These are the liner notes from ” Emotion and Commotion,” the latest release from Jeff Beck; written by Steve Lipson, who produced Jeff for the first time.
” Sitting 6 feet away from Jeff Beck, while he casually plays something that no one else could get close to has been an extraordinary experience. Jeff’s ability to play the simplest of melodies and make it sound great is unsurpassed. He makes the instrument sing like a voice, and with total apparent ease. His nonchalance about his equipment makes his abilities shine all the more, yet his concern with his music being as good as possible is always foremost in his mind.
As I finished the album, I said to Harvey that he was the only artist I’d be happy to start making another album with immediately. For as long as I can remember, Jeff has been my guitar hero, the guitarist that neither I nor anyone else could ever compare with. It’s been a major pleasure and priviledge to play a small part in the career of the defining guitarist of our times, the self-deprecating, brilliant Jeff Beck.”
Somewhat of a cheap post for me, just copying the liner notes out like that. There are a few spots on this record where you can kind of tell that the producers didn’t quite know how to get it just so, but there’s a lot where they did. The programmed keyboards are a little artificial here and there, but not too badly. But there’s also real orchestration on here, three great singers, and most of all, JBeck’s capacity for playing five perfect notes where anyone else would have stuck fifty in there. Like the last verse phrase in ” Somewhere Over The Rainbow”- six perfectly bent notes, all from the same single stroke, ala Roy Buchanan. If you listen very carefully late at night, you can hear the sound of Stratocaster players all over the world sobbing gently into their shirtsleeves.
All but one.
You really, really ought to get this music somewhere, somehow. And if you’re very adventurous, dig up some Roy Buchanan, too.
If you do, don’t be scared of the pants. He was completely serious. It was the seventies, for God‘s sake. Roy was the first guy that the Stones asked to join after Brian Jones‘ demise. Can you picture Roy in his snappy orange golf pants, and Jagger in a pink Speedo? Jeez Louise…