Jeff Beck
Emotion & Commotion

In many respects, Jeff is the greatest electric guitarist of all time: his touch and sound are princely, unmatched; his approach to rhythm and melody is intriguing and surprising... the choice of notes, the flair with which he captures the moment to enter, prolong, vibrate, glide, connect, detach, fade are a continuous discovery. This man can only be placed on a pedestal by every serious guitar enthusiast/player/scholar (electric: the acoustic one might not even exist for Beck...). The deeper one delves into things related to the six strings, the more one realizes the excellence of our subject in terms of visionary ability and talent on that instrument (Fender Stratocaster, for many years now) worn and strummed with sublime naturalness, as if it were an additional limb of the body.

In the same way, his desire to experiment with very different musical genres, to be tickled by genres far apart, while insisting on arranging everything himself, bypassing the incredible chances he had to settle greatly within entities of absolute media and commercial success (one above all: he said no to the Rolling Stones, labeling the bassist and drummer as inadequate... I fully agree with the judgment!) or steadily assembling around him some frontman/songwriter together to churn out a good series of successful pop rock albums, has something idealistic, romantic.

A researcher by instinct and a lone wolf by vocation, he started in the distant sixties by combining pop with blues in the Yardbirds and then turning it all into hard rock with the Jeff Beck Group. In the seventies, he first inserted strong doses of rhythm & blues into hard rock with the trio Beck/Bogert/Appice, then grew tired of singers and ventured into jazz, exploring a kind of blues/fusion in various works in his own name or together with keyboardist Jan Hammer. In the eighties, he then opened the doors to electronics, allying with keyboardists/composers capable of stimulating his inspiration as an ineffable soloist. The nineties and the new millennium saw him flirting heavily with techno music, alternated on records and concerts with blissful atmospheric instrumentals and some remnants of rock.

On "Emotion & Commotion," techno almost completely disappears, the blissful atmospheric instrumentals mentioned above are more present than ever, but it's the choice of music on which to let his august guitar's voice descend that leaves one puzzled. In the sense that the matter takes on tones quite opportunistic... his new producer Steve Lipson (Simple Minds, Annie Lennox, Pet Shop Boys, even Zucchero and Celentano... in short, a pop producer, oh dear) has indeed convinced him to introduce the following novelties:

·       A powerful classical orchestra of 64 elements, present almost everywhere and in a couple of tracks further enriched by the vocalizations of soprano Olivia Safe

·       The spirited soul voice of former enfant prodige Joss Stone, hired to howl with commendable, but fake grit in a couple of pieces, one of which being the classic fifties rhythm & blues "I Put A Spell On You"

·       Two ancient musical standards already revitalized in the nineties by the late Jeff Buckley, namely "Corpus Christi Carol" dating from the fifteenth century and "Lilac Wine", which is from the forties and for which the suave voice of Irish Imelda May is also enlisted

·       A fourth classic, this one sure to hit: "Over The Rainbow" known even to grandparents and children thanks to the immortal 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz"

·       Fifth classic, even more populist: Puccini's "Nessun Dorma", or the "Smoke On The Water" of classical opera, apparently. Unflinchingly, Beck Pavarottis it with the Stratocaster, over the professional pomp of the whole orchestra. Hooray! And here comes the American Grammy Award too, prize for "best pop instrumental performance of 2011"

What little remains outside such a search for "adult" listening consensus, let's say, constitutes, in my opinion, the best of the album. Jeff is magnificent on "Never Alone": his nails gracefully touch the strings and mold wonderful melodies (not his: the author is his keyboardist Jason Rebello), enriched by the wise dosing of reverbs and the micrometric control of both the vibrato bar and the volume knob. Equally valid "Serene", which sees the soloist soar above a cushioned percussion groove and at a couple of points duet with soprano Safe on the carpet of the omnipresent orchestra.

Finally decent "Hammerhead", a rock number opened with Jimi Hendrix-style wah-wah and then inflated by a detonating riff, with the illustrious orchestral members bent to follow bass and guitar in a dramatic and gigantic obbligato that honors the title (Hammerhead Shark!). On drums for the occasion is our Alessia Mattalia, who in truth offers a somewhat rigid performance, especially compared to those of the bespectacled colleague evolving in almost the rest of the album, the American ace Vinnie Colaiuta.

This time I don't let it pass for the great and esteemed Jeff Beck: this latest album of his (from 2010) didn't give me good sensations... a clear and annoying crude search for consensus, the glossy and crafty packaging (even in the title), the prevalence of very slow, almost lullaby themes and rhythms, suggestive but boring in the long run.