Pre-order Emotion & Commotion here

Grammy winning guitarist and rock n roll legend Jeff Beck returns with his first album in seven years and what an album! The album is eclectic to say the least, it not only features the vocal talents of Grammy Award winner Joss Stone on 2 tracks but also a full blown orchestra on some tracks too. Joss Stone is an amazing vocalist with a gravelly voice way beyond her years and puts her stamp on the 1956 classic Screamin’ Jay Hawkins track “I Put A Spell On You” as does Jeff Beck with his wonderfully phrased blues licks. Incidentally this track is currently available to download from iTunes

Jeff Beck recorded Emotion And Commotion late last year at Sarm Studios in London with award-winning producers Steve Lipson and Trevor Horn. To create the album’s diverse sound, Beck used a number of musicians, including appearances by frequent collaborators Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Jason Rebello (keyboards), and Tal Wilkenfeld (bass). The album also includes contributions from a trio of singers: Imelda May (“Lilac Wine“), Olivia Safe (“Elegy For Dunkirk“), and Grammy-winner Joss Stone (“I Put A Spell On You” and “There’s No Other Me“).

I have to admit I had to look up Olivia Safe, it turns out she is a Coloratura Soprano which is a type of Operatic Soprano who specialises in music distinguished by agile runs and leaps (Coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody). However, there is no elaborate ornamentation on the tracks “Elegy For Dunkirk” or “Serene“, in fact quite the opposite, Olivia simply enhances the ethereal melodies of Jeff Beck giving them an airy almost synth-like sound. There are a few tasty little bass runs on the track “Serene” courtesy of the unbelievably talented young Aussie Tal Wilkenfield. Of the two tracks Olivia’s voice is much more prominent on “Elegy For Dunkirk“.

The track “Lilac Wine” featuring Imelda May is a nice contrast to the other vocal contributions on this album, Jeff has really chosen 3 completely different styles of singer to create different textures and Imelda has that beautiful classic style reminiscent of 1950′s singers and “Lilac Wine” is a perfect blend of Imelda’s voice and Jeff Beck’s guitar playing which at times is almost human itself.

“Lilac Wine” segues uninterrupted into a guitar and orchestral version of “Nessun Dorma“, yes as in Puccini’s Nessun Dorma, wow now I didn’t see that one coming. Jeff plays the melody with such unbelievable control, adding his little embellishments, whammy bar bends and flutters again making the guitar sound like a human voice. No-one could pull this off other than Jeff, it is quite amazing and almost like the music was written for him.

Until now I had only heard one really great cover of the song “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” by Tommy Emmanuel, but Jeff manages to put his own spin on the song using his infamous open harmonic bends and volume swells like he did on the classic track “Where Were You“. The track also features an orchestral backing keeping true to the original. Many would read this and think “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”? As in the Wizard Of Oz? Yes I know it sounds cheesy, but it really doesn’t when Jeff Beck plays it.

My favourite track is “Hammerhead”, the only real rock kind of track on the album and features a funky Jeff Beck intro played with a Wah before the full band and Orchestra enter. The orchestra adds a kind of Led Zep flavour in parts whereas the verse sections are unmistakably Jeff Beck and the guitar solo is brilliant.

It seems a bit strange to me that I have hardly talked about Jeff’s incredibly guitar playing in this review, but it is because Jeff makes instrumental guitar albums like no-one else. You can almost forget that you are listening to a guitar as you hear melodies and intricacies unachievable by most guitar players. If you are a fan of Jeff Beck you will love this album, as a guitar player this album is like a constant stream of lessons, the most important being that shredding as fast as you can is nothing compared to being able to make your guitar literally sing a melody.

The album will be available April 13th on Atco Records but in the meantime check out the album site http://emotionandcommotion.com which has a streaming version of the outstanding track “Hammerhead“.

jeffbeck.com – Official Site
Jeff Beck on MySpace
Jeff Beck on Twitter

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