WIRED

After striking gold on his masterwork "Blow By Blow," JEFF BECK had finally found his voice as a jazz-fusion guitarist after nearly a decade of being stuck in a Yardbirds influenced blues rock paradigm. "Blow By Blow" was a huge international hit which naturally was followed by extensive touring. Once again BECK suffered the implosion of his lineup but now with a new found fame under his belt had a bit more leverage in attracting new recruits. After supporting the second incarnation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, BECK asked drummer Narada Michael Walden from the "Apocalypse" era of the Mahavishnus as well as bassist Wilbur Bascomb who had worked with James Brown. Once again Max Middleton stuck it out for the fourth album in a row. None other than Jan Hammer made a cameo appearance as did jazz veteran Richard Bailey on drums.

WIRED was born out of this new cast of characters and was released the very next year in 1976 riding the momentum that "Blow By Blow" had generated. Noticeably less cohesive and a bit more energetic and flashy than its predecessor, WIRED sounded less original as it adopted some of the characteristics of the original lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Apparently all that touring with John McLaughlin rubbed off. BECK struts his might with beefier guitar soloing that take more daring leaps and center stage in a much more prominent manner with the rest of the band sounding more subordinate this time around. Also for once in his career BECK wrote none of the songs on the album with every track being written by the rest of the band. The only cover tune wasn't plucked from the world of R&B this time around but by a true jazz giant Charles Mingus.

With more emphasis on energetic flashy soloing over various musical motifs, WIRED took the foundation of "Blow By Blow" firmly in place and put it on steroids. Beefy bass grooves with more varying passages allow dreamy Hohner clavinet antics and Fender Rhodes finger breaking gymnastics to soar high while BECK himself unleashes the most ferocious guitar workouts of his entire career. The result of all this increased energetic attack meant WIRED sounded like a hybrid of BECK's own "Blow By Blow" with the Mashvishnu's classic "The Inner Mounting Flame." While the premise was warranted, the execution makes the album feel less original and more like a tribute album of some sort albeit an excellent hero worshipping session. Likewise the material feels a bit less uniform and the divine sheer perfection of "Blow By Blow" had been sacrificed for chunkier speedfests.

Despite the inferior results of WIRED, the fusion hungry public was still reeling from the breakup of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup and found WIRED to be a palatable substitute. The album was the second great success of JEFF BECK and hit the top 40 in both the UK and US, the latter of which it easily went platinum. Despite the the need for speed on this one, BECK sacrificed none of his classic signature tone juggling nor his note bending expertise. While the majority of the album from the feisty opening "Led Boots" to the equally manic "Play With Me" is boosted by a bopping bass bantering session with the other instrumentalists following suits seemingly in a queue for glory, the closing "Love Is Green" offers a respite from the dynamism of excess and allows a lush acoustic guitar and softer piano to cool off this scorching hot series of sessions.

WIRED was about as close as JEFF BECK would ever get to the sheer perfection of "Blow By Blow" and together these albums highlight BECK at his absolute peak in terms of both compositional majesty as well as his status as a guitar god. Definitely a close but no cigar moment here but WIRED remains a pillar of late 1970s fusion work that kept the genre relevant on a changing musical landscape. BECK would release one more fusion album before falling into the trap of most progressive artists that seriously suffered losing their way in the 1980s. WIRED may not be the magnum opus that was its predecessor but for fusion lovers there is plenty to love about this one despite the wow factor now longer a part of the equation.