Views from Western Australia

Yesterday the Leader of the Liberal Party federally dumped the ideological platform that drove his predecessor and the party over the last years: WorkChoices. Industrial relations reform was supposedly the bedrock of the country’s solid economic performance. Now it’s gone.

On the same day ASIC brings legal action against six former executives of the AWB, the mob who bribed Saddam Hussein.

One cannot fail to recall children overboard, Tampa, the politicisation of the public service, the judiciary and the board of the ABC to mention a few.  The farcical Haneef saga, the careful building of xenophobia and the intolerance of Sudanese.  The denial of climate change, the perversion of national pride to political ends, the introduction of WorkChoices out of opportunism rather than coherent necessity and the replacement of ministerial responsibility with plausible denial.  Promotion of the therm  ’black arm band’ vierw of history, Northern Territory intervention along with the promise of a referendum on an Indigenous preamble to the Constitution.

They stood for nothing in the end; but themselves.

Freeway Jam continues Jeff Richman’s series of tribute albums and features some of the biggest names in progressive jazz paying respect to Jeff Beck.

Working with Jimmy Page in the early ’60s Beck was the key pioneer of British feedback and distortion. He joined The Yardbirds after Eric Clapton’s departure in 1965, with Page later joining on bass and then as a second lead guitarist.

Clapton and Page proceeded to fame and fortune; however, Beck’s career proceeded differently. While Beck has many albums of note, his Blow by Blow with synthesizer virtuoso Jan Hammer (and produced by George Martin) was the seminal album in jazz rock fusion.

Using material from throughout Beck’s career Richman adapts them enough to make them more than just a replication and his choice of guitarists is brilliant.

The album opens with Steve Morse doing a great interpretation of Freeway Jam and Richman takes the lead on a powerful version of El Becko. Mike Stern is superb on Diamond Dust, while Eric Johnson rocks hard on Beck’s Bolero.

John Scofield plays a funky Over Under Sideways Down brilliantly and Criss Cross’s Adam Rogers gives funky Led Boots a hard edge. Chris Duarte shows his stuff on Behind the Veil and Walter Trout is terrific on Brush With the Blues.

While this is not easy listening for those raised on commercial pop, every track on Freeway Jam sizzles.

Jeff Beck has always taken a trailblazing passionate approach and is rightly acknowledged as jazz/rock’s guitar genius.

Released: July 2007

Label: Tone Center