as part of the super trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, JEFF BECK finally struck gold with his fifth release BLOW BY BLOW which slowly oozed out of him over the years preceding. After the dissolution of the BBA project BECK was left without a sense of direction having even auditioned with The Rolling Stones before finally realizing his destiny was to go solo without a band attached to his name. Eschewing the bluesy rock sounds of his past, BECK took the jazz-rock aspects that had been gestating and entered the full blown jazz-fusion scene.

Having honed his chops with BBA, BLOW BY BLOW found BECK at the top of his game with jazz funk grooves as the basis for his tasty soling style and rhythmic virtuosity. The album found great success right out of the gate by hitting #4 on the Billboard album chart and going platinum. BLOW BY BLOW remains BECK's all time best seller as well as most respected and revered moment in the sun. Eschewing a vocalist altogether, BECK asked Max Middleton from his earlier days to return as keyboardist with Jamaican born bassist Phil Chen and drummer Richard Bailey along for the ride. Two tracks were donated by Stevie Wonder who sits in on "Thelonius" with his clavinet albeit uncredited.

The album is a powerhouse of jazzy funk rock fusion with nine strong tracks made all the better by George Martin's flawless production skills and orchestral arrangements. Unlike previous efforts JEFF BECK executes flawless performances with each track carrying its weight replete with chunky bass grooves, Jan Hammer meets Herbie Hancock styled keyboard workouts and perfectly executed percussive backing. BECK himself delivers some of the tastiest guitar chops in all of the 70s jazz-fusion world ranging from behind the scenes rhythmic backup to fully fueled in the spotlight soloing. While not as lightning fast as John McLaughlin or John Abercrombie, BECK rather focused on a diverse palette of tones, timbres and mood setting licks that defined him as a true original.

While the inclusion of cover tunes was primarily a hindrance on previous efforts, on BLOW BY BLOW the inclusion of an instrumental version of The Beatles' "She's A Woman" proved that BECK could indeed master the art of reinterpreting another artist's material with great success. In addition to the BECK originals on this one is the track "Diamond Dust" written by Bernie Holland of Hummingbird, a Max Middleton original with "Freeway Jam" as well as two tracks written by Stevie Wonder. In retrospect it made sense for BECK to steer himself into the world of jazzy funk rock after having played on Stevie Wonder's "Talking Book" and the inclusion of so many Wonder songs as covers. On this one all of his influences, inspirations and talents came to fruition without missing a beat.

What makes BLOW BY BLOW such a beautiful masterpiece of music is how everything comes together. Addictive funkified bass grooves and jazzed out keyboard antics are topped off with the perfect triumvirate icing on the cake via BECK's inventive guitar riffs and daring solos that add all the right tones and sound effects to craft the perfect bridge between full blown jazz fusion and danceable funk rock. Although officially an instrumental album, BLOW BY BLOW is punctuated by moments of vocoder use which adds an interesting underlying element to the mix. Also prominent is the perfect use of percussion which drifts to and fro between the jazz and rock paradigms.

Despite all the perfection of the musicianship, interplay, production and mixing, it's really the strong material that carries through with a diverse roster of addictive tunes that scream out more fun than a barrel of monkeys. While BECK's guitar antics are the star, this is truly a band effort with each instrument proving to be an essential ingredient for the compositional fortitude. Having found his true calling at last, JEFF BECK would crank out a couple more jazz-fusion albums before falling off the bandwagon again in the 1980s but no matter how you slice it, BLOW BY BLOW was without a doubt his finest moment when everything came together in prodigious perfection.