The second in Jeff Beck’s short string of instrumental fusion records, Wired probably represents his artistic peak. Like its predecessor, it was produced by George Martin, and keyboardist Max Middleton returned, too, but otherwise, the personnel were mostly new: keyboardist Jan Hammer (with whom Beck would soon record a live album), and on five of its eight tracks, Narada Michael Walden — who also wrote fully half the material — on drums. (On two others, Richard Bailey, the drummer from the previous year’s Blow By Blow, returned.) This is a harder-rocking album than Blow By Blow, less focused on funk and more on stinging guitar heroics, with Beck and Hammer trading lead lines at high speed as Walden and/or Bailey keep the pedal to the floor. One of the few exceptions is a highlight of the record: a slow, bluesy version of Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” which the composer liked so much he sent Beck a letter accompanied by sheet music for a few more of his tunes. Another is the closing “Love is Green,” a guitar-bass-keyboards ballad that shows that yes, jazz fusion can be romantic without turning into smooth goo.