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Truth...: Rod Stewart, Ron Wood and The Jeff Beck Group
Jeff Beck stands alongside fellow ex-Yardbirds Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton as one of the greatest electric guitarists Britain has ever produced. His work in the past three decades has encompassed progressive, soul, jazz-rock, and instrumental music, winning him the accolade of "the guitarist's guitarist" from innumerable musicians' magazines. Yet despite his eclectic output and many collaborators, fans and critics alike hark back to the short-lived Jeff Beck Group of the late 1960s, featuring Rod Stewart on vocals and Ronnie Wood on bass, as his greatest single contribution to rock music. Some go as far as to say that "Truth," their first album from 1968, was the first true heavy metal album, a prototype that set the style for countless (and inevitably less talented) outfits to follow.
- GenresMusic
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Dave Thompson
268 books41 followersEnglish author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.
However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”
Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.
Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.
However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”
Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.
Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 23, 2015
Truth, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood and the Jeff Beck Group by Dave Thompson
7 out of 10
Cherry Red Books – ISBN 1-901447-60-X
‘Truth’ by The Jeff Beck Group is said to be one of the most influential rock albums ever produced, and Dave Thompson’s book looks at the evidence, speaks to the involved people, and tries to set forth a case.
The 1968 album contains the prototype of loud music and loud vocals that laid the foundations for such 1970’s rock giants as Led Zeppelin, indeed ‘Led Zeppelin I’ and Truth contain a same song in ‘You Shook Me’ an inclusion that soured the long term friendship of Beck and Jimmy Page, Beck’s fellow former Yardbird and founder member of Led Zeppelin.
Before he became a purveyor of smooth songs with his Amercan Songbook series of albums, Rod Stewart was an admired rock singer, whilst Truth also featured bass player Ron Wood, who would go onto find world renown as a member of the Rolling Stones and subject of gossip columns.
The book looks at the historical context of the album, and wear it fitted in the musical scene. It was the loud boisterous cousin of albums by the Rolling Stones, and the school bully of folk and jazz.
Beck’s truculent nature is shown in the book, and the uneasy relationship between Stewart and Beck is illustrated throughout the book, although each retained respectfor the other’s talent, performing and recording Curtis Mayfield song ‘People Get ready’in the 1980’s.
Thompson draws on new and old interviews and news in putting this thoroughly researched book together, and although albums like this are bound to split opinion, reading the book will give the reader more of an insight into the music scene of the late 1968’s, and which will make them listen to an album that still sounds good, and more importantly perhaps, loud, more than 40 years after it was first recorded.
7 out of 10
Cherry Red Books – ISBN 1-901447-60-X
‘Truth’ by The Jeff Beck Group is said to be one of the most influential rock albums ever produced, and Dave Thompson’s book looks at the evidence, speaks to the involved people, and tries to set forth a case.
The 1968 album contains the prototype of loud music and loud vocals that laid the foundations for such 1970’s rock giants as Led Zeppelin, indeed ‘Led Zeppelin I’ and Truth contain a same song in ‘You Shook Me’ an inclusion that soured the long term friendship of Beck and Jimmy Page, Beck’s fellow former Yardbird and founder member of Led Zeppelin.
Before he became a purveyor of smooth songs with his Amercan Songbook series of albums, Rod Stewart was an admired rock singer, whilst Truth also featured bass player Ron Wood, who would go onto find world renown as a member of the Rolling Stones and subject of gossip columns.
The book looks at the historical context of the album, and wear it fitted in the musical scene. It was the loud boisterous cousin of albums by the Rolling Stones, and the school bully of folk and jazz.
Beck’s truculent nature is shown in the book, and the uneasy relationship between Stewart and Beck is illustrated throughout the book, although each retained respectfor the other’s talent, performing and recording Curtis Mayfield song ‘People Get ready’in the 1980’s.
Thompson draws on new and old interviews and news in putting this thoroughly researched book together, and although albums like this are bound to split opinion, reading the book will give the reader more of an insight into the music scene of the late 1968’s, and which will make them listen to an album that still sounds good, and more importantly perhaps, loud, more than 40 years after it was first recorded.
Displaying 1 of 1 review