''Truth'' is the debut studio album by English guitarist

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

, released on 29 July 1968 in the United States on

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

and on 4 October 1968 in the United Kingdom on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. It introduced the talents of his backing band

the Jeff Beck Group The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music. Histo ...

, specifically vocalist

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

and bassist/guitarist

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

, to a larger audience, and peaked at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart. In retrospect, ''Truth'' has been widely hailed as classic of its era and one of the earliest examples of

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...

Content and background

After leaving

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...

in late 1966, Jeff Beck had released three commercial

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, two in 1967 featuring himself on lead vocals, and one without vocals in 1968. All had been hits on the British singles chart, and all were characterized by songs aimed at the pop chart on the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

at the behest of producer

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Arrows, Racey and t ...

. Harder

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

-based numbers were featured on the B-sides, and for music on the album, Beck opted to pursue the latter course. Recording sessions for the album took place over four days, 14–15 May and 25–26 May 1968.Murray, ''Truth'' reissue liner notes. Nine eclectic tracks were taken from these sessions, including covers of "

Ol' Man River "Ol' Man River" is a show tune from the 1927 musical '' Show Boat'' with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote the song in 1925. The song contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with the endless, ...

" by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

, the

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

melody "

Greensleeves "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationers' Company in September 1580,Frank Kidson, ''English F ...

", and Bonnie Dobson's "

Morning Dew "Morning Dew", also known as "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew", is a Contemporary folk music, contemporary folk song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bonnie Dobson. The lyrics relate a fictional conversation in a post-nuclear holocaust world. Ori ...

", a 1966 hit single for

Tim Rose Timothy Alan Patrick Rose (September 23, 1940 – September 24, 2002) (unofficial website by long-term correspondent of Rose's) was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in E ...

. Beck acknowledged two giants of

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

in songs by

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

– Muddy Waters' "

You Shook Me "You Shook Me" is a 1962 blues song recorded by Chicago blues artist Muddy Waters. Willie Dixon wrote the lyrics and Earl Hooker provided the instrumental backing; the song features Waters' vocal in unison with Hooker's slide-guitar melody. "Y ...

" and Howlin' Wolf's "

I Ain't Superstitious "I Ain't Superstitious" is a song written by bluesman Willie Dixon and first recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1961. It recounts various superstitions, including that of a black cat crossing the pathway. The song has been recorded by a number of arti ...

". The album starts with "

Shapes of Things "Shapes of Things" is a song by the English rock group the Yardbirds. With its Eastern-sounding, feedback-laden guitar solo and environmentalist, antiwar lyrics, several music writers have identified it as the first popular psychedelic rock ...

", a song from Beck's old band. Three originals were credited to "Jeffrey Rod", a pseudonym for Beck and Stewart, all reworkings of existing blues songs: "Let Me Love You" by

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

; "Rock My Plimsoul" and "Blues Deluxe" which respectively derive from " Rock Me Baby" and "Gambler's Blues" by

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

. For "Blues Deluxe", Beck overdubbed audience reactions from a

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

record to create a live atmosphere, a choice he later regretted. "Plimsoul" had already been recorded for the B-side to the 1967 single "Tallyman", and the tenth track, an instrumental featuring

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician who was the drummer for the rock band the Who. Regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music, he was noted for his unique style of playing and ...

, and future Beck group pianist

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...

, "

Beck's Bolero "Beck's Bolero" is a rock instrumental recorded by English guitarist Jeff Beck in 1966. It is Beck's first solo recording and has been described as "one of the great rock instrumentals, epic in scope, harmonically and rhythmically ambitious ye ...

", had been edited and remixed for

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

from the earlier B-side to "

Hi Ho Silver Lining "Hi Ho Silver Lining" is a rock song, written by American songwriters Scott English and Larry Weiss and first released as a single in March 1967 by English band the Attack, then a few days later by Jeff Beck. The Attack's version failed to ...

". Due to contractual conflicts, Moon had been credited on the original album as "You Know Who". The cover art is a

double exposure In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be id ...

photograph of model

Celia Hammond Celia Hammond (born 25 July 1943) is an English former model and animal welfare activist who is well known as a campaigner against fur and for neutering of cats to control the feral population. Early life Hammond was born to English parents and ...

, who was dating Beck at the time, by photographer

Stephen Goldblatt Stephen Goldblatt, A.S.C., B.S.C. (born 29 April 1945) is a South African-born British cinematographer. Early life Goldblatt was born on 29 April 1945 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Jewish family. When he was seven years old, he and hi ...

Reception and legacy

Reviewing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' in 1968,

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...

called ''Truth'' a "classic" and a contemporary version of the 1966 ''

Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton ''Blues Breakers'', colloquially known as ''The Beano Album'', is the debut studio album by the English blues rock band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, originally credited to John Mayall with Eric Clapton. Produced by Mike Vernon and released ...

'' LP, saying the Beck group "swing like mad on this record." ''Truth'' has since been regarded as a seminal work of heavy metal because of its use of blues toward a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

approach. According to

Pete Prown Pete Prown (born 1963) is an American writer and magazine editor, painter, guitarist, and music journalist. He has worked as the editor-in-chief of ''Guitar Shop'' magazine and music editor for '' Vintage Guitar''. His writing has also appeared in ...

and

HP Newquist HP Newquist is an American author whose books cover topics from medicine and music to technology and terror. He is also a museum curator and musician, and has worked as a columnist, publisher, industry analyst, and video director. Career In the l ...

