Wired Jeff Beck

The 2008 box set Original Album Classics rounds up Jeff Beck's first five albums after the departure of Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood: Rough & Ready, Blow by Blow, Jeff Beck Group, Wired, Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live…

Released in 1976, Jeff Beck's Wired contains some of the best jazz-rock fusion of the period. Wired is generally more muscular, albeit less-unique than its predecessor, Blow by Blow. Joining keyboardist Max Middleton, drummer Richard Bailey, and producer George Martin from the Blow by Blow sessions are drummer Narada Michael Walden, bassist Wilbur Bascomb, and keyboardist Jan Hammer…

Jeff Beck - Performing This Week… Live at Ronnie Scott's (2008) {Eagle Rock EAGCD396}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 508 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 168 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 44 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Deuce Music / Eagle Rock | EAGCD396
Rock / Blues Rock / Fusion / Hard Rock / Guitar Virtuoso

Anyone who caught Jeff Beck's set at Eric Clapton's 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival (or even the two-song DVD excerpt) was probably salivating at the hope that an entire performance with the same band would appear on CD and DVD. This is it, 72 minutes and 16 tracks compiled from a week of shows at the U.K.'s famed Ronnie Scott's, and it's as impressive as any Beck fan would expect. The guitarist's last official U.S.-released live disc was from his 1976 Wired tour (an authorized "bootleg" of his 2006 tour with bassist Pino Palladino is available at gigs and online; others pop up as expensive imports), making the appearance of this music from just over three decades later a long-awaited, much-anticipated event.

Session and backup band keyboardist Derek Sherinian seems to understand that, when it comes to jazz-rock fusion music, the electric guitar is king, at least from the evidence of his solo album Oceana. Sherinian, who has backed such stars as Buddy Miles, Alice Cooper, and Kiss and been a member of groups including Dream Theater and, most recently, Black Country Communion, usually contents himself with co-writing the instrumental tunes on the album with drummer Simon Phillips, then joining Phillips and bassist Jimmy Johnson in providing musical support to one of a number of guest star guitarists…

The first thing that comes to mind when listening to Tiger Walk is the pair of instrumental albums recorded by Jeff Beck in the mid-'70s, Blow by Blow and Wired. Like those two recordings, this outing showcases a fiery, inventive electric guitarist in a rock and jazz-rock setting. Robben Ford, known in recent years for his blues work with his band, the Blue Line, eschews vocals here, teaming up with keyboard funk master Bernie Worrell for some chunky, funky, wah-wah-laden grooves. This music, led by Ford's blazing guitar lines, is more appropriately categorized as instrumental rock than jazz, but the rhythms recall James Brown and Worrell's alma mater, the P-Funk gang, as often as they do those of a hard rock band. Tenor saxophonist Bob Malach turns in a couple of solid solos, and the rhythm section of drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Charlie Drayton cooks throughout.