Jeff
Calling fabled guitar god Jeff Beck "mercurial" doesn't do justice to the word – or the legend himself. While this latest blast of maniacal Beckology seems to form a loose techno-centric triptych with its predecessors, by no means is the guitarist resting on his laurels here. If anything, his continuing collaboration withYou Had It Comingproducer Andy Wright (aided and deliciously sonically subverted by Splattercell'sDavid TornandApollo 440) has yielded one of Beck's most muscular--if willfully challenging--collections of musical future shock. Save for the elegant, orchestra-backed take on the traditional folk of "Bulgaria" and introspective respite of "Line Dance with Monkey' and "JB's Blues," the guitarist seems to have little interest in traditional lyricism here, instead coaxing an inventive maelstrom of unearthly, metallic timbres and alien modalities from his instrument on the angular "Trouble Man," the hypnotic grooves of "So What" and the Torn-icated, melodic minimalism of "Plan B." On "Grease Monkey" and "Hot Rod Honeymoon," Apollo 440 playfully fold Beck's notorious car-culture fetishes into an ironic sonic origami of retro-samples and tense electro-rhythms, the latter highlighted by his neo-country chicken-pickin' and incomparable slide work. That track may be cast as mockBeach Boyscar tune, but there's definitely nothing nostalgic about the evocative, often hard-edged mood here; it might as well be subtitled "Beck to the Future."--Jerry McCulley