JEFF BECK'S

"You Had It Coming"

A Review by Damon Jasso

Jeff Beck surprised many of his fans with his follow up to "Who Else" in a mere two year turn around. Beck has not done a follow up this expeditiously since his early years after the Yardbirds. Beck, notoriously known for taking almost a literal eternity to release new studio material, has remained innovative as ever. Though not as polished as "Who Else," his latest effort, "You Had it Coming" delivers.

Many will compare the new album as more of the same from his previous effort, titled “Who Else,” but are erroneous in doing so. Granted, “You Had It Coming” does take off where “Who Else” started; but where the previous album only dared venture into the modern scene, methodically and cautiously by its author Tony Hymas, is where the new album excels.“You Had it Coming” seems to mock its conservative older brother and revels in its new found sound never looking back. Jeff Beck has always pushed the guitar to uncharted territories with every album, and this album is no exception. His band provides an excellent backdrop to Jeff’s trademark playing. Mr. Beck demonstrates that even in electronic music driven by synthetic drum machines and keyboards, a guitar is a formidable adversary when driven by technology.

As brilliant as the new album is, what lacks most from "You Had It Coming," is Jeff's meticulous attention to form and polished licks. It should be noted, that this album may very well be the opposite on purpose. The listener gets a looser more nonchalant Jeff, and he seems to be having more fun with it. Being hailed by many as one of the greatest guitar players in the world, his past works shows he can do no wrong ( do not bring up Player Boy Album!). But with this album, Jeff's statement is not technical playing but the music itself. Jeff is playing to not flaunt his guitar arsenal, or his dominance of a genre-he is playing to play. None of the guitar work seems forced, yet I would of personally preferred he spent more time arranging the tracks. Though there are gems throughout the disc, others play as if they were works in progress that made it to the final cut. Though not bad tracks by any means, but very rough with ideas that could, no doubt, have been further realized and developed. If his intentions were to have an album that experiments and gives the listener an impressionist aural experience, Jeff Beck has succeeded brilliantly; but if his intentions were for an album that gives a clear direction he has not.

The first track "Earthquake," written by Jennifer Batten, upon first listen, is a monotonous over-distorted rhythm guitar playing the same repetitious chords and drums. Yet, a minute into it, Jeff jumps on board the mix and offers a long solo with an indecipherable chanting in the background. Then after the solo, the music slows down to a crawl, then Jeff plays another exuberant solo, and then the before indecipherable speech says, "Ann's that just a drag?" I wonder if the narrator was commenting about the song? It is an acquired listen, very loose from Jeff usual standards.

"Roy's Toys," track number two, fares much better than "Earthquake," and was written by Beck with the help of Aiden Love and producer Andy Wright. This composition begins with a simple enough hook, but then becomes layered quickly with another guitar and bass. The lead guitar begins another theme and the two themes work together in distorted harmonic glory. The lead is the best part, as Beck displays his mastery of the new technology and demonstrates what the new millennium guitar is going to sound like in the near future.

"Dirty Mind" is just as it seems. A woman, with a orgasmic voice, says, "Oh my God!" and a repeating moaning sound becomes the rhythm of the song, set almost unnoticeably in the background. Unless, you have a dirty mind? The woman moaning does eventually fades away as the keyboard takes her driving pulse as Jeff lays the hook on guitar.

"Rollin and Tumblin'" is a remake from an older song, but embarrassingly I have never heard the original? The song has a exuberant solo in the middle and the woman, at first annoying, delivers a soulful performance. Side note, I finally get to hear a real drum!

"Nadia" is the highlight to "You Had It Coming." All guitars players that hear the opening bars, know this is Beck and only Beck, for its obvious horrid difficulty. I would not begin to tell you how difficult it sounds, but Jeff does it with a beauty and a grace that matches any of his ballads on "Who Else." This time around though, Jeff takes a ballad and applies a modern industrial beat in the background and surprisingly works well.

"Loose Cannon" goes in several musical directions being the longest tune on the disc at 5:17. Some places in the tune have triple guitar parts complete with a rhythm section of drums, bass, and noise. The ending solo is Jeff's most fierce on the disc as he brutally attacks the guitar and the next track begins with a contrasting youthfulness and relaxation.

That track being "Rosebud," features a two guitars playing rhythm and another guitar for solo. The hook to Rosebud is playful as is catchy; and has plenty of effects, beeps, and whistles in the background that compliment it.

"Left Hook" as much I like it, sounds like a video game. The drums are too synthetic and distorted, and take away from the guitar parts. Beck's guitar has a lot of cool effects going on in the background, but the drums are being pounded too loudly, luckily when Jeff truly shines the drums are absent.

"Black Bird," not the Beatle tune, is a technological wonder. A black bird chirps in the background, and Beck does his own bird effect on his guitar. Then it becomes apparent that the guitar and bird duel with each other on which one sounds more authentic.

As the same as "Who Else," the final track "Suspension" quietly ends the disc peacefully in conflict with the album's ominous beginning. Interestingly enough, this track is restrained, absent are any unnecessary solos as Jeff skillful plays the rhythm chords as beautifully as his solos. His relaxed strumming of the chords are drowned in chorus, and he ends the album elegantly with grace.

SECOND OPINION: I am delighted to say that after commenting that Jeff Beck's new CD suffers from not being polished, that I was indeed right. I went to the March 1st show, at the Aerial theater, and all my original complaints were silenced in Jeff's performance. "Earthquake" went under an extensive rewrite, which featured a new opening and even more furious leads. In its present form, "Earthquake" now competes with "What mama said," the opening song on "Who Else." "Nadia" was played beautifully note for note, and "Roy's Toys" had a more lengthier solo.

As far as a review for the show, it was not without its faults. Jeff appeared to be on "fire" and hammed up his playing for the audience; which led to several embarrassing mistakes such as missed notes, problems with volume, and fragmentary solos of older works. His sound crew should be shot, because numerous times Jeff was playing with such finesse and sublime that the acoustics in the theater did not replicate his licks. Other times, Jeff did not seem to remember the whole song, or maybe he was bored with playing the same song for years, and old favorites were played a bit too relaxed. Hard core guitarists and musicians would comment the new approach in Jeff's playing is not nearly as tight, instead they are more sloppy and lazy than the originals. My brother Chris defines this phenomenon best as "Jeff Beck appears to be trying to have a greater marketing appeal." One last comment was the new drummer. Although being a last minute replacement for the ill Steve Alexander, I was not impressed by his drumming. Yet, one should be lenient in judgment because it is still early in the tour. Faults aside, Jeff and his band produced an amazing show that evening. Even on a lazy day, Jeff's guitar playing is still second to none. His technique after all these years is still impeccable, and Jeff's improvisations of his own works are brilliant. The set should also be noted, as being a major about face from his last tour. Much more lighting effects with a two huge monitors showing Beck up close and personal. Jeff's rhythm/midi guitarist, Jennifer Batten, also gets more attention and leads, a surprising deference on Jeff's part. She lets loose on a tune from "Wired." In conclusion, go see it!

Copyright 2000-2002 Damon Jasso