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Artist:
George Frideric Handel
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Julius Rudel
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Beverly Sills
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Norman Treigle
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Maureen Forrester
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Spiro Malas
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Michael Devlin
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Eugenia Earle
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Beverly Wolff
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William Beck
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Dominic Cossa
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New York City Opera Chorus and Orchestra
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Artist:
Forest for the Trees
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Beck
Forest for the Trees architect Carl Stephenson cowrote "Loser" with Beck and coproduced Mellow Gold. The best song on this debut, "Dream," is a five-minute wonder: a killer bagpipe riff, some stray sitar, a hip hop-inspired beat, and a creamy pop chorus. The lyrics are supremely silly, but it doesn't matter much; it's so shamefully infectious you can be forgiven for loving--or hating--it. Beyond "Dream," Forest for the Trees is a heavily-stitched quilt of processed vocals, programmed drum beats, guitar that ranges from metal to flamenco, and new age mutterings that don't quite cover the skeletons posing as songs. "Infinite Cow" is a nursery rhyme masquerading as Eastern mysticism, and "Tree" has lyrics that would make Jonathan Richman cringe: "Hey, tree--won't you talk to me?/I can see you breathing." Unlike Beck's Odelay, Forest for the Trees is a musical hybrid that never quite takes. Or rather, it only succeeds completely on one song. --Keith Moerer
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Artist:
Joe Beck & John Abercrombie
The New Album By John Abercrombie & Joe Beck May Be Titled Coincidence But Their Masterful Work Is Not North Dartmouth, MA (Whaling City Sound) - Joe Beck and John Abercrombie have made a recording together. It may sound rather simple, like just another jazz record by accomplished musicians. The album is called, interestingly, Coincidence. But it's much more than that. In fact, is it possible to overstate the importance of such a collaboration between players of such enormous stature? Not likely. In addition to being two of jazz guitar's most luminous talents, Beck and Abercrombie have played with, well, all of jazz guitar's other luminaries: Larry Coryell, John Scofield, Ralph Towner and Gabor Szabo, not to mention Mick Goodrick, John Basile, and Attila Zoller. The list is essentially a "Who's Who" in jazz guitar, a list led by Beck and Abercrombie themselves. OK, so it sounds good on paper. But does the session come through on its potential? Indubitably. Coincidence is a remarkable work of breadth and passion from the heart of two of its most believable players. As is characteristic of both John and Joe, the material features one foot in tradition and one foot i...
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Artist:
Various Artists
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Christophe Beck
List Price: $18.98 |
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Artist:
Jeff Beck & Jed Leiber
List Price: $16.98 |
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Good cheer is in limited supply among alt-rockers, but Just Say Noel is a small, charming garland with a couple of solidly terrific originals: Beck's long, loony "The Little Drum Machine Boy" takes a few well-known lines and spirals off into a groovy stream of consciousness, and Elastica's "Gloria" is one of their finest rockers. There are some unexpected cover choices, too: the Roots do De La Soul's grim "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa," and Sonic Youth dig up Martin Mull's "Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope." Beyond that, the disc is split between warm renditions of well-known numbers and overproduced goop, but Ted Hawkins's deep, wrenching solo version of "Amazing Grace" shouldn't be missed. --Douglas Wolk
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Artist:
Jeff Beck
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Artist:
Jeff Beck
At first glance, the first group effort helmed by guitar god Jeff Beck upon his rocky departure from the Yardbirds has more than a few striking parallels with the debut of fellow ex-Yardbird Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin. But the blues-rock of the Rod Stewart-fronted Jeff Beck Group's freshman effort far outshines Zep's riff and wail, infusing its guitar heaviness with subtle jazz and R&B shadings that foreshadow much of Beck's later work. Kicking off with a drastic, almost mournful rethink of the Yardbirds staple "Shapes of Things" and veering as far afield as Gershwin's "Ol' Man River," Truth was one of the late 1960s' most promising debuts. The laconic roadhouse booziness of "You Shook Me," the blues standard also covered with shrill abandon on Zeppelin's debut, best points up the stark differences between Beck and Page, making one wonder whether the '70s weren't dominated by the wrong supergroup. --Jerry McCulley
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Artist:
Jeff Beck
If the album title seems self-assured, it's only truth in labeling. For his last album of the millennium, rock's greatest guitarist teams with an old compatriot (keyboardist Tony Hymas, a staple since 1980's There and Back who coproduces here with Beck) and one of his musical godchildren (Jennifer Battin, longtime tour guitarist for Michael Jackson). The result is a rough musical travelogue of the '80s and '90s that occasionally turns down a dead end. The synth-sequenced backdrops and terse phrasings of "Psycho-Sam," "Blast from the East," and "THX138" recall the fusion reactions on Wired and There and Back (and pose a seemingly heretical notion: did Beck invent techno?). "Space for the Papa" recalls the no-frills structure of Guitar Shop. "Angel (Footsteps)" showcases Beck's unique tone and phrasing, evoking Santo and Johnny swinging on a star, while "Another Place" offers up elegant classicism. "Hip-Notica" proves there's still funk in Beck's blood, even if "Declan" gets mired in New Age overkill. But Beck's shortcomings have traditionally come in framing his incendiary prowess and emotional directness. As a high-profile collaborator once put it, "You ...
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