OK, so Jeff Beck has officially run out of album titles. That's not a big deal.

What's more worrisome is that on Jeff, the third album in his most recent comeback, guitar god Beck seems to be running out of ideas. Or perhaps enthusiasm. After dipping his toe into the waters of electronica on 1999's Who Else!, and then going in for a wade on the 2001 sequel You Had it Coming, the 13-cut Jeff finds Beck taking the big plunge, immersing himself in the cut-and-paste soundscapes of producer Andy Wright.

As the beatboxes thwack, the synths squiggle and the loops and samples trigger away repetitively, Beck tries to keep his head above water by carving out giant slabs of dinosaur-howl riffs to support his burbling licks, fluid leads and jaw-dropping pyrotechnic solos.

Sometimes it all amounts to something nifty like the electro-surf slide-blues mutation of Hot Rod Honeymoon. Other times, it just sounds like techno-noodling that goes on long after it's made its point.

Mostly though, it just sounds like more of the same stuff we heard before.

For a guy as supremely talented as Beck -- and as notoriously restless -- this redundancy is the most worrisome aspect of all. (More on Jeff Beck)

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[[+3]] Friday, August 8, 2003

Same old, same old