Discovering Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow"

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Driver 8, May 4, 2006.

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  1. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member Thread Starter

    As someone once observed, a lot of fusion fused the worst of jazz with the worst of rock. I still tend to agree with that viewpoint, but I have also come to appreciate albums like Miles Davis's Jack Johnson, and, now, Blow by Blow.
     
  2. reeler

    reeler Forum Resident

    I tended to like the ones that rocked and had incredible riff. The records I had were The first three Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham "Spectrum", Jeff Beck's Blow by blow and wired. Stanley Clarkes first 3 albums. Some return to forever. Santana /Mahavishnu "Love devotion surrender" and a few others I forget. In retrospect, certain "prog rock" sounds a bit like fusion to me.
     
  3. glea

    glea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bozeman
    I find the live album to be sort of dissapointing. Jeff has also said he was unhappy with Jam Hammer's mix. It's only a tiny bit of the show... I saw this band twice. The second time it was blinding white light. The band just melted on stage. They could hardly keep up with Jeff. A friend tried to tape the show, but only got the first 30 mins!!

    The actual Blow By Blow tour featured Bernard Purdy on Drums. That was worth the price of admission right there. Amazing guy...

    on a side note... it is odd that a "live player" like Jeff has never put out a great live album... The recent one isn't bad though. The BB&A one is a large piece o'crap.

    I'd think the Jan Hammer one is about due for the deluxe treatment. There is obviously the whole show in the can, and I'd suspect more than one show was recorded.

    I'd have to agree about the last two studio albums. Until these, I hadn't cared much for any since There And Back...

    I was lucky to see Beck several times between '68 and '80. The Cozy Powell band is often overlooked. The show I saw was awfully incredible. There seem to be a lot of good tapes of this band. That BBC In Concert seems a little stiff in comparison. A few more Rod Stewart era tapes have surfaced. The Marquee and Windson Fest ones are worth a listen. Shame there will never be a proper BBC session set. Some odd tunes there..

    I'd say get Truth, Jeff Beck Group, Blow, Wired, there and Back, and the last two.. After that it depends on your interest.... I probably have them all, but these are the ones I play most ofter... plus the hours of live stuff I've collected...
     
  4. Dusty Chalk

    Dusty Chalk Grounded Space Cadet

    Yeah, it was sort of an afterthought, I don't consider it essential, but it's good enough for me.
    I'd buy it!
     
  5. David Powell

    David Powell Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Atlanta, Ga.
    Epic did release Guitar Shop on LP, which sounds much better than the CD version. That great cover looks even better in the larger format. I also have a large framed poster version of the cover that measures about 36' x 48' and contains added detail on both sides that was cropped-out of cover version. A friend of mine, who used to manage a record store, got it during an in-store promotion when the album was released and got Jeff Beck to autograph while he was there.
     
  6. Matt Levy

    Matt Levy Forum Resident

    Classic album! One of my favs. Constipated Duck, Air Blower, and Freeway Jam are sick. I have the CD and then years later got the SACD. Wired is not as good and has too much of Jan Hammmer's synthesizers for my personal taste.
     
  7. hatfield

    hatfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wilton, CT, USA
    For me, Blow By Blow gets played more than just about any other disc in my collection. I don't have surround sound, but I love the 2 channel SACD. This disc was the reason why I bought my SACD player. Of all the digital versions I've owned, this one sounds the best, to me. My least favorite would have to be the MFSL. I really thought Sony would wind up releasing Wired in SACD. It just made sense that if they put out Blow By Blow, Wired would show up at some point. I guess with SACD and Sony, sense is just not part of the picture.
     
  8. Matt Levy

    Matt Levy Forum Resident

    Making sense is not Sony's strongpoint. That was a good example of the nonsensical fumbling of SACD by Sony.
     
  9. robertawillisjr

    robertawillisjr Music Lover

    Location:
    Hampton, VA

    There were two other "Jeff Beck Group" albums that I know of and Bob Trench was the vocalist on both of those. "Jeff Beck Group" and "Rough and Ready". I think these came out after his recovery from his accident.

    I love both "Wired" and "Blow by Blow" and still listen to them.
     
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  10. sherrill50

    sherrill50 Well-adapted Melomaniac

    Location:
    Mukilteo, WA
    At the time fusion got big, I got on board bigtime. My ardour has cooled, but I still love Blow by Blow and Wired as well as the live album with Jan Hammer. Hammer also produced one of the tracks on Wired.

    I keep pestering Sony to remaster the Live with Jan Hammer album, and also to get a first release of Jan Hammer's Like Children - an unreleased classic done with violinist Jerry Goodman. The fusion pedigree is undeniable, as both are Mahavishnu Orchestra alumni.
     
