Customer Reviews

Jeff Beck Group

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As most everyone knows who lived through the wonderfully creative period of rock music that lasted from 1964 through, approximately, 1975, there were only about a handful of critics who had credibility in terms of being able to review and critique music, in any genre, adequately during said period. Most critics bashed this release as being "Over the top" and criticized Cropper for being out of his depth as a producer here. There was much made (Negatively) of Beck's choice of material and his guitar arrangements on this record. Personally, as a player for over 30 years myself, I think this CD offers some of his most inspired and lyrical playing, and I have listened to just about everything that Beck has released over the last 35 years. The tones he is getting out of his strat during numbers like "Going Down", "Ice Cream Cakes", "I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You", "Highways" and "Definitely Maybe" are unlike anything he had ever done up to that point and, quite frankly, unlike anything he has done since. His sense of dynamics, harmonics and innovative phrasing are astonishing here for a record that was made in 1972. His command of both right and left-hand techniques is truly awesome as well. You hear Beck two-hand tapping here six years before Eddie Van Halen was doing it in clubs in Pasadena. You hear multi-layered electric guitars, electric sitars and acoustics (Although Sparingly) beautifully performed and mixed. Beck's slide playing is inspirational here as well, as is his wah-wah touch. Granted, the songs aren't singer/songwriter classics for the most part, but the reason you want to own this CD is for Beck's truly inspired and, at times, truly demented playing (Which is a good thing!).
I think Cropper's production is solid and Ron Capone engineered the tracks with a good understanding of what he was dealing with.
In Beck's Group, Max Middleton's keyboard playing is as good as it gets in this genre and Cozy Powell lays a decent groove and plays with authority when needed.
However, it is Beck who truly shines here.
Just like the critics who chastised Miles for his early to mid 70's forays into Acid Funk, all of a sudden there is a renewed interest by those same critics in that music today as being ahead of it's time and visionary. The same can be said for Beck's explosive and jaw dropping display here. When re-examined, I think many critics who blasted this release in '72 will now acknowledge that these guitar arrangements and performances by Beck are quite unlike anything from that era - controlled chaos and mayhem by a master reaching to push his own creative envelope beyond what anyone was doing at that time. For Beck fans or, more importantly, guitar fans in general, this CD is a must have. Enjoy!

For years I have been a rather fanatical Beck fan, starting with the fusion sides and his extremely innovative material from Guitar Shop on through You Had It Coming (Flash being the exception to that!). I never checked out this "motown/RnB" Beck because SO MANY music critics, and indeed even Beck himself, dismissed this stuff as the result of his near fatal car accident, when the guitarist was having headaches and other ailments due to the blow he took to the head.

However, when I actually LISTENED to the two JBG Mark II albums I must say I VERY MUCH disagree with the critics and Beck himself! This is music of much innovation, and as other reviewers have stated here, it was ahead of its time. On this outing, the band fully exploits the wildly unique instrumentation of Beck, a classical/jazz oriented pianist in Middleton, the soul/groove oriented Chaman on bass and his friend Bob Tench handling the vocals(who sounds absolutely wonderful, such an expressive voice).

As such, the album has such incredible turn-abouts, from the heavy rock of "Ice Cream Cakes" and "Sugercane", to the memphis soul of "Glad All Over". Everyone knows about "Going Down", which is a classic (and such WEIRD licks he plays on that one!) covered by everybody, but yet again it is instrumental ballads in which this man shines, and "I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You" and especially the Middleton penned (not Beck, as the lp notes say) "Definately Maybe" show us that Beck is a masterful story teller; delivering great theatre with his guitar; his title of "rock guitar hero" is one that he indeed transcends with every note.

So in summation I can't say enough how WRONG so many people are about this record. Rough and Ready is also a good album, better than what the critics say, but RnR is not a bonafide classic, like this record is. This one is, in fact, near the top of everything the man has ever released. Yet, the reason why people at the time and even Jeff Beck himself dismisses this stuff is that it went so far against the musical tides in 1972. People wanted pile driving blues rock, in the Zepp/Sabbath/Purple mold; and since Beck started that whole deal with Truth, they expected him to develop that idea more. Beck is so intensely critical of himself, or at least was back then (check out his biography "Crazy Fingers" and you'll see what I mean) that he was all too ready to accept the criticism of others.

