Jeff Beck – Blow By Blow
I love my old lovely copy of this 1975 LP.
This is a big quote but it saves me re-writing it to try to sound like I knew all of this:
“After the dissolution of the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice (BBA) in spring 1974, Beck took time for session work with other groups. In December, a half-hearted “audition” for The Rolling Stones took place, Beck jamming blues with the band for one day, before realising their musical styles were not compatible.
During this period, Beck decided to record an all-instrumental album, bringing back keyboardist Max Middleton from the second Jeff Beck Group. He hired George Martin to produce after hearing his work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s 1974 album Apocalypse. According to Carmine Appice, who played with Beck in BBA, he was involved in the writing and recording process of Blow by Blow but his parts were edited out after a dispute with Beck’s management. The fourth key contributor to Blow by Blow after Beck, Middleton, and Martin was Stevie Wonder, who gave Beck his songs “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” and “Thelonius”, with Wonder playing clavinet on the latter uncredited. The former song appeared on Wonder’s 1974 album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta, made with then-wife Syreeta Wright, while Wonder never recorded “Thelonius” himself. A cover of the Beatles song “She’s a Woman” was selected, as well as the composition “Diamond Dust” by Bernie Holland of the group Hummingbird consisting of musicians from the second Beck Group. The other five tracks were band originals with Beck and Middleton the main writers, and the last track on each side featured string arrangements by Martin. Beck dedicated “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” to fellow guitarist Roy Buchanan, with an acknowledgement to Wonder.” (Wiki)
For me, this is an excellent record, one where you can just immerse yourself in the music. It is still his highest-charting album, for all the good reasons!
Hear the whole thing for yourself!
Posted on 2021-01-26, in posts by aaron and tagged jeff beck. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
Now a change happened. Exploring new directions and stretching his playing. Fantastic record. A regret in my life was missing him when he toured this record. I had to listen to my buddies tell how great the show was and that they hung with him. I believe the show was great.
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That would have been spectacular. He really did branch out, in all good ways.
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I’m awfy fond of this one.
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I like Beck but haven’t delved in too much – the Stevie Wonder connection has me intrigued on this one though. I like the Syreeta version of Cause We Ended As Lovers.
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Absolutely do, check out the YT video at the bottom of the post. You can hear the whole album!
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