, "although some have claimed that this disc was the first metal album, the sound actually leaned more towards a heavy brand of blues rock." ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' magazine ranked ''Truth'' eighth on its list of the 30 greatest British

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

albums; an accompanying blurb read, "it was an album that not only helped establish the British blues rock sound, but featured many of its best exponents."

Tom Scholz Donald Thomas Scholz (born March 10, 1947) is an American musician. He is the founder, main songwriter, primary guitarist, keyboardist and only remaining original member of the rock band Boston. He has appeared on every Boston release. Scholz, a ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

has listed it as his favorite album on Gibson's online magazine, stating, "I knew Jeff Beck's ''Truth'' album inside out..." Reviewing its historical significance, Sean Egan commented that the ''Truth'' line-up, if it had remained intact, could have produced "a string of classic albums", but he also noted the large number of cover songs showed "a lack of songwriting base". Blues guitarist

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

recorded a studio version of "Blues Deluxe" on his 2003 album ''

Blues Deluxe ''Blues Deluxe'' is the third studio album by American blues-rock musician Joe Bonamassa. Recorded at Unique Recording Studios in New York City. It was produced by Bob Held and features nine cover versions of songs by classic blues artists and t ...

'' and recorded live versions on '' Live at Rockpalast'' (2005), and ''

Live from the Royal Albert Hall ''Live from the Royal Albert Hall'' is a live video and audio release by American rock band the Killers, released on November 9, 2009, by Island Records. The video is pulled from two nights the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in July ...

'' (2009). Bonamassa also played "Beck's Bolero", "Let Me Love You Baby" (and "Spanish Boots" and "Plynth (Water Down the Drain)" from the '' Beck-Ola'' album) in his Salute to the British Blues Explosion tour featuring the music of Beck, Clapton and Page in July 2016. On 10 October 2006,

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2 ...

remastered and reissued the album for

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

with eight

bonus tracks An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

. Included were two earlier takes of "You Shook Me" and "Blues Deluxe", the latter without the

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

applause, and the six tracks making up the three singles by Beck. The B-side to the 1968 single "

Love Is Blue "L'amour est bleu" (; "Love Is Blue") is a song recorded by Greek singer Vicky Leandros with music composed by André Popp and French lyrics written by Pierre Cour. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 held in Vienna, placing fourth. It ...

", "I've Been Drinking", was another "Jeffrey Rod" special, this time reconfiguring the

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...

song " Drinking Again".

Track listing

Personnel

– electric guitars, acoustic guitar on "Greensleeves";

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

on "Shapes of Things"; bass guitar on "Ol' Man River"; lead vocals on "Tallyman" and "Hi Ho Silver Lining", co-lead vocals on "Let Me Love You" *

– lead vocals, backing vocals on "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman" and "I Ain't Superstitious" *

– bass guitar *

Micky Waller Michael Waller (6 September 1941 – 29 April 2008) was an English drummer, who played with many of the biggest names on the UK rock and blues scene, after he became a professional musician in 1960. In addition to being a member, albeit sometim ...

– drums Additional credited personnel *

– bass guitar on "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Beck's Bolero";

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

on "Ol' Man River" and "You Shook Me"; arrangements on "Hi Ho Silver Lining" *

– piano on "Morning Dew", "You Shook Me", "Beck's Bolero" and "Blues Deluxe" *

(credited as "You Know Who") – drums on "Beck's Bolero";

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

on "Ol' Man River" Additional uncredited personnel *

Madeline Bell Madeline Bell (born July 23, 1942) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s with pop group Blue Mink, having arrived from the United States in the gospel show '' Black Nativity'' in 1962 ...

– backing vocals on "I've Been Drinking" * John Carter and Ken Lewis – backing vocals on "Tallyman" *

Clem Cattini Clemente Anselmo Agustino Cattini (born 20 August 1937) is an English rock and roll drummer of the late 1950s and 60s, who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolifi ...

– drums on "Hi Ho Silver Lining" *

Aynsley Dunbar Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick Ron ...

– drums on "Tallyman" and "Rock My Plimsoul (single version)" *

–

12-string electric guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in ...

on "Beck's Bolero" * unknown Scottish bagpipe player –

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

on "Morning Dew" * unknown studio orchestra – orchestra on "Love Is Blue" Production personnel *

– producer *

Ken Scott Ken Scott (born 20 April 1947) is an English record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham, Davi ...

– engineer *

— front cover photograph

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

''Truth''
(

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

) at

Radio3Net Radio 3 net is the former ''Radio România Tineret'' (or Radio 3). More than 20,000 albums are stored on Radio 3 net. It is a radio station for young people, currently broadcasting as an online-only radio station. A few of the prominent features ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{DEFAULTSORT:Truth (Jeff Beck Album) 1968 debut albums Albums produced by Mickie Most Jeff Beck albums EMI Records albums Epic Records albums EMI Columbia Records albums Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios