JEFF BECK — Blow by Blow (review)

Album · 1975 · Fusion

4.5/5 · 2024-08-23
FunkFreak75

An album that I played till I had to replace it due to wear back when it came out, I had been a long-time and avid Jeff Beck fan (as I remain) before this release, I remember being quite surprised at the smooth, polished feel of this album, these songs--especially after more in-your-face rock albums like Truth, Beck-ola, Rough and Ready, Group (which we all called "orange"), and 73's Beck, Bogert and Appice, but then I also knew and loved his gorgeous work with Stevie Wonder on "Talking Book." He was by far and away my favorite guitarist at that time. This album made me appreciate Jeff's talent for control, restraint, and melody even more than his previous work. Plus it was an album that could be played as background music with a girl--which was essential at that point in my life. The song "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" remains one of the pinnacles of rock guitar musicianship--on a par with the legendary Roy Buchanan (a later discovery)--and one of the most beautiful instrumental rock songs ever created. "Freeway Jam" has always been one of my go-to pump you up songs. What a melodic hook and what guitar pyrotechnics! And "Diamond Dust" with its amazing orchestration has the emotional impact that I've rarely felt equalled besides Side One of Eberhard Weber's 1976 release, "The Following Morning." Pure gorgeousness. The contributions of producer George Martin (though many of which were denied due to record label contract disputes) are critical to the success of this album as are the uncredited contributions of funk by Stevie Wonder on clavinet, but it's Max Middleton's keys and the AMAZING drumming of 17-year old Richard Bailey that are the most essential.

Line-up / Musicians: - Jeff Beck / guitars With: - Max Middleton / keyboards - Stevie Wonder / clavinet (7) - uncredited - Phil Chen / bass - Richard Bailey / drums, percussion - George Martin / orchestral arrangements (5,9), producer

Five star songs: 8. "Freeway Jam" (4:58) (10/10); 6. "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" (5:42) (10/10); 9. "Diamond Dust" (8:26) (20/20); 3. "Constipated Duck" (2:48) (9/10); 4. "Air Blower" (5:18) (9/10), and; 5. "Scatterbrain" (5:40) (9/10).

Four star songs: the James Brown like 1. "You Know What I Mean?" (4:05) (8.75/10); the melodic funked up 2. "She's a Woman" (4:31)with its use of the Heil talk box that Peter Frampton would soon make mega-famous with his extensive use of it in his Frampton Comes Alive! January 1976 release (8.66667/10), and; 7. "Thelonius" (3:16) on which Steve Wonder's clavinet and Jeff's low-end "horn" guitar and Heil talk box take us on a ride that feels like a cross between Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" and Jimmy Castor Bunch's "Troglodyte" songs. (8.875/10)

Total Time: 44:44

While I have never considered this album a masterpiece (there are too many songs that I routinely skip--as I did even back then), it is a shining testament to an amazing artist--a guitarist with unsurpassed innovative creativity as well as a fearless ability to experiment, try new things, and grow. As I listen to the album in its entirety today--for the first time since the 1970s--I am shocked at how very like the work of the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and Eumir DEODATO this sounds. In 1974 this was, I realize, representative of its time, but it also feels quite ahead of its time in terms of the way if successfully fuses so many of the styles and sounds that were popular at the time. I'm also quite astonished at how little credit I've (or anyone has) given to bassist Phil Chen. He's amazing! Especially on Side One (which is the side I usually skipped).

A/five stars; without question this is a landmark album if only for the fact that it made guitar hero Jeff Beck into a household name. A timeless masterpiece of jazz fusion putting on display many of the styles popular at that time from one of, if not THE, best, most talented and gifted guitarists of all-time. Unfortunately, it is my personal opinion that this is one of the seminal albums for the upcoming "Smooth Jazz" phenomenon in which "jazz" or jazzified pop music became more accessible as a music for a wider audience of perhaps "low brain" public--a public who would not, under normal circumstances, give jazz music of any kind the chance to become part of their world much less the fabric of their beings.