Consuming the Tangible

I know a consistent refrain here is that it’s never too late to discover an artist or band. And that’s true, for the most part. But time and distance can sometimes blur or fade the response to a legend, and I’m not going to lie here: Jeff Beck is most certainly a fantastic guitarist, but based on my first thorough impressions of Beck’s first “proper” solo album, the instrumental multi-genre hybrid Blow By Blow, I’m a little underwhelmed. There are a few moments when the tracks really soar, and Beck’s playing is always fine, but the songs themselves often feel rote and shallow. Yeah, I’m as surprised as you, and happy to return my cool cred card, but on the whole I’m not sure this is one I’ll revisit often.

So what went wrong for me? I was familiar with Beck, though my initial exposure was limited as a kid to (of all things) Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop. I wasn’t familiar with The Yardbirds beyond a few cursory songs, and that was really it. It wasn’t until about seven years ago I heard and picked up his two albums as The Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart on vocals, and I was a fan of the overall psych/rock vibe both Truth and Beck-Ola gave off. But I still refrained from checking out his classic instrumental albums of the mid-’70s. That ended a few weeks ago when I picked up both Blow By Blow and Wired for less than $8 apiece and settled in for a listen.

The problem for me starts right up front. “You Know What I Mean” comes off like a standard slice of funky jam, despite its admittedly catchy melodic theme. Everything is so precisely situated in the soundstage that it comes off as a bit flat and sterile. I’m still shocked George Martin produced this. And while Beck’s soloing is solid (his bending and note slides are actually pretty fantastic), there’s nothing to make me sit up and say, hey, this is one of the greatest guitarists in the world. Similar things bother me about the next track, a cover of The Beatles’ “She’s A Woman” complete with reggae rhythms and a talk box. It’s not even a great Beatles song (sorry not sorry), and it’s a completely forgettable track for me. Things get a little better with the short funk of “Constipated Duck,” but there’s nothing here I haven’t heard elsewhere, or executed better. There’s an attempt at fusion, but it’s unconvincing to my ears, and dated in a way a lot of music that’s even more rooted in the era isn’t.

When your first three tracks don’t hit, there’s a problem. Repeated listens haven’t opened it up; if anything it just made the choices more familiar. Thankfully, Blow By Blow improves as it moves on. “Air Blower” is the first track really works, the rhythm and backing music coming together beautifully, and Beck sounding way more engaged as a player. It’s also the first time his backing band really shines, especially Richard Bailey on drums and Phil Chen on bass. It’s like the composition finally came together to allow the band to gel instead of just laying down a platform for Beck to solo over. I can hear John McLaughlin in his approach to the first half of the track, his notes on fire. But when the song takes a breath and moves into a slower, blues-based run, he’s even more impressive, laying on some thick emotion with every hit of the strings.

Things get even better with “Scatterbrain,” probably my favorite track on Blow By Blow. We’ve moved into straight fusion, and the spiraling guitar figure opens the song at first feels like a practice exercise, but as the riff modulates upward, it gets more and more exciting. It’s also a great showcase for the rest of the band, including Max Middleton on keyboards. Middleton worked with Beck in the Jeff Beck Group, and as a co-writer on “Scatterbrain” really helps to push the song into new and exciting territory.

But even when the territory isn’t new, if the choice is solid, Beck can still work wonders. I really dislike the Beatles cover, but goddamn do I like his cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers,” which shows how lyrical his playing can get. Probably didn’t hurt Wonder was involved in the sessions, even contributing some clavinet to the short, funky fluff of his “Thelonious.” That segues into the fine “Freeway Jam” and the somewhat perplexing “Diamond Dust.”

That’s where Blow By Blow leaves me. It may have been incredible at the time, especially for rock fans, but I can’t help but think about all the insane playing also coming out at this time was challenging, engaging, and featured playing I’d never heard before. Like John McLaughlin in the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Or Al Di Meola in Return to Forever. Maybe 50 years isn’t too late to discover an artist you love, but it might be too late to feel the same enrapturement as those who heard it when it was groundbreaking.

I don’t know. I still have Wired, so let’s see how it does for me.