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I have been enjoying this album again after not owning it for a few years. When ordering a used item, this is all you can ask for. This order was for one of the Mobile Fidelity gold CDs that are out of print now. The item was received very quickly (only 3-4 days after ordering and it plays perfectly just as described.
Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith were the first bands that cameto mind. Was recently contacted regarding my 30 year high school reunion and it made me think back to those days and what kind of music I use to listen too.
However, I feel that with Wired, he has much more of his own personal style on this album. The only cover on this one is a jazz standard, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat." The rest of the tunes were written by members of his band. To me it seems that several people seem to favor Blow by Blow when it comes to Jeff Beck albums. Jeff Beck might have not done his own composing on this album as he did for some of the tunes on Blow by Blow. Although he compositionally didn't do anything for this album, his playing and solos are all great. There are a couple of nice cover tunes on it, and Jeff Beck's originals are pretty good. His playing is definitely much more funk influenced on that album.
In an outtake included in the re-issue of Beck-Ola, Beck does his take on B.B. No one will ever accuse Beck of selling out in his career or falling into a rut because he has always been more of a restless genius than a disciple of a genre. King's "Sweet Little Angel." Therein, he plays with such fury that it literally sounds as if he is strangling his guitar; choking notes out of it that are far from the pentatonic parameters that most blues guitar work stays within. If your jaw doesn't drop after a few songs, I don't really know when it would. Beck doesn't have to battle a vocalist; he simply steps into the spotlight and wails. I think this is Jeff Beck's finest recording. A notch better than its predecessor and a more comfortable fit than many of the other formats this experimental guitar hero has tried, Wired seems to fit his frantic guitar runs, his sonic bends, his unique phrasing, and his sweet-hot tone like a glove. He was simply too good for anyone to sing along with him.
This cd is pure listening pleasure. If there is one Jeff Beck album to own or start with, I recommend this one. It was with this foray into the free-form of jazz that Beck shines brightest. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that Beck never achieved the popularity of his peers, for in so doing, they painted themselves into corners which were difficult to escape from. Rather than play tired pop songs or try to make something work within that formula, he chose to move into the world that best suited him - instrumental music. I see in Beck's career arc the same route that Jimi Hendrix might have taken, and Wired is arguably the apex. It is doubtless due in part to the instrumental nature that this album stands above the rest.
In that showcase number, it is clear that the blues is far too limited for him, as was the soul/r & b flavored phase that followed it. Another feather in the cap for this cd is the stellar backing musicians that make these songs leap out of your speakers. Rod Stewart came close, but in the end, none of those singers could keep up with him or give him the Plant to the Page that so many other musical acts have. There are some of his better known songs such as Led Boots and Blue Wind, but it is the quieter moments, such as Love is Green or Charles Mingus' Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, that I enjoy equally as much.
Backstage Pass" is representative of the superb musicianship of Beck's sidemen.I've always like both rock and jazz, including greats such as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, Jean-luc Ponty on one hand, and Jimi Hendrix on the other, great soloists all. Drums and bass are also exceptional. The opening, funky bass work on ". I listened to these albums (Wired & Blow by Blow) when they first came out in the 70's. Jeff Beck belongs in this group. Max Middleton and Beck combine a fine sense of interplay during the former's well-varied solo shots. Recently bought both in CD format and don't regret that decision one bit."Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is a fine example of Jeff Beck's creativity coupled with ten-best-guitarists-ever technical chops. Middleton's leads also demand attention.
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