Jeff Beck – Blow By Blow

Having already become a rock superstar through his groundbreaking guitar work with The Yardbirds, the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice, Jeff Beck proved once again in 1975 that he was always good for a surprise: he released a purely instrumental album and ventured into completely new musical territory.

Directed by Beatles producer Sir George Martin, Beck and his fabulous collaborators Max Middleton (keyboards), Richard Bailey (drums), and Phil Chenn (bass) fuse jazz, funk, and rock on Blow by Blow. The result of this collaboration was well received by critics and audiences alike and is Beck's most successful album to date.

A large part of this success is certainly due to the excellent song material: in addition to excellent compositions by Beck and Middleton, Blow By Blow features great interpretations of She's a Woman as well as Stevie Wonder's Cause We've Ended As Lovers and Thelonius.

"Blow by Blow" was Jeff Beck's 1975 solo album and considered one of his best releases among fans and colleagues. Former Yardbirds sideman Chris Dreja had predicted in 1965 that Beck's current sound "...was 1975." In a glowing review on Allmusic, Mark Kirschenmann said that "Blow by Blow ranks as one of the premiere recordings in the canon of instrumental rock music." As an all-instrumental album it was a surprising commercial success, with a jazz fusion-like approach seldom seen on best-selling lists at the time. lt was certified gold in 1976. The album was produced by George Martin and recorded at his own Air studios. Martin also composed string arrangements for two of the tracks, 'Scatterbrain' and 'Diamond Dust'. Stevie Wonder returned the favor of Beck's work on his 1972 LP 'Talking Book', by playing on'Blow by Blovl' and contributing the song 'Thelonius'. As a big admirer of fellow guitarist Roy Buchanan, Beck dedicated the track 'Cause We've Ended as Lovers'to him.