Truth – JEFF BECK****

Shapes Of Things/Let Me Love You/Morning Dew/You Shook Me/Ol’ Man River/Greensleeves/Rock My Plimsoul/ Beck’s Bolero/Blues Deluxe/I Ain’t Superstitious

Truth was the blues drenched debut album from former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. It is notable for launching the distinctive vocals of up and coming star Rod Stewart. (US:15)

"Long before he recorded avant-garde techno guitar, Jeff Beck was in the vanguard of the late 1960s heavy blues boom. You won't find any of Jeff Beck's typical whammy bar adventures here, but you will hear a lot of heavy, flashy, and usually tasteful guitar work that compares very favourably to Jimmy Page's playing on the first couple of Led Zeppelin albums. An even greater surprise is lead singer Rod Stewart, who back in that day could belt out soul and blues with the very best of them. He comes very, very close to stealing the show."

"Blues-rock as raw as it could get in 1968. Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck set out to show the world that, in their view, rock needs to get rid of these tedious psychedelic gimmicks, that the genre needs to be rejuvenated by making it simpler and louder."

"As Beck was an axe man, no composer, and Stewart was an interpretive singer, not yet a songwriter, it’s obvious that they would tackle covers or lift patterns from old Blues masters. They have a thick, if sort of restrained sound typical of that era."

"Sounds a little like what Zeppelin took on the next year, except that Zeppelin really did it right."

"Nice album, but some pundits are highly misguided if they really think that rock fans backed the wrong band by making Led Zeppelin legendary rather than this."

"Here we have Jeff Beck's first solo outing, following his stint with the blues masters The Yardbirds, and it's obvious from the outset that Beck certainly learned a great deal from that band, since he has simply taken the blues and turned the volume up. Beck dispenses with psych organs, slowed-down covers and buckets of distortion, and instead just plays the blues he loves with a much harder edge. This album is a prime example of the bridge between blues and hard rock, and is one of the most primal offerings of heavy blues rock. Classic, bluesy brilliance."