Customer Reviews

Live at BB King Blues Club

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

 

 

This could have been a difficult disc to review. It's a disc that has to be listened to as if all of the material is new, which is hard to do. All of the material is familiar. But, listening to it thinking you know what to expect is a mistake. I know. I did that and ended up feeling disappointed after listening to it for the first time. It was familiar but unfamiliar at the same time. It was unsettling.

And then I listened to it a few more times ...

Beck, joined by keyboard whiz Tony Hymas and drummer Terry Bozzio, drew from most areas of his catalogue for this show. "Roy's Toy" and "Nadia" draw from his year 2000 release, "You Had it Coming". "Psycho Sam", "Angel (Footsteps)" and "Brush With the Blues" come from his 1999 release, "Who Else". "Seasons" and "My Thing" are on his current release, "Jeff". Older pieces such as "Freeway Jam" and "Scatterbrain" from "Blow by Blow" along with "Good-bye Pork Pie Hat" from Wired" also found their way to the set.

All of the numbers played sound more raw in this performance than they did originally. "Roy's Toy" and most of the other recent cuts stay pretty close to their roots. "Nadia" gets a reading that is absolutely cutting though. It was an excellent piece to begin with. It promises to grow well with time. Older numbers such as "Freeway Jam", "Scatterbrain" and "Good-bye Pork Pie Hat" from Wired" differ considerably from their original renderings. "Scatterbrain" is played with a lot more of its edges left rough. This rendition of "Freeway Jam" is an up tempo take on the original. It has a heavier sound as well. "Good-bye Pork Pie Hat" becomes less of a ballad and more of an edgy blues rocker with a jazzy thread running through it. The changes on all the numbers numbers take some getting used to but they sound as right for the works as the original arrangements do. In some cases (such as with "Pork Pie Hat") they may have grown into something even better.

I can't really draw comparisons for "Savoy", "Big Block" and "You Never Know" because I haven't heard the original recordings for years*. The way they appears here is great to listen to. "People Get Ready" is presented as an instrumental and it works well. Beck has covered the work of (Curtis) Mayfield before and he obviously loves it. The original cover with Rod Stewart singing was a smash hit. This instrumental take has all the feeling and reverence for the song the previous version had. Hymas adds a beautiful keyboard line to it. This rendition won't leave anyone wanting. The same is true of Beck's take on Lennon and McCartney's "A Day in the Life". He presents it in a way that is right for the music.

Ultimately that may be the greatest aspect of Beck's gift. He searches for new ways to approach things relentlessly but what he does always works in the service of the music. The change in my outlook after listening to this release a few times was astonishing. Each song began to sound as if that was the way it should always be played. Feelings of being let down were, for the most, replaced by feelings of acceptance and awe. Everything here is familiar. Much of it is old but it all becomes new again: this is an astonishing display of musicianship by a man who defines the term.

This is one to have. It's only available online but don't let that be a deterrent. It is an official release that's linked to the record label's own page and the service I received from these people was excellent.

*"Savoy" and "Big Block" come from "Guitar Shop" while "You Never Know" comes from "There and Back". These recordings (to the best of my knowledge) have yet to be re-mastered. The sound on early CD releases stunk. They had all the dynamic range of a kazoo and that's being polite about it. Early transfers from analog to digital were poor. Any loss of dynamic range the transfer failed to inflict was completed by excessive file compression. Improvements in the technology have fixed the problem but these releases have to be re-mastered before the original quality of their sound will be intact.

Just as the other reviewer said this is simply an incredible live set by Beck, just as I remember him from the times I saw him in the 70's and 80's, usually as an opening act, which he was great as. I saw him open up for Jefferson Starship, Joe Cocker, and others. He sounds better than ever, and the set list is a wonderful sample of all phases of his career, but if you didn't even know his work, you would think it was a brand new album of new material. One of the highlights is a version of A Day In The Life, yes the same one from Sgt Peppers. Only complaint, no Blue Wind, but a minor one at that. ADVICE- Buy it direct from his website, it's only 9.99 plus a couple of bucks for shipping, I got it in less than a week.

What can be said about this record. Some of the most eclectic, genre busting guitar work I've ever heard. Jeff's obvious Anushka Shankar influences are spellbinding. I haven't heard string bends and whammy bar work like this since Ken Lemberg's work on Pocket Xplosions' first album 'noise'. Terry Bozzio's Stravinski-esque drumming is amazing. The perfect platform for his killer chops. Tony Hymas' keyboard work is reminiscant of early Father MulCahey, brilliant in it's simplicity. I highly endorse the purchase of this disc to Jeff Beck fans, Terry Bozzio fans, music fans or fans of naked badminton.

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Jeff Beck, Terry Bozzio & Tony Hymas are at it again!

Tracks:

1. Roy's Toy 2. Psycho Sam 3. Big Block 4. Freeway Jam

5. Brush With The Blues 6. Scatterbrain 7. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

8. Nadia 9. Savoy 10. Angel (Footsteps) 11. Seasons

12. Where Were You 13. You Never Know 14. A Day In The Life

15. People Get Ready 16. My Thing

Warning:

You'll find this a amazing piece of work by a singular, brilliant artist.

But if you aren't fond of Jeff's last three albums:

Who Else! (1999)

You Had It Coming (2001)

Jeff (2003)

You might not have much use for this one. (It's loud, raw and over the edge!)

If you loved the last three, this one will be right up your alley!

(Read the other 5 star reviews for more details!)

Personnel:

Jeff Beck: guitars; Terry Bozzio: drums; Tony Hymas: keyboards

I was one of the lucky ones at the second night. Like someone else said, if you didn't like his 3 previous albums this one probably won't thrill you. If you do,it is great.

