JEFF BECK

JEFF BECK
WHO ELSE (1999)
320 KBPS

Just where was Jeff Beck through the 90s? Working on other music projects or just tuning up some old cars? Whatever the case, if 1999's blazing return doesn't deserve its self-assured title, I don't know what does. Though the surroundings are all different than before - techno beats, souped-up jams drunk with electricity - the sound of that guitar is still unmistakable to someone familiar with JB's style. And for people who only think Beck was that guy that did "Loser," this could serve as the beginning of a much-overdue education.
If there's one quibble I have with Who Else! it's the placement of "Brush with the Blues," which seems too slow and laid-back after the hyper one-two punch of "What Mama Said" and "Psycho Sam." "Brush" could be the perfect slow-dirty-blues breather later on in the sequence, but I often skip it to get to the fast-paced "Blast From the East." A minor complaint. The writing is strong throughout this whole set and the playing is as inventive as ever, even when stepping through some new territory; Beck floats through a techno trance in "Hip-Notica" and borrows a page - well, a paragraph - from Pat Metheny's book on tone with "Angel (Footsteps)." If you appreciate someone who can say twice as much as Steve Vai in half as many notes, and don't mind a little electronica in the mix, this album and its successor You Had It Coming are well worth looking into. Who else, indeed.

1. What Mama Said
2. Psycho Sam
3. Brush With The Blues
4. Blast From The East
5. Space For The Papa
6. Angel (Footsteps)
7. THX 138
8. Hip-Notica
9. Even Odds
10. Declan
11. Another Place

password: MOODSWINGSmusic