Jeff

Jeff Beck | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 5, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Epic Records
• ASIN: B00009MGQL
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,976 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Calling fabled guitar god Jeff Beck "mercurial" doesn't do justice to the word – or the legend himself. While this latest blast of maniacal Beckology seems to form a loose techno-centric triptych with its predecessors, by no means is the guitarist resting on his laurels here. If anything, his continuing collaboration with You Had It Coming producer Andy Wright (aided and deliciously sonically subverted by Splattercell's David Torn and Apollo 440) has yielded one of Beck's most muscular--if willfully challenging--collections of musical future shock. Save for the elegant, orchestra-backed take on the traditional folk of "Bulgaria" and introspective respite of "Line Dance with Monkey' and "JB's Blues," the guitarist seems to have little interest in traditional lyricism here, instead coaxing an inventive maelstrom of unearthly, metallic timbres and alien modalities from his instrument on the angular "Trouble Man," the hypnotic grooves of "So What" and the Torn-icated, melodic minimalism of "Plan B." On "Grease Monkey" and "Hot Rod Honeymoon," Apollo 440 playfully fold Beck's notorious car-culture fetishes into an ironic sonic origami of retro-samples and tense electro-rhythms, the latter highlighted by his neo-country chicken-pickin' and incomparable slide work. That track may be cast as mock Beach Boys car tune, but there's definitely nothing nostalgic about the evocative, often hard-edged mood here; it might as well be subtitled "Beck to the Future." --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Jeff" proves the last two were no fluke!, September 27, 2003

By 

D. Caudwell (East Sussex , United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jeff (Audio CD)

Jeff Beck's a rarity! A fully paid-up member of the 60's rock guitar aristocracy, he has always been at LEAST one step ahead of the pack. Never content to mark time or rehash old ideas, Beck had hardly finished drawing up the blueprint for 70's hard rock and metal when he was off into fusion hyperspace with Jan Hammer. And always, whether working on his own projects or playing hired gun for the likes of Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner or Mick Jagger, Jeff NEVER sounds like anyone but himself!! Anyway, that was then! So where do we find his restless spirit in this new century? Deep in techno territory, totally immersed in sounds normally associated with under 25s and not only sounding completely at home but obviously having a blast!
More in the vein of "You had it coming" than "Who Else?" this one floors it from the off with furious beats and nasty automotive tones abounding and the guitar poking through in all the right places. As other reviewers have noted, the guitar plays a more textural, organic role on many of the tracks: witness the tasty slide riffs on "Plan B" and the in-the-pocket, chicken-fried funk of "Pay Me No Mind". But just when you think you've got a handle on the man, Beck pulls out an ecstatic solo like those in "Seasons" or "Bulgaria" and clean takes your breath away! Have mercy!! Six strings speaking in tongues - Carlos himself would be proud!!
I defy any player of ANY generation to produce anything as cutting edge and totally genuine as this - make no mistake, this 59 year old rocker's on a roll!

...so WHAT are you waiting for? One-click-it!!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious, rockin guitar madness for the new millenium from the "original" Beck, December 6, 2005

By 

David Biedny - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jeff (Audio CD)

Why is it that folks can't seem to understand that musicians - particularly those blessed with amazing talents - want to expand and break out of the molds they're cast into? I've read all these Amazon comments about Beck going techno with this album, and after listening to it more than a few times, it seems like this is the kind of record that Jimi Hendrix would be happy to make if he were still alive. Jeff Beck is consistently out on the bleeding edge, making new music and coaxing wild new sounds from his guitar, and I hope he continues to push the boundaries for many years to come.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps his most aggressive effort, August 6, 2003

By 

Robert Howard (Bowling Green, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jeff (Audio CD)

Most artists as they age mellow out to some degree. They begin to run away from the aggressive music of their youth, seeing it as "immature". Mr. Beck, however, seems to do the exact opposite. He grows increasingly more aggressive as he ages. This newest album, "Jeff", continues to build upon the electronic sounds first started on 1999's Who Else! release.
One tracks such as "So What" (no relation to the Miles Davis modal jazz tune) Jeff blasts us with a sonic hailstorm of sound, picking the listener up off the floor and beating him or her senseless. These are not tracks for the timid. They explode out of your speakers, the guitar snarls and curls it lip and curses you out like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

That said, the album isn't as monotonous as the previous Jeff Beck effort, "You Had It Coming". The tracks all have sudden stops and starts and surprises. The drum loops themselves are magnificent peices of rhythmic composition. If this album has a weakness, it is that fans of Jeff Beck like myself will find themselves wanting to hear more clearly the beautiful voice of his guitar, as on much of this album the guitar is a member of a larger orchestra of sounds and not always present in the foreground.

However, there are plenty of moments where Beck shows that his electric guitar mastery is unmatched: The subtle, clean pickin' (reminiscent of his playing on She's a Woman from Blow by Blow) on the bizarre "Pay Me No Mind", the soaring blues rock on "Hot Rod Honeymoon", and the Eastern melodicism on "Porcupine".

Also present is Beck's greatest strength: his uncanny ability to sing on the guitar, sing to your very soul itself. He graces us with ballads of immense power on every record he makes, and this is no exception. We are reminded of this early on with the track "Seasons" (one of the strongest tracks on the album) during the "soft" section, but we get it full on with the drop dead gorgeous "Bulgaria". Also of note here is the floating, dreamy "JB's Blues".

All in all, this might be one of Beck's strongest creative efforts in his entire catalog. I doubt it is as fully listenable as records such as Truth, The Jeff Beck Group, and Blow by Blow, but it certainly ranks as an artistic triumph for a guitarist that continues to improve as he ages. For a musician who has already given as much to us as Jeff Beck has, every album, every song, indeed every note must be treated as a gift. And on "Jeff", the gifts are plentiful.