Out of the big three, Beck, Clapton & Page, I like Beck the best becuase he's moved on. Clapton and Page are great in their own rights but haven't done much new recently. This show is a great example of JB moving into new areas.

I won't get technical about his music but this show is the best I've been at.

I collect JB shows and this is one of the best. Too bad its not longer.

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE FINDING THIS, GO DIRECTLY TO THE SONY SITE.

The good thing about Jeff Beck is that he is always experimenting, sometimes pushing the boundaries. The bad thing about Jeff Beck is that you never know what you are getting with one of his CD's unless you do some research.

This is a different style for Jeff Beck. It isn't his blues/rock like Rough and Ready, or his jazz fusion, like Blow By Blow or his pop, like Flash.

On this CD, Beck takes his jazz fusion and gives it a very hard edge. It reminds of King Crimson's Projekts phase, or Upper Extremeties by Tony Levin. The music is not melodic, rambling pieces like Blow By Blow. It is very short intense assualts on your senses. The tracks are all between 2 and 4 minutes long.

Beck takes many of his old compositions, including jazz fusion tracks like Freeway Jam, and pop songs like People Get Ready, plus some covers, like the Beatles' A Day In the Life, and plays them in new and completely different ways. There are no vocals, even on the songs, except for Terry Bozzio's skat screaming on one track, similar to what he did on some of the Frank Zappa records and some rapping on another track by a female with a Jersy accent, which is probably on tape.

The band is a trio, featuring Terry Bozzio on drums and a keyboard player, mostly known for appearing on other Beck CD's. Beck plays a lot of searing slide guitar.

The sound quality is very good. For the most part, the audience noise has been kept to a minimum. But, this is one case where it would be hard for the audience to overpower the band. The CD case is a very simple cardboard sleeve with no liner notes or even a listing of who is in the band. It is part of what Sony calls its bootleg series and is packaged to look like a bootleg. If you can't find it for sale here, go directly to Sony.

This CD is refreshing in that it isn't some dinosaur rockstar playing his old hits in the same way. Beck gives new life to all of these compositions. Note that this CD is not for everyone. If you are a Blow By Blow fan, you may not appreciate the harder edge this music has.

The CD is only 64 minutes long. It makes you wonder if Beck's full concert was only 64 minutes. With this intense music, you probably couldn't take 2 hours of it one sitting. Also, Beck does not tend to give long concerts. I saw him on the Blow by Blow tour. He was the headliner with the Mahavishnu Orchestra as the warm up band. Mahavishnu Orchestra played for an hour and a half, while Beck only played for an hour. It was disappointing that he played such a short time since the performance was so good.

I really like this CD, but can't quite give it 5 stars. I almost did, just because the audience noise was mixed too loud (that in itself is usually worth an extra star). But, while this is very good, I don't think it is an instant classic like Blow By Blow was. Blow By Blow was a phenomal acheivement. It is one of those records that could get you completely absorded and take you somewhere else. Note that Beck's move to jazz got huge press coverage at the time, including in Time magazine. I thought that was ridiculous because Beck was showing a jazz orientation in earlier albums.

Way, way back in 1975 I was reading album reviews in a British rock/pop magazine (Cream? Maybe Circus Raves?) They had ratings summaries consisting of various thumbs up or down. Then there was an intriguing side category called "savory, but for special tastes". That was reserved for recordings that were deemed especially good, but perhaps not so mainstream. And that was how they rated Jeff Beck's just-released album, Blow by Blow. The reviewer raved that "the master has pulled out all the stops" but allowed that this was not the hard-rocking Rod Stewart-era Beck. A complimentary way of saying, "This is a tremendous recording by a tremendous artist, but if you're expecting the old Jeff Beck sound ..."

Once again, over 30 years later, I think the same caveat applies. This is a tremendous performance by a tremendous musician, but if you want this to be Jeff Beck circa 1975 you will lkely be disappointed. The shimmering keyboards, pulsing bass and hard-but-swinging drums of that era have been plowed under by a relentless rhythmic assault that gives way only on a few wonderful ballads. Otherwise this is a slamming, pounding visceral experience.

Beck still has the magic - when he feels like employing it. I would venture that he has become a bit of a modern-day Jimi Hendrix, in that he effortlessly coaxes from his guitar a vocabulary of exotic sounds that even the best of his peers can only marvel at. Unlike Hendrix, however, he seems content to let his rhythm section carry large portions of songs, Beck venturing forth periodically to spray a flame-thrower's worth of searing licks over the din before casually returning to observer status.

The days when Beck would work a song from start to finish with shiny chords, winding melodies and spiraling solos seem to be decidedly gone. A shame, since his technique has become so mind-bending over the ensuing years. I dream of the day when Jeff Beck will once again take command of his songs, this time armed with the stunning aresenal of sounds and effects that he has acquired over a spectacular, if at times uneven, career. Until then, I listen to the finest moments of recordings like Live at BB King and try to mentally extrapolate them across entire songs.

If you really love Jeff Beck's playing, but you prefer it waving from a careening Ferrari rather than being shot at you out of a Howitzer, you might find yourself feeling the same way about this performance. Regardless of your preferences, though, this is a world-class master painting on the canvas of his choice. We mortals should simply observe and enjoy.

What an album.This is a great live album,and noone can sound like jeff beck!

This CD KICK'S. Hard, and Raw!! I just have a problem with

the guy,s that said it was "disappointing". What were they

expecting. It's 100% Jeff Beck. What kind of music do they

play in the Netherlands anyway?

Jeff rules, again. This is a great live recording of a great artist. And don't forget skinny little Terry Bozzio. It's woth buying this for the drumming alone.