Widespread acrimony amongst Beck, Stewart, and Wood almost killed any further recordings, but somehow they managed to put their differences aside for another go ala Beck-Ola. Nevertheless, Truth, in all its starkness and tonality, remains a high mark in Jeff Beck’s fickle discography. “Let Me Love You,” “Rock My Plimsoul,” and “Blues De Luxe” were credited to an ambiguous composer by the name of “Jeffrey Rod” (a roundabout way of saying Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart), but clearly they relied heavily on the previous musings of BB King and other blues masters. But they made their own - reworking the Yardbirds’ “Shapes Of Things,” putting an indelible stamp on Tom Rose’ momentous “Morning Dew,” and tackling Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” with all the bluster of a pit bull. But then he recorded a few miscellaneous singles - all included on the expanded Truth - like “Love Is Blue,” “Tallyman,” “Hi Ho Silver Lining,” and the all-star instrumental featuring Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins and Keith Moon, “Beck’s Bolero.” In and around these numbers, The Jeff Beck Group was formed.Ī pre-coiffured Stewart at the mic, Wood on bass, and Mickey Waller on drums, The Jeff Beck Group, without a whole lot of songs to draw from, resorted to playing mostly covers and standards for their debut album Truth. After leaving the Yardbirds, Beck contemplated ditching the music business for good. There are bonus tracks galore, extensive liner notes with Beck’s full participation, and a barrage of sound unmistakable in its visceral delivery. Recognizing this, Legacy/Epic has reissued Truth and Beck-Ola with all the trimmings and then some. Personnel difficulties and lack of original songs does little to diminish the raw power of these two albums. He did manage to scrape a few riffs together for the follow-up, Beck-Ola, but by then the jig was up and the first edition of The Jeff Beck Group, a serious forerunner to Led Zeppelin, was done and over with. He knew he had to be heavy and he wanted to be soulful, but for all his brilliance as a guitarist, Beck was clueless when it came to coming up with material, at least when he started work on the first album Truth. Even so, Beck wasn’t as concerned with them as he was about staying relevant in an age where Cream and Jimi Hendrix had literally and figuratively turned things up.

Although it was intended to function solely as a vehicle for the former Yardbirds guitarist, The Jeff Beck Group haphazardly introduced the world to a couple of unknowns by the name of Rod Stewart and Ron Wood.

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