  11. toptentwist

    toptentwist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX

    I bought a copy of the multichannel(+stereo) SACD this weekend
    and I was very very impressed.

    I believe you're correct about it being an old quad mix.

    One - it sounds like an old quad mix - where the goal seemed to
    be to give each musican a speaker... two - there was a quad
    release back in the 70s (and no credit on the SACD for a 5.1 mix).

    I haven't checked out the stereo mix - but the way the drums were
    mixed across the front speakers in quad - was incredibly impressive.
    The guitars in the back don't bother me. But I have 5 full range
    speakers - so there is no reason to think of one speaker as "front"
    vs "back". I can just stand in a different direction - or turn my
    chair around.


    The sacd jumped right to the top of my list for a multichannel demo
    disc....

    The music is great. The disc is great.

    Highly recommended !!!!

    Who would have been responsible for the original stereo mix?

    George Martin ????

    Did Emerick work with Martin on this ?


    I'm guessing that whoever did the original stereo mix might have also
    done the quad mix.
     
  12. Parkertown

    Parkertown Tawny Port

    Heck...it's fun just counting all the guitars in the mch mix of this SACD. I think I counted 5 at one point. :cool:
     
  13. RobertKaneda

    RobertKaneda New Member

    Location:
    Paris, France
    It is indeed. I also agree with the other post suggesting that this saved his career. Saw him in Boston in 1973 or so with Beck, Bogart, Appice, and it was pretty horrible -- there was nowhere for him to go in the power trio format. Saw him again in Boston in 1975 (touring with Mr. Mahavishnu) in the Blow by Blow incarnation, and he was fantastic.
     
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  14. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I love this album, but i absolutely hate Wired.I find that one unlistenable.God knows i've tried to like it.Am i the only one that feels this way.
    Becks playing on his cover of She's a Woman is just S.W.E.E.T.
     
  15. punkrok78

    punkrok78 Forum Resident

    Jeff solo's on "I Believe (When I Fall In Love With You)" from Stevie's Talking Book album. One of my FAVE solos of all time.

    Blow by Blow is a funk/fusion masterpiece. For a british blues kid he turned out to be a master of funk chops. the version i have was released as a sony cheapie cd series without any mastering credits but has a 1988 copyright and is manufactured in australia. anyone able to help me with what version this would be ??
     
  16. tjmax

    tjmax Forum Resident

    Location:
    Parkland,fl.USA
    Great album "Cause We Ended As Lovers" one of the classic rock solos of all time
     
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  17. Claus

    Claus Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
    right :righton:
     
  18. Seems like an album-by-album thread devoted to Jeff Beck would be a good idea...
     
  19. catman

    catman Forum Resident

    I was at that Boston show! It was great, although I found both Beck's and McLaughlin's stage personas to be a little weird. Bernard Purdy was drumming for Jeff, as someone mentioned.

    My favorite "Blow by Blow" cut: "Cause We've Ended as Lovers." I still consider it one of the greatest rock guitar performances ever. Beck may be the best ever at exploiting the vocal qualities of the electric guitar. Well, second best after Jimi...
     
  20. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I don't know if you're the only one, but you're probably in a small minority. I actually prefer Wired myself (although I think someone ran a poll here recently and I am in the minority on that one).
     
  21. Has everyone here heard the "LIVE AT BB KING'S" live disc? Its absolutely smokin'!

    I cannot stress enough how much of an incredible album this is!

    (So about that album-by-album thread....?)
     
  22. Paul C.

    Paul C. Senior Member

    Location:
    Australia
    I love Blow by Blow, but love Wired even more. I'm not sure why - perhaps it was the time when I first heard it on the radio. Goodbye Pork Pie hat just blew my socks off, and Come Dancing almost as much again. And I liked the Jan Hammer Narada Michael Walden contributions.

    I remember an interview with Jan Hammer in Australia, where he talked about some of the problems with the mixing of Wired. I think they did some remixing in Jan hammer's own studio. He may also have mentioned that some pressings of the LP had liner notes that did not reflect the remixing done.
     
  23. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Is it just me, or is the track break between "Air Blower" and "Scatterbrain" in the wrong place? (I have the ordinary, un-remastered Epic CD from the late '80's or whenever it was.) "Scatterbrain" (as CD track 5) starts with the fast bit, the slow opening bit is appended to the end of "Air Blower".
     
  24. Thanks for the tip I just ordered it!:goodie:

    Regards
    Robert
     
  25. sacsongs

    sacsongs Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Louis , MO
    I have a CBS half speed vinyl copy that is sublime. One of the best pieces of vinyl that I own.

    I heard a lot of The Jeff Beck Group on the radio (group w/Cozy) here in St. Louis. I liked them enough to purchase Blow.

    It was as though it was a completely different artist.

    One of my all time favs. This pressing is particularly special.:goodie:
     
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