THE BEST OF JEFF BECK - FEATURING ROD STEWART

I had a chance to have a dinner with Mick Box (Uriah Heep) when Uriah Heep did a concert in Jakarta in February 2006. What was interesting during the discussion with him was that he answered my question without any hesitation "Jeff Beck!" as response to my question on who is his favorite guitar player. So, I dug out all of my collection on Jeff Beck in terms of cassettes and CDs. I found out this compilation in a stack of CDS and tried to enjoy this vintage recording prior to 1970. The sound is raw and the music is mostly simple, like The Beatles, I believe. "Hi-Ho Silver lining" (2:45) and "Beck's Bolero" (2:50) are pure rock'n'roll outfits with old style music. It then moves to a cooling down music with a guitar solo of "Greensleves" (1:48). Although this is a very short track but this instrumental piece demonstrates the talents of Jeff Beck.

You might find "You Shook Me" (2:28) totally different with what has been played by Led Zeppelin, contrasting the differing vocal qualities of Rod Stewart and Robert Plant. It's really good to know this album after my ears has always been familiarized by Led Zeppelin's version. "Tallyman" (2:50) brings the music back to The Beatles style - it's just like pop song with guitar solo. "Rock My Plimsoul" (4:12) is an excellent track with bluesy style. Again, the voice of Rod Stewart makes it interesting song.

Overall, it's good to have this compilation so that I can see how the great guitar player sounded like before they became virtuoso.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This compilation focuses on the early period of JBG from 1967-69. It features the songs taken from first two albums ("Truth" and "Beck-Ola") and several singles. Since I did not own any Jeff Beck title in my collection, and saw this at a discount price, I did not hesitate much. But, somehow the CD is poorly packed, with only few liner notes and not much bio or recording data. There are few classic Beck tracks among which "Beck's Bolero", "You Shook Me", "I Ain't Superstitious", "Morning Dew" presented the main reasons for me to buy this disk. On the other hand there are many unremarkable tracks and I can't help thinking that there must have been a better way to represent this phase of the work of JEFF BECK GROUP featuring Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. THE YARDBIRDS' classic "Shapes of Things" sounds awful here while cheesy French melody "Love Is Blue" obviously does not belong here. "The Best of Jeff Beck Featuring Rod Stewart" is worthy buying ONLY if you don't own any other album or title by JBG due to several nice classics, but otherwise...

PERSONAL RATING: 2,5/5

P.A. RATING: 2/5