By: Robert Silverstein
fter nearly four decades as one of the reigning guitar kings of the rock and jazz-rock world, U.K. fretboard ace Jeff Beck returns in 2001 with a vital new album. Unlike his blues-rock and fusion albums from the late '60s and mid '70s, the recently released "You Had It Coming" grabs you by the neck with a startling high tech sound and refuses to let you come up for air. While Beck's '99 Epic Records album, "Who Else!" featured a number of long time Beck cohorts, including Jan Hammer and Tony Hymas, "You Had It Coming" makes the best of his current group of Jennifer Batten (guitars) Randy Hope-Taylor (bass), Steve Alexander (drums) and Aiden Love (programming). In the spirit of it's predecessor, "You Had It Coming" is a penetrating effort that often amazes with it's sheer brute force of sound. According to the guitar ace, "I view technology as a friend - there's no use messing around with enemies. I first ran across some electronic music 30 years ago, and I assumed it would be coming along much sooner than it did. I thought, "If only you could get that sound on a guitar." While most of the album borders on a high-tech non-stop over the top sound, there are a few tracks ("Blackbird", "Suspension", "Rosebud") that do let you catch your breath. Beck's recording of "Nadia", composed by Indian musician Nitin Sawhney, is simply beautiful. There's also a fruitful remake of the Cream/Muddy Waters classic "Rollin' And Tumblin'" featuring vocals by Imogen Heap. If you enjoyed "Who Else!" you'll definitely dig "You Had It Coming". If not, then you can always (still) have a rave-up with his '60s albums with The Yardbirds and you can pick up on newly remastered reissues of his '70s classics, "Wired" and "Blow By Blow", which have just been reissued by Legacy Records.
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