So if you are a fan of great music, you really ought to check this one out. It stands right up there with Blow by Blow and Wired, Guitar Shop and his new stuff, and it is a score higher than Truth and Beck-Ola.

Yep - I agree with the reviewer below that, in hindsight (although I've always been partial to this one) this LP is underrated, and misunderstood. I also think Bob Tench did a great job on the vocals...no, he is not the BEST singer Beck ever worked with, but he IS soulful and (other than Freddie King) sings "Goin' Down" with the best feel of any version. I think the point that is missed on this LP, CD now, is that this is, indeed, the Jeff Beck GROUP. The group is the thing - and it shows. "Sugarcane" (another Tench stand-out vocal) finds the group laying a mellow groove for Beck, and keeps him "reined-in", if you know what I mean. "Highways" is emminently soulful, and still affords Beck his freedom to solo - and he does from the start...but the song shifts focus beautifully, with a very 'groovy' keyboard solo ending. "Definately Maybe" gives Beck the vehicle to show his unique style and mastery of statement. When this came out I loved it BECAUSE it was different. I still do.

This is Beck with structure. The all around quality of the supporting musicians is terrific. The piano work is excellant and is blended well with the playing of Jeff. The style of this disc is distictively different from all of the other Jeff Beck works. This deserves a close listen, it's not just hot licks, there's alot of good listening in this one. This CD is severely under rated by people who are not paying close attention to one of Jeff's best works.

As one of the two or three greatest axemen alive, it is difficult for Jeff Beck to make a bad album. Yet his early 70s period is often considered one of his shakiest by both fans and the artist himself; the second version of The Jeff Beck Group existed mainly as a holding pattern while he recuperated from a car accident and waited to get Beck, Bogert And Appice together.
The first album by this lineup, "Rough And Ready", was a considerable step down from its mighty predecessors "Truth" and "Beck-Ola"; the self-titled "Jeff Beck Group" (aka "The Orange Album") regains some lost ground but is still somewhat short in several areas, most notably original songwriting.

While competitor Jimmy Page was creating some of the best rock songs of all time with "Stairway To Heaven", "Rock And Roll" and
"The Song Remains The Same", Beck settled for a more low key style here, playing a very 70s blend of rock, boogie and funk. Unfortunately, the vocalist was below-par (especially so, coming after Rod Stewart), the production was muddled and while Beck himself contributed a few decent tunes, his quest for strong and consistent original material continued. In spite of the album's drawbacks, however, each song boasts some typically superb guitar work which makes the whole thing worthwhile, and Max Middleton's keyboard work is another standout. The opening "Ice Cream Cakes" became a live staple that featured a very original solo, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" is an emotional Dylan cover and "Going Down" is a smoking rock number with Beck again on fire. The closing instrumental "Definitely Maybe" ranks as one of the finest songs in his entire career, with exquistite wah-wah overdubs contributing to an architecturally perfect piece. For these scattered moments the album is worth picking up, and any Beck fan will not be displeased. It is only when one compares it to earlier efforts, or those of Led Zeppelin, that the unfulfilled potential of this period--particularly in the songwriting and vocal departments--becomes clear.

this album and rough and ready were two of my very favorites during the early seventies when they were issued and have remained near the top to the present. i love bob tench's vocals, max middleton is superb on keyboards and while in the forefront, it strikes me beck doesn't overplay in this group format. even with the greatest guitarists less is sometimes more (listen to "goin' down" on rough and ready to hear what i mean). i would advise you if you don't have this cd, get it while you can. i believe rough and ready, which is my favorite of the two, is no longer readily available, which i personally find unbelievable but i assume just not enough folks are buying these classics.

I had this on an LP record and lost it in a house fire 10 years ago. Through listening to the CD compilation "The Best of Beck" I kept hearing a couple of songs from this album which kept nagging for the rest of the songs here, and finally had to order the CD.

Why didn't I replace this before? Beck's playing is extraordinarily fluid, inspired, and creatively -just plain genius. In a class of Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, the highest praise I can think of for an electric guitarist.

