Jeff Beck - Beck-Ola (Exp)
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Jeff BeckEdition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2006-10-10
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- All Shook Up
- Spanish Boots
- Girl from Mill Valley
- Jailhouse Rock
- Plynth (Water Down the Drain)
- The Hangman's Knee
- Rice Pudding
- Sweet Little Angel [Live][#][*]
- Throw Down a Line [#][*]
- All Shook Up [#][*][Version]
- Jailhouse Rock [#][*][Version]
Free Music Notes for Beck-Ola (Exp)
Free Music Review: 4 1/2 * Good, but not Great Follow-Up Still Worth Getting
Hit: 5 Stars
Beck-Ola has a very different sound than "Truth," the Jeff Beck Group's classic first album. On "BEck-Ola" the musicians sound more self-assured, the playing more uniformly aggressive. OF course, you expect that from Jeff Beck, who has the angriest sounding guitar in all rock, but Ron Woods (bass), Nicki Hopkins (keyboards), and the new percussionist play less tentaively, all of them have a certain cocky flair. Wood and Hopkis take more extended, showy solos: Beck is not the only flash this time around.
THe album is also more prototypically hard rock (closer to metal, though neither Truth or this album are its progenitors, as some journalists/publicists would like you to believe). The sound of each soloist is more foregrounded, though not nearly to the same extenet as Led Zep. This is still blue-based interplay, but there's more bravado here, and the engineering favors the upfront sound of each soloist.
While Stewat isn't nearly as playful as he was on "Truth," he and his mates have a gloriously good time on the over-the-top "Jailhouse Rock," and his slurring butchery of some the words on "Spanish Boots" is especially delightful. To some extent, however, this highlights what's missing from the album, the sort of playful, making it look easier than it is, more spontaneous feeling of Truth. You can almost feel them pushing hard on this album, and while this plays well on most songs, there's a kind of forced feeling to "The Hangman's Knee" and (I hate to say it, because it was an early fave song of mine), the long power song, Rice Pudding.
Hangman's Knee has a jerky start and stop rhythm to it probably intended as a contrast to Beck's playing, but it seems to get in the way of itself, and it becomes fairly boring after awhile (of course, this is all relative to the superb playing that precedes it). The arrangement bogs down the players, and the background riff--en importnat element of later metal music--doesn't satisfy. COnversely, RIc Pudding, while using a similar power riff--and doing it more effectively--languishes in it's own length. Two minutes cut off of the song (especially, the slower, quieter piano sections) would have reduced the dynamic and tempo contrasts but made for a more tightly constucted, compelling number. THe song has some great Beck guitar though, and hints of his later jazz and rock experiments cme through.
The song that best shows the band's strengths is the superb "Plynth (Water Down the Drain)." It also has a basic rock riff, but its funky sound meshes better with Beck's riffs, solos, distortions, and the snarling guitar sound that he commands better than anyone else. It has the complexity of a Jeff Beck song (as opposed to, say, Zepp's more single-minded sound and lyrics), but it's very powerful as well. BY the way, "Girl fom Mill valley" showcases Hopkins in a pretty gospel-influenced instrumental, heavy on the sustain but very sweet and realtively light. One begins to imagine that Jeff Beck, who included "Greensleeves" on "Truth" (ummm, we won't touch on the treacly, unexplainable, "Love is Blue") has a soft, romantic side, or perhaps early exposure to church or music hall sounds. At any rate, it's a nice change of pace after the very energetic opening two numbers.
Broadly speaking, you have 5 gems out of seven, with Jeff Beck playing as only he can, and a more forceful group nacking him up. Rice Pudding is excellent, but perhaps overly long, and cut 6, Hangman's Knee redundant. I'd throw down the extra change might be necessary and get the 2004 version of "Beck-Ola" with the 4 additional tracks (ASIN: B000I0QKDI), two of which are new, and alternate versions of "All Shook Up" and Jailhouse Rock." Then, if you haven't already, you must get "Truth," both because it's one of the top rock albums ever made, and to make your own comparisons with "Beck-Ola."
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