JEFF BECK — Truth (review)

JEFF BECK — Truth album cover Album · 1968 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
Led Zeppelin lite? Just kidding.

Jeff Beck sneaks out of the heavy blues-based-rock ranks before former band mate Jimmy Page, compiling a strong cast to blast through an equal parts exciting, equal parts uninspiring set of songs.

'Truth' is a good album but it simply misses a few integral components, lacking some dynamic in songwriting and a few really killer originals. While Rod Stewart has a voice you can recognise anywhere, his rasp actually seems better suited to soul. While Beck himself has no shortage of grungy riffs and blistering lead parts, without a truly strong writing partnership the band seemed doomed. Had they been able to keep it together longer however, the Jeff Beck Group would have worked some real magic indeed.

Opening with a reworked Yardbirds classic (which is impressive) and sticking to the blues until 'Old Man River' where things are a little subtler, it's an interesting follow-up to the (in)famous 'You Shook Me.' From here the album gets a little more inventive, with the off-beat blues of 'Rock My Plimsoul' one of the only originals on the album, followed by the Page-Beck psychedelic-monster 'Beck's Bolero.' The band close the album with a fairly plodding blues workout before the fine cover of 'I Ain't Superstitious.'

How frustrating for the band to see Led Zeppelin do similar things a couple of months later with their debut (albeit with more power and dynamic) and take off.

For the jazz fan looking to check out Beck's jazzier side it would be safer to head for an album like 'Blow by Blow.' Three stars.

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Server Farm Eclectic Fusion
JON IRABAGON
Buy this album from MMA partners
Silent Moods Post-Fusion Contemporary
HENRIK GUNDE
Buy this album from MMA partners
New Dawn Progressive Big Band
MARSHALL ALLEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Owls, Omens, and Oracles Pop/Art Song/Folk
VALERIE JUNE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Be Cool Vocal Jazz
NANCY KELLY
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Marshall Allen - New Dawn (Full Album Stream)
MARSHALL ALLEN
js· 1 day ago
Valerie June - Joy, Joy (In Studio Video)
VALERIE JUNE
js· 1 day ago
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Live at the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 2, 1977)
CHARLES MINGUS
js· 1 day ago
Breaking Point (Live at the Blue Morocco in the Bronx, New York, April 10, 1967)
FREDDIE HUBBARD
js· 1 day ago
Blue Bossa (Live at the Blue Morocco in the Bronx, New York in 1967)
KENNY DORHAM
js· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed