Hot Stamper Pressings of Allmusic Five Star Albums in Stock
From Cannonball Adderley’s sonic Masterpiece Somethin’ Else to X’s Under the Big Black Sun.
Including albums like Truth here. If I were to make a list of the best albums from 1968, this album would definitely be on it.
That said, it’s a one and done album for me, but probably not for many of you reading this. It all depends on how much you like Jeff Beck’s music — including, I suppose, his very successful foray into jazz/rock fusion.
Those records were in heavy rotation at my house and my friends’, at least for a couple of years. Beck-Ola spent some time on my turntable back then too but eventually fell by the wayside. Just not good enough to bother playing.
In short, I can take him or leave him, and I left him a long time ago. But that first album is as big and bold a musical statement as he would ever make. That makes it a Must Own in my book. (The complete list of such records can be found here.)
Below are some excerpts from our review of the album.
One of the most surprising things we learned in our first big shootout from 2014 was how well recorded the album is. It’s yet another triumph from one of our favorite engineers, Ken Scott.
In many ways it sounds like the first Zep album, and that’s a good thing. The sound is a perfect fit for the music.
In recent interviews Jeff Beck has been saying that Jimmy Page stole his idea for a Heavy rock band playing electrified blues. Based on the evidence found on the two sides of this album I would say he has a point, although I’m not sure he stole if from Jeff. Evolution through natural selection occurred to two different people who hardly knew each other, which just might be an even bigger than a Jimmy’s or Jeff’s idea for a band. Something worth considering.
If you’ve got the full range dynamic speakers to play Truth good and loud, you will discover, as we have, what a powerful British Blues Rock album this is. This is heavy electric blues played with feeling, and with a batch of good songs and Rod Stewart handling the vocal duties, how on earth could you possibly go wrong?
Further Reading