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Rating: I found this live bootleg a few years ago in a supermarket basket for the modest price of €1.99.
I thought it would be a crappy record (but at the time I was collecting CDs, the more I had, the better) but instead, it turned out to be a pleasant discovery.
Its mere function was to serve as a forerunner to the much more well-known and better live album with the Jan Hammer Group, and in general to Jeff Beck's music.
The record opens with the title track, which immediately reveals the virtuosity not only of Beck but also of the singer Bob Tench and especially (in this track, I mean) bassist Clive Chaman, who delivers an interesting solo.
The second track, Ice Cream Man, features an irresistible Beck, with Tench reminiscent of a mix between Gillan, Page, and the Brian Johnson of Geordie.
Pork Pie Hat, the third track, much more lively than the previous ones, showcases the usual flamboyance of Beck, but it is Cozy Powell who shines, managing to provide a strong percussive accompaniment to the leader.
Definitely Maybe, a Beck classic, is played masterfully here, both by keyboardist Max Middleton and by the ever-present Beck himself (a splendid, perpetual solo throughout the track); a sound reminiscent of an old blues tune reimagined in a 70's style, worthy of the finest songs of the decade.
The fifth track is Ain't No Sunshine: here Bob Tench gives his best, for a vocal concert performance that I rank second only to Gillan's in "Made in Japan" (and perhaps to Page's in How The West).
Following are, all noteworthy, She's A Woman (a Lennon-McCartney song, performed in a brilliant reinterpretation almost in a southern reggae-rock style), Let Me Love You.
The masterpiece of the record is the 7:28 track of New Ways, in which among the alternation of instrumental pieces and improvisations, the never-declining voice of Tench appears, albeit only as a cameo.
An album that is certainly not a milestone nor an excellent record (it's a bootleg, after all), but for the selling price, it is by far advantageous.
For die-hard fans, collectors, or for those who want to get to know the pre-soloist Beck (an excellent guitarist).
For those who want to know more:
Concert recorded in London in 1971, but released in 1993.
©, ®, Nota Blu music, series “The Easy Rider Generation In Concert”.
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