Maybe it's my fondness for keyboardist Max Middleton, or the overall sound of the musicians assembled here, or the arrangements. Bob Tench's vocals fit the songs perfectly, maybe that's it? I don't know, maybe it's all of those things. The recording itself is masterfully done, almost invisible, like a movie that is so well made you forget that it's a movie.

This stuff about "the sloppy production by Steve Cropper" is belied by the sound on the record. That statement sounds like music-reviewer babble to me, a group of hacks who can't actually play an instrument so they babble on in trite cliche's that make themselves sound important.

My advice is to forget the compilation called the Best of Beck- this is it, right here.

I do agree with some of the previous reviews that this is not one of Jeff Beck's very best recordings. It's not becuase his playing is off. It's not because the musicianship isn't there. It's not because the singer is "several steps down" from Rod Stewart (Bob Tench certainly is NOT in this reveiewer's opinino). IMO, it's not one of his greatest simply because the material is a bit weak and unfocused, though there are a few gems here.

Ice Cream Cakes is a tremendous rocker with one of JB's all-time coolest breaks, firmly establishing him as the man who took up where Les Paul left off. Whammy bar pyrotechnics, outrageous string bends, mashing strings into the pickups...Jeff pulls out the stops on this tune. Bob Tench's soulful vocals add a great touch and Max Middleton follows the fade out with a sort of trippy/jazzy Fender-Rhodes solo.

The band dusts off their cover of Glad All Over and Jeff adds some excellent funkity splunkity fills that are just right. Great work by drummer Cozy Powell as well.

Another cover, Don Nix's Going Down, is a classic. Middleton's intro, tinged with a gospel feel is absolutely perfect. Tench does a great job with the vocals here too. Jeff's solos on this song are fun but, IMHO, somewhat cliche and disjointed relative to much of his other guitar work.

Definitely Maybe is one of the best songs on the record, without a doubt. This instrumental features an incredibly beautiful and emmotional melody line, acompanied by an equally gorgeous harmony. I saw them perform this back in about 1973 and Bob Tench strapped on a Les Paul to accompy JB with the harmony. It was without a doubt the show-stopper and the best song in their performance. It's on this song, that JB really cemented his reputation as an innovative slide player.

Some of the other songs are quite good too, but these four make the albumn worth having. No "maybes" about it!

Tight band, good interplay, nice representation of styles...but afterall it is a Jeff Beck recording so one is compelled to say that as a soloist Beck was a restrained volcano here. His taste coupled with his hurtin' slide tone on cuts like Definietly Maybe and I Can't Give Back the Love are searing with emotional burn and instinctive playing that can't be emulated. All things being equal this would be some of Jeff's best playing ever and places these performances somewhere in the stratosphere with Hendrix et al.

I first picked this album up at a yard sale in my teens after reading an article in a guitar magazine about the three Guitar gods of British Rock: Eric Clapton,Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. The other 2 guys I had plenty of exposure to but this Jeff Beck, what did he sound like. After putting this album on the turntable
I found out why people raved about him so much and why classic rock radio didn't play him very often. Unlike Clapton and Page, Beck loves to try on different styles every few albums. On this album Beck and Co. have left the crunchy, blues rock of Truth and Beck-Ola and have gone for that distintive seventies hybrid of rock-and-soul. Along with Stevie Wonder, early 70's Isley Brothers, Rare Earth,and others here was Jeff Beck's contribution albeit at the more rock end of the spectrum. Bobby Tench has a smoky expressive voice that is complimented well Max Middleton's jazzy electric piano and Jeff Beck's fluid yet stinging guitar lines. The rhythm section of Cozy Powell and Clive Chaman is solid though not as funky as say Motown's rhythm section at that time. A standout track is the opener "Ice Cream Cakes" which the group gels pretty well on. An interesting cover of Bob Dylan's country rock ballad "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" goes down pretty smoothly. The only track which seems to connect with Jeff's blues rock past is thier version of Don Nix's "Going Down", which seems to take its cue from Freddie King's / Leon Russel's version. Beck-Ola really revs it up on this one leaving no doubt that he can still be the guitar god when he wants to. The other track which does just as well is a
beautiful instrumental ballad called "Definitely Maybe." Beck shows that the wah pedal is not just a novelty for electric guitarists but capable of expressing some deep emotion as well.
It's too bad Beck didn't stick with this line up or this style because this album showed great promise of a decent band getting better.