Jeff Beck is one of the rare breed of players who always sounds like himself regardless of what gear he’s using, whether it’s the tiny Fender Pro Junior amps he plays onstage today, a DigiTech GSP-21 direct to the mixing console like he used on Frankie’s House or the Marshall stacks he played onstage during the ’70s. However, at around 38 seconds in, the track takes a stylistic shift, the rhythm section joins in, and the track launches into a driving cyclical riff with a rolling 12/8 feel. I couldn’t even touch a guitar string because the pain was so bad… I had to re-establish the connection between my brain and my fingertips. His virtuoso skill easily outshines other great (and better known) guitarists, like Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page. As an all-instrumental album it was a surprising commercial success, with a jazz fusion-like approach seldom seen on best-selling lists at the time.

At times, the SACD sounds a bit anachronistic, especially when Beck uses 70s guitar effects (most of which he invented and became succcessful commercial products. In addition to the BECK originals on this one is the track “Diamond Dust” written by Bernie Holland of Hummingbird, a Max Middleton original with “Freeway Jam” as well as two tracks written by Stevie Wonder. The bass playing is excellent as well, working perfectly with the drums to provide a foundation for Jeff to go nuts on. He had his moments with the Yardbirds (Roger the Engineer) but I'd still take his solo stuff over them. Eschewing the bluesy rock sounds of his past, BECK took the jazz-rock aspects that had been gestating and entered the full blown jazz-fusion scene.

For his performance with the band Upp, Beck played his 1954 “Oxblood” Gibson Les Paul plugged into a ZB Custom volume pedal, Colorsound Overdriver and Cry Baby wah pedal. Listen, I don't know if some of these tracks are just studio edits of extended jams, as I sometimes suspect then to be, but in the main this is a highly listenable collection, impeccably and tastefully played, with enough fiery flourishes to prevent it sounding as cold and clinical as I worried it might do before I put it on. It was written by Stevie Wonder and features some of Beck’s most vocal and mournfully expressive playing. Constipated Duck" is the worst titled here and probably lays an egg as the set's weakest track, "Air Blower" blows more hot than cold, sounding at times almost like a forerunner to Stevie's "Contusion" on next year's "Songs In The Key Of Life" aided by Martin's neatly contrapuntal string arrangement and "Scatterbrain" is fussily busy with more Wonder-esque synth work backing crisp drumming and imaginative playing by Beck. I guess at that time I wanted some solidification; I had to be playing a tune, not just abstract flurries of noise.

I mean, you can make it better with chocolate sauce, but it’s not right when you try to put another flavor in. While BECK’s guitar antics are the star, this is truly a band effort with each instrument proving to be an essential ingredient for the compositional fortitude. Its a nice change to be listening to another "fun" Jeff Beck song, after enduring the passionate Cause We've Ended As Lovers.Do you dislike being perceived as a fusion player because you don’t feel you really are one, or because you don’t like the implication the label carries? It’s a technique that Beck adopted, perfected and advanced throughout his career until it became a trademark of his sound. So we bought a CD of bird songs and slowed the blackbird song right down so that I could pick out the melody.

A cover of the Beatles song " She's a Woman" was selected, as well as the composition "Diamond Dust" by Bernie Holland of the group Hummingbird consisting of musicians from the second Beck Group. This list aims to provide some jumping-off points to start exploring his expansive repertoire, with stand-out tracks from key points in his career. But it was Jeff Beck who would truly define the genre, moving away from his former Rock and Blues based efforts, to this all instrumental album.During their double-headlining Fire Meets the Fury Tour, Guitar Player got a chance to sit down and catch up with the man himself. I used to hear one in an apple tree outside my window when I was a child, and that melody was so whistle-able.