TRUTH...................................JEFF BECK.......................................

Jeff Beck's debut solo album has never sounded better in this mid-price expanded/remaster.As you know,this album was the first full-length recording of Rod Stewart.The group was a supergroup;guitarist Jeff Beck,vocalist Rod Stewart,bassist Ron Wood,Keyboardist Nicky Hopkins and drummer Micky Waller(who later played on some of Rod's best solo albums).For this release,EMI gives you all the expected bonus tracks and then some.You get previously unreleased outtake versions of "Blues DeLuxe" & "You Shook Me"(both remixed from the original multitracks),the original UK mono single version of "Beck's Bolero"(yes,as we're aware,there's no stereo mix of this track,which was recorded in 1966,shortly after Jeff's previous band The Yardbirds had completed their "Roger The Engineer" album,but the Uk single version has a backwards guitar coda which was edited off all album and previous CD releases of the song).Incidentally,"Beck's Bolero" was recorded with Keith Moon,John Paul Jones,Jimmy Page & Nicky Hopkins.Also,you get first-time-in stereo 2005 remixes of "I've Been Drinking","Hi Ho Silver Lining" & "Rock My Plimsoul"(the first version;the single take with Aynsley Dunbar on drums).The new remix of "I've Been Drinking" corrects a problem present on the original mono mix which caused a rejected,alternate lyric Rod Stewart vocal to leak through in the part of the song after the guitar solo.The unwanted vocal has now been 95% squelched.The stereo remix of "Rock My Plimsoul" is fine and musically identical to the mono single,however,it should be cautioned that due to some live-during-mono mixdown guitar & vocal overdubs on the original mono single mix of "Hi Ho Silver Lining",that the new stereo remix is missing one of the three lead guitar parts during the guitar solo,and the high vocal harmonies are missing during the song's choruses.The disc also includes the original mono single mixes of "Tallyman" & "Love is Blue".My guess is that either EMI couldn't find the multitracks for those two selections,or they did find them,but found a sitation similar to the situation on "Hi Ho Silver Lining";that musically identical(to the original single) stereo mixes weren't possible.There's long been talk that EMI funded further Jeff Beck recording sessions after Jeff's contract with EMI had ended,but before Jeff signed wih EPIC worldwide,but that there's uncertainty about whether EMI can legally release the recordings.When Jeff's manager has enquired about the recordings,EMI's Abbey Road Studios tape vault has denied holding them,though compilers who have done projects for EMI have said otherwise.I hope that someday that ownership issue will be resolved.Until then,EMI/UK's new expanded reissues of "Truth" & "Beck-Ola" give us more Jeff Beck outtakes than we'd ever thought we would hear.Jeff has always been anti-nostalgia & anti-outtakes,but his rigidness seems to be softening.He's even cooperated and been interviewed for the (fine) liner notes which accompany both discs.Highly recommended. Philip A Cohen