Album review: Jeff Beck, 'Emotion & Commotion'
3 stars (out of 4)
As one of the guitarists who defined British blues-rock in the ‘60s, Jeff Beck has ventured farther afield in subsequent decades than any of his contemporaries (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Green). He has explored everything from jazz-fusion to rockabilly, Tin Pan Alley standards to techno. What’s more, he releases albums at a leisurely pace, as though utterly unconcerned with the whims of the marketplace or the needs of the music industry. In that time, he has become one of the most distinctive, virtuoso voices ever heard on electric guitar.
And “voice” is the operative word on his first studio album in seven years, “Emotion & Commotion” (ATCO). Though there are a few moments of shredding violence (the dated-sounding riff-rocker “Hammerhead,” the explosive fills on “There’s No Other Me”), Beck mostly focuses on coaxing a languid, liquid, singing expressiveness from his instrument.
New Age Beck? It’s something like that. In emulating great vocalists he has admired, from Jeff Buckley to Judy Garland, the guitarist conjures a serene lyricism. Female vocalists drawn from the worlds of opera (Olivia Safe), swing (Imelda May) and soul (Joss Stone) provide window-dressing, and the symphony orchestra accompaniment is gratuitous. This is mostly a study in melody and melancholy, with Beck’s plaintive tone at its best on the complicated romanticism of “Lilac Wine,” the hymn-like “Corpus Christi Carol” and the sighing “Elegy for Dunkirk.” On these tracks, the guitarist articulates and then savors each note as if it were his last.
greg@gregkot.com
Sponsored Link: Amazon's Jeff Beck Store
As one of the guitarists who defined British blues-rock in the ‘60s, Jeff Beck has ventured farther afield in subsequent decades than any of his contemporaries (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Green). He has explored everything from jazz-fusion to rockabilly, Tin Pan Alley standards to techno. What’s more, he releases albums at a leisurely pace, as though utterly unconcerned with the whims of the marketplace or the needs of the music industry. In that time, he has become one of the most distinctive, virtuoso voices ever heard on electric guitar.
And “voice” is the operative word on his first studio album in seven years, “Emotion & Commotion” (ATCO). Though there are a few moments of shredding violence (the dated-sounding riff-rocker “Hammerhead,” the explosive fills on “There’s No Other Me”), Beck mostly focuses on coaxing a languid, liquid, singing expressiveness from his instrument.
New Age Beck? It’s something like that. In emulating great vocalists he has admired, from Jeff Buckley to Judy Garland, the guitarist conjures a serene lyricism. Female vocalists drawn from the worlds of opera (Olivia Safe), swing (Imelda May) and soul (Joss Stone) provide window-dressing, and the symphony orchestra accompaniment is gratuitous. This is mostly a study in melody and melancholy, with Beck’s plaintive tone at its best on the complicated romanticism of “Lilac Wine,” the hymn-like “Corpus Christi Carol” and the sighing “Elegy for Dunkirk.” On these tracks, the guitarist articulates and then savors each note as if it were his last.
greg@gregkot.com