Jeff Beck: Truth Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

This stereo reissue was cut at Sterling. Truth reached No. 15 on the Billboard chart and introduced the Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood included, and it's widely hailed as one of the earliest heavy metal records.

This edition

Stereo mix

About the album

After leaving the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck had three hit singles that his producer Mickie Most aimed squarely at the pop chart. The B-sides told the real story: heavier, bluesier, louder. For his first album, Beck followed the B-sides, and rock got a little bit heavier for good.

Sessions took place over four days in May 1968. "Shapes of Things" reworks his old band's hit with menace, Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me" and "I Ain't Superstitious" tip the hat to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, and "Let Me Love You," "Rock My Plimsoul" and "Blues De Luxe" take Buddy Guy and B.B. King songs for a spin under the pseudonym Jeffrey Rod. Bonnie Dobson's "Morning Dew," Kern's "Ol' Man River" and a solo "Greensleeves" widen the palette, and "Beck's Bolero" brings in Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Keith Moon and Nicky Hopkins, a lineup that sounds like a rumour; it started life as the B-side of "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and was remixed into stereo for the album.

Within a few years the singer and the bass player were doing rather well for themselves with the Faces and the Rolling Stones. That's what happens when you hire properly.

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