Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A guitarist's view, September 19, 2004
I've been a professional guitarist and music teacher for over two and a half decades. I listen to guitar music day in and day out, ranging in style from Luis de Milan (1536) to Leo Brouwer and Alan Holdsworth. It isn't difficult to observe that almost all music that has survived the test of time has had something valid to say: some of it expresses well the particular fashion/taste of the period; some successfully pushes the existing musical boundaries; and some is just uniquely personal to its creator.
As a musician Jeff Beck belongs mostly within the last of the preceding three groups. Examination of his output suggests it would be hard to argue that he created any new genre, but whenever he experimented in a new field he always sounded unmistakably true to his own unique musical identity. I also believe that a creative performing musician can receive no greater compliment.
The hallmark of Beck's style is melodic fearlessness. This boldness sets him apart musically from perhaps 'superior' technical and 'harmonically informed' peers, especially those of the so-called 'improvisational' based jazz scene. Beck's playing is instantly recognisable and is almost devoid of cliche. Jeff Beck only ever sounds like Jeff Beck. On the occassion that he ever employs a tired phrase of (say) Chuck Berry's, it is in such a manner or in such a place as to turn it on its head or throw new light upon it.
To those wondering whether to add this CD to their collection I recommend that you bear in mind Duke Ellington's words - "There are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music", because this CD belongs unquestionably to the first category. All instrumental, it contains a variety of styles - including ballad, reggae, funk, and rock - read the other reviews for the details. And finally, please don't ever pretend to have any inkling of what Jeff Beck is about, or what he is capable of, without being familiar with this particular album.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blow by Blow, June 13, 2003
The first album someone interested in hearing Jeff Beck's musical genious should get (yes, pass up any greatest hits or best of selections). It's funk, fusion, jazz - with healthy doses of rock and blues. The great thing about the band on this album is that they're all very good at their respective instruments. Of course we all know that Beck is going to be great, but it's surprising when fellow band members can equal the equivalent of his talent on their own instruments. This is, in my opinion, Beck's best album - and in saying that I mean one that showcases his versatility and intelligent playing. All these songs sound like jams, but they don't have the rawness or 'rough areas' of jams - wow.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A peerless recording, April 21, 2000
Few people have used the guitar as voice so effectively as Jeff Beck. And few recordings in any genre have so beautifully melded guitar with instrumentation. Although Blow By Blow has weak and dated moments, its standout tracks are so startling that I keep referring back to it as a kind of touch-point...to my own past, to an eternal expectation of how really transcendant great music can be. Three tracks have not dated, will never date: "Because We've Ended as Lovers", "Scatterbrain" and "Diamond Dust". Each has a distinctive, difficult, complicated mood. Lovers weeps. Scatterbrain has a manic, brilliant energy and wonderful interplay with a lush, erotic backing string arrangement. But my favorite Jeff Beck song will always be Diamond Dust. Its mood is brooding, edgy, and yet elegiac. The opening bars introduce an uneasy melody against a counterpoint of piano. From there the melody twists around, punctuated by electric piano and the faint, brilliantly arranged strings. It builds and fades, sometimes bright, sometimes aching, and when it ends, you feel as if you need to think a while, maybe take a walk. It's one of the most complicated and beautiful songs in modern music and it amazes and hurts me that some people will die never having heard it.Jeff Beck's fusion forays aren't for everyone. But there is no denying his musicianship, nor his intimate virtuosity with mood and subtle coloring. This recording has been on my shelves for twenty-five years and, God willing, it will be there for another fifty.
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