This is the legendary axeman’s first studio album in seven years. Setting aside a horrible record sleeve, it shows him at the top of his game. Most Irish ears will be drawn to ‘Lilac Wine’, where the dynamic vocals of Imelda May are interwoven with Beck’s sinewy guitar – a marriage made in music heaven.
There are many more delights in store. The pastoral gentility of the opening track ‘Corpus Christi Carol’ in no way prepares your ears for the Zeppelin-style sonic ferocity of ‘Hammerhead’, the heaviest track here. Joss Stone delivers her trademark intense vocals on a mesmerizing ‘There’s No Other Me’ and is the equal to Beck’s smoldering guitar on ‘I Put A Spell On You’.
Who else but Beck would have the audacity to craft an electric guitar and orchestra version of ‘Nessun Dorma’ so replete with teasing embellishments, tremolo effects and extraordinary technical control? Beck also pours his magic over a fluid and vocal-free ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’. Elsewhere, the agility of soprano Olivia Safe matches Beck’s spiraling fret-melting guitar work on the spellbinding ‘Elegy For Dunkirk’. Beck recorded the album with a 64-piece orchestra and some classy musicians. However, his sublime guitar work steals the show as he delivers an array of thrills and textures that practically exhausts the range of the instrument. Superb stuff.