Jeff Beck - There and Back
#276
by David Jackson
June 1980
Jeff Beck
There and Back
Genre: Instrumental Guitar Rock
Allen’s Rating: 2 out of 5
David’s Rating: Stars: 2.5 out of 5.0
Charts: Peaked at #21 on the Billboard 200
Singles: none .
Highlights:
Too Much to Lose
The Final Peace
Fun fact according to Wikipedia: the song "Star Cycle” was used for several years as the theme song for Mid-South Wrestling in the United States. Before taking on this assignment, I had no recollection of ever hearing anything from this album. While well aware of Jeff Beck’s place in rock n’ roll history, aside from the Yardbirds and maybe the occasional song on the radio, I have never really spent any time before now listening to his music...especially the solo stuff. Not for any particular reason other than I’m kind of a fan of vocals and lyrics and whatnot, and since I am not a guitar player this does not really fall within my typical musical preferences. That being said, I gave this album several listens before putting pen to paper. My initial impression was, “this sounds like the soundtrack to some action-type buddy-cop movie from the 1980s that maybe I missed.” How many Beverly Hills Cops movies were there? Other songs, for example, “Space Boogie,” not surprisingly, sound like they could be from a science fiction film. The opening track “Star Cycle” really gave off a familiar vibe...no, I don’t watch professional wrestling...maybe something more like...”Miami Vice?” Next impression, some of these tracks sure feature a lot more keyboard than I expected on a Jeff Beck album. Connecting the dots, I soon discovered that the first three tracks on the album were penned and also featured the keyboard stylings of none other than Jan Hammer. “Miami Vice!” News to me, but I guess they played together for several years. Keyboardist Tony Hymas wrote (or co-wrote) and was featured on the remaining five tracks on the album. As I listened, I noticed that the playing is, of course, exceptional; however, it sounds about as dated as a keyboard intensive instrumental album from 1980 could possibly sound, which is the main reason I only gave it two-and-a half out of five stars. It’s sort of fun, I suppose, to flashback and try to imagine a movie scene where you could hear these particular songs playing in the background. Turns out the song “The Pump” was actually used in “Risky Business,” but I couldn’t tell you what part – I remember scenes featuring Bob Seger and definitely “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins, but this one didn’t stick with me.
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