Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Jeff Beck 15: You Had It Coming

The good news is Jeff Beck fans only had to wait two years for another album. The bad news is the album was You Had It Coming.

The electronic experiments of the last album have taken over, and these ten tracks do their best to replicate the sounds from an automotive garage. For the first time in a while, he takes writing credit for most of the songs, so maybe it was his idea. His distinct tone pokes through the barrage of sound, but such an onslaught can be tiring. The cover of Nitin Sawhney’s “Nadia” starts out very lovely, until the drum ‘n bass accompaniment takes over; the same thing happens to the cool riff on “Rosebud”. Even the perennial “Rollin’ And Tumblin’” is re-interpreted by vocalist Imogen Heap, while drums beat a martial pattern into the mix. Things finally calm down at the end, for “Blackbird”—not a Beatles cover, but Jeff imitating bird calls with programmed responses—which leads into the mysterious and moody “Suspension”.

You Had It Coming had to have been somebody’s cup of tea, because it did win Grammys. What it says about the future of guitar is beyond our scope.

Jeff Beck You Had It Coming (2001)—2

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