Willie Dixon's You Shook Me is up next, two and a bit minutes of straight-ahead twelve bar that ends with Beck's guitar having an attack of the up and unders (that's from the liner notes, by the way, and not the product of Hughesy's fevered imagination).
Over the years I've had a lot of fun with Side One's concluding Ol' Man River. Moody organ from Zep's John Paul Jones over a walking bass line and timpani from You Know Who leads into Stewart's fairly straight (still soulful, but pretty straight) rendition of the lyrics. Beck's guitar contributions are limited to single notes punctuating the vocal as the timpani rolls thunder somewhere over towards the horizon.
Over the years, as stated, keeping the cover carefully concealed, I'd slip the album into the player, select track five and ask some unsuspecting guest to guess the identity of the singer.
Dunno, has been the usual response. Sounds like Rod Stewart.
As stated, Beck's involvement is minimal until Stewart gets to I'm so weary... Wham! I'm sick of trying... Four notes from Beck. I'm tired of living but afraid of dying... Another little flurry from the guitar, and back into the rolling timpani and organ for a spell with a raving vocal play-out to wind up proceedings on Side One.
That first side is a succession of strong performances, nary an original in sight, but, presumably when they started putting the group together it was a case of What about this one? as Beck, Stewart and Co. worked through some favourite numbers they thought might work.
Though the basic tracks were laid down over two weeks, I'm inclined to guess that there were sporadic sessions over the fortnight rather than fourteen days of nine-to-five (or the nocturnal equivalent) studio time. Side One, works as a whole, the way that a live set might go down. The second side is a mixed bag, seemingly throwing together whatever else they happened to have to hand.