Customer Reviews

Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

GUITAR SHOP is without a doubt one of the greatest guitar albums ever recorded. This is what playing electric guitar is all about. This album is an essential primer on the electric guitar. GUITAR SHOP comes closest to capturing the futuristic electric guitar elan of the 1960s Jeff Beck sound. There are shades of SHAPES OF THINGS, OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWN, BECK'S BOLERO, TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN, and HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO. There is the hard rock/heavy metal sound of the Jeff Beck Group as well as the jazz-rock fusion of BLOW BY BLOW and WIRED. There are no words to describe the effect of this album. GUITAR SHOP is Jeff Beck at his very best.

Every guitar player should own GUITAR SHOP. This is what it is all about. This is what virtuosity and musicianship sound like.

The best track on the album is WHERE WERE YOU, which has become a guitar classic and a Jeff Beck signature song. WHERE WERE YOU is arguably the best record Beck ever cut. Jeff Beck composed this track and so put his own musical and artistic vision into it. That is what is so remarkable. We see that guitar playing is all in the mind, not in the fingers or in the amplifier or the guitar brand or the pick you use. It is all in the mind. That is the secret revealed on this album. You cannot teach that. That is why every guitarist in the world should own this album. Every guitarist has to have his or her own voice or musical vision. That is the secret to playing great music. Today, all guitarists play the same styles that they imitate from what they are hyped into believing is the best. Guitarists play hackneyed cliches and unimaginative riffs that are just so much garbage and noise,i.e., musical trash. There is no originality or artistic vision, just copycat, plagiarism, xerox copies of what the "stars" play. It is all musical ... that makes one want to vomit and throw one's guitar in the garbage can or break it against the wall. Guitar music sounds so ... and one-dimensional. Guitar music sounds like it is created by cretins and morons. Yes, it is that bad. But, then, GUITAR SHOP came out in 1989....It was like a blind man who had regained his sight. This was what playing the guitar was all about. And Beck gets some remarkable sounds out of his guitar. SAVOY is just breathtaking. How does Beck do that? Again, it is all in the mind. TWO RIVERS is a remarkable slow ballad. Beck shows that less is more here. He shows what one can do with just a few notes...and some musical talent.

Every song on this album is remarkable and a revelation. It is all killer, no filler. It shows what all the fuss was all about.
Why did Jimi Hendrix want to meet Jeff Beck in 1966 when Chas Chandler brought him to the UK? Why did Jimi listen to and study Jeff Beck's guitar playing? Why did Jimmy Page say that Jeff Beck is the best guitarist that there is? This album shows us why. Beck's vision for the electric guitar is awe-inspiring. It is an artistic vision unlike any other. We all owe Jeff Beck our gratitude for taking the guitar out of the boring and banal into the unexplored country. GUITAR SHOP is more than just another album. It is a milestone. It shows us the possibilities of the guitar.

After what most consider a disasterous outing, Flash, Jeff really came roaring back with this one fully decked out with long time contributer Tony Hymas on keyboards and ex-Frank Zappa/Missing Persons drummer Terri Bozzio. I found that if I put this on, I had to listen to the rest until it ended. There is a real continuity and flow that makes each song blend so well together. The production is good and the musicianship is top notch. This would be among my 5 mandatory JB releases, which also includes Blow by Blow, Wired, There and Back, and Truth.

"As far as rock guitarists go he's got to be my all-time hero," says Pink Floyd's keyboardist, Richard Wright, in Record Collector magazine, when he named this album as one of his favorites. "He started as a blues guitarist just like Clapton, but he's investigated the possibilities of the instrument much more. You probably won't know this, but when Syd left Pink Floyd we actually asked Jeff Beck to join, he was our first choice. He was doing OK at the time so he turned us down." Given that Mr. Wright is in a band with a guitar great like David Gilmour, this certainly constitutes a ringing endorsement. Indeed, Jeff Beck is the only guitarist capable of putting a chill down my spine like Mr. Gilmour can. I first heard him play on Roger Waters' solo work Amused to Death and was deeply moved. This album comes from around the same time period, so if you like that style and want more, this is a great place to start.

"There's one track on Guitar Shop called Where Were You? that's just this beautiful, melodic guitar sequence. I loved it so much that I took that feel for an instrumental called Sweet July on my new solo album [Broken China--1996]." How correct Mr. Wright is! This is most definitely the highlight of the album. Mr. Beck seems to sing and cry through his guitar as naturally as if it were his own voice, and how well he pulls at the listener's heartstrings! If you like Pink Floyd's song "Marooned", you should have excellent luck with this track, which I consider to be worth the price of the entire CD.

The rest of the album also amazes me, thanks to how little Mr. Beck uses to create his tone. Rather than relying on heavily in effects the way David Gilmour does, Jeff Beck's strength is pure technique and creativity. Who would think the sound of a guitar (seeming to be) having its strings put on and tuned up could be turned into something innovating and entertaining? Yet this is part of what happens on the title track. I will say that although heavier in parts, listeners should not expect an extremely serious album--there is some definite and quirky humor in places. "Guitar Shop" most certainly, but so is the track with the repeated line "Nothing--nothing is being done!"

Yes, the sound can be rather 80s in places--but Jeff Beck's guitar work is quite simply too mindblowing, too heartwrenching, to turn down. Guitar Shop is certainly a must-have!

Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop, along with Blow by Blow and Wired, is one of the most important albums of rock guitar. Simply put, to this listener Guitar Shop is Beck's best album. It contains a wide range of styles and awesome musicianship. It is also filled with unique emotion from each member of the trio. Of course, this is Jeff Beck's disc, and it contains some of his best playing ever.

This album is so finely crafted that you don't even realize there is no singer. Beck takes the spotlight, and he pulls off the melodies and solos like no one else could, proving that he is not only the greatest guitarist ever, but one of the greatest general musicians as well. With Guitar Shop, Jeff Beck shows once again that he is the best.

Every track on this disc is excellent, there is no filler. "Savoy," "Where Were You," and "Sling Shot" are among the highlights. "Where Were You" is both the technical and emotional highlight of Guitar Shop, and perhaps of Beck's career. It may be one of the most technically difficult songs of his career to pull off, but it contains so much of his heart and soul that you cannot help but take notice and be moved while listening to it. Cheerleading? Maybe, but you can't argue with emotion.

"Behind the Veil," the reggae track, is another highlight, containing another healthy dosage of soul and mastery. It should be noticed here that Beck has innovated an amazing path in the way rock guitar playing is executed. He does not use a pick on this disc. It's all with his thumb and fingers, which leaves him totally unrestricted, and his playing is really at a peak because of this.

Guitar Shop is one of the most important and stunning rock guitar records ever. Words have trouble describing it, and I feel no need to go any futher. Put it on and listen for yourself.

This is definatley one of Beck's best albums. Before I go on, let's clarify that. Jeff Beck's best albums, IMHO, are: Blow by Blow, Wired, Guitar Shop, and You Had It Coming.

Like on Jeff's new release, You Had It Coming, he serves us with some raw guitar with funky beats and great stuff to listen to. It's great to listen to in the car. As always, Jeff's solos are timeless on this album. Where Were You is worth the price of the album alone. It's Guitar Shop's 'how did he do that!' song.

As with all Beck releases, his genius and emotion are served at great amounts. Savoy, Stand on It, Big Block....they are all great songs. As said before, Where Were You is the standout. A Day in the House is REALLY fun to listen to, it's really funky and portray's Jeff's humour as well. It's a great album.

This is a great cd. Better than Wired, better than Blow by Blow, almost as good as Who Else. Bozzio is, as always inspired, and Jeff, as always, plays from the heart with the best technique on the planet, ever. Buy this.

Jeff Beck may not be known to be the most commercially successful artist out there. He does what he wants; that's clear in this album. It took me a few listens to get a feel for this album, but it has quickly become a favorite of mine. "Guitar Shop" and "A Day in the House" are the only songs that feature some kind of vocals; therefore, if purely instrumental songs don't appeal to you, then this is not the CD for you. However, I must say that Beck speaks to us in each and every song through his guitar. Regarded by many as the best guitar player out there, Beck makes any and every sound possible come from his guitar. Each song is different, so it's hard to choose a favorite, but "Savoy" and "A Day in the House" appeal to me greatly.
If you like 80's music, but have never listened to Beck before, this is a good place to start. If your tastes veer from 80's music, then I would begin with some of Beck's earlier stuff. I can't say that each and every person who listens to Jeff Beck will like him. His style is unique and most likely you'll love or hate him. However, if you have an open mind and love listening to excellent guitar work, definitely give this CD a shot.

I love this album. Along with Roger the Engineer by the Yardbirds, Truth, Blow by Blow, and Wired, this is a classic. These rock guitarists from the sixties are a lot more creative and musical then some of these upcoming players. "Where Were You", "Savoy" and "Big Block" are awesome guitar tracks. I like the fact that Jeff Beck can adapt to different musical styles without sacrificing his awesome guitar playing.

Jeff Beck only came out with three albums in the 80's, and Guitar Shop is best one, and has since become a Jeff Beck classic. There's a reason for that... it is one of his best albums. The album kicks off with Jeff showing he can play any and every style in the album's title track, and ends with Jeff showing he can still play bad-attitude guitar better than anyone else with "Sling Shot." In, the middle, however, are the real jems. "Behind the Veil," a Tony Hymas piece, is incredibly funky and reggae-like. "Big Block," like Roy's Toy of Jeff's newest album You Had It Coming, shows his love of cars. The best song on Guitar Shop, though, is Where Were You. It is just Jeff and Hymas' keyboards here, and it is a perfect example of "less is more." There are no 1,000 mph solos here, just atmospheric, emotional guitar playing. Other standouts include: "Savoy" and "A Day in the House." A great album by the best guitarist ever.

Beck has a way of reclaiming the high ground with each outing."Guitar Shop" is idiosyncratic, as always,but it swings, slashes and burns into the listeners mind with great songs and astonishing musicianship.Jeff's guitar tones are unique,from the sound of metal being struck together, a V8 engine ,the sound of an air gun, to his own patent electric beauty,his sound is so tactile and real that you can almost grab it when it comes out of the speakers. Tony Hymas' Keyboard tones and supportful playing could teach a few things to some other so-called masters (are you listening Jan?) while Terry Bozzios' sublime swing is interspersed with some maniacal thumping , together they redefine the Rock trio.