25 Years Later: Jeff Beck’s ‘Who Else!’ Cements Return Of Fresh Ideas & Dynamic Instrumentals

Cover art is a little cryptic for more than a few albums by the late Jeff Beck. But, in contrast to 2003’s Jeff, for instance, the covers of Who Else! (released 3/16/99), vividly depict the iconoclastic guitar hero’s personality: on the front, El Becko is pictured studiously practicing his instrument, while the back catches him dozing in what appears to be a public place.

The photos capture the two sides of a colorful and idiosyncratic personality who, with this seventh studio album release in 1999, marked the end of a decade-long absence of original material following the release of Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop. 

Rather than merely recapitulate his past work however–which in the end won him eight Grammy Awards–the British guitar hero utilized the nearly fifty-four minutes of playing to outline a stylistic template including techno and electronica, intermixed with blues and fusion, themes upon which he would elaborate with subsequent records like the very next year’s You Had It Coming.

Co-produced by Beck himself with long-time collaborator, keyboardist/composer Tony Hymas, the eleven tracks commence in hard-charging fashion with “What Mama Said.” Some odd vocal interjections here (from the 1963 film It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) are as brief as–and do no more to interrupt the proceedings than–Chrissie Hyde’s breathy intonations on “Space For The Papa.” On both those tracks, Jeff cuts a wide swath with savage guitar in both rhythm and solo form, his playing so heated it fully offsets the mechanical beats and otherwise antiseptic instrumental arrangements (that he and Hymas also formulated).

Anyone and everyone who dotes on Jeff Beck’s patented form of noise otherwise can’t be disappointed with Who Else?, unless it’s because there’s little to no sense of a finite band playing together as on the aforementioned preceding record with Hymas and percussionist Terry Bozzio (this despite the presence here Jennifer Batten who plays guitar as a precursor to subsequent road trips with the man). 

But the former Yardbird’s rediscovery of and further refinement of his exquisite touch for melody may well compensate. “Angel (Footsteps)” predates the bittersweet likes of “Nadia” (on the very next record), but otherwise stands on its terms as an exercise in unhurried gentility the likes of which Beck would also reaffirm later in this LP with the acoustic textures of “Declan.” This latter debut of a decidedly exotic strain of music would set the stage for later exploration(s) like “Nessun Dorma,” an excerpt from the Italian opera “Turandot,” for 2010’s Emotion & Commotion.

Clearly, Jeff Beck wasn’t re-entering the realm of recording without fresh ideas to explore. While he was certainly not averse to taking extended periods away from recording and touring–he had the abiding hobby of building hot rods to keep him busy between bursts of inspiration–he was certainly ready to use new ideas wisely, the precursor of which, at least in the electronic realm, may have been his duo collaboration of seven years prior, Frankie’s House.

The clattering likes of “THX 1138”  is thus reasonable as a means to pacing this sequence of eleven cuts as well as an ideal setup for the juxtaposition of “Hip-Notica” and “Even Odds.” Amid largely original pieces by Hymas, the latter track is a quintessential piece of fusion from Jan Hammer, the very likes of which Jeff Beck had mastered with his watershed LP of 1975 Blow by Blow, then took to another level with its successor Wired.

 In completing that latter album of 1976, the aforementioned keyboardist/composer, a former member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, played an integral part after an initial set of recordings was rejected by Epic Records. In the process of working on that project, Beck and Hammer found each other to be kindred spirits and eventually went on to tour together, from whence comes 1977’s Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live.

With the hindsight of twenty-five years, Who Else? clearly marks the start of a very prolific period for a man who’d eschewed careerism for the better part of his history. With this LP Beck commenced some fairly regular if sporadic touring and recording activity, the eclectic span of which styles he kept in play as he does here; positioned as the final cut, a precisely picked solo guitar piece titled “Another Place” also recalls “Greensleeves,” from Jeff’s very first solo album, 1968’s Truth and it allows for reflections upon all that precedes it.

The unpretentious, borderline casual nature of Jeff Beck’s sonic explorations here impresses all the more in hindsight since first released, especially when pondering his tragic and unexpected loss in 2023. From that broad perspective, as also applied to this record, it’s fair to say few artists had a right to trust their instincts so wholeheartedly as this brilliant, eccentric musician.