Again supporting the fill it out on Side Two theorem, Blues De Luxe is a live exposition of a group of old blues themes with some classy interplay between Stewart and Beck. At a touch under eight minutes some might question the length (I don't). Nice piano from Nicky Hopkins in there too.
But the killer punch is still to come. I Ain't Superstitious is the old Willie Dixon/Howlin' Wolf number worked over and pummelled, along with the listener, into submission. A swaggering vocal from Stewart, an abundance of wah-wah action from Beck working around the stop-start riff, a mini-drum-solo and a further flurry of wah-wah and we're done. Magnificent.
If you take the album, drop out Greensleeves and Beck's Bolero and play the rest in sequence, you've got, arguably, the equivalent of a well-balanced live set. A heavy introduction through Shapes of Things and Let Me Love You, a slight breather for Morning Dew, back to full-on for You Shook Me, then the mid-set slowdown through Ol' Man River. Back into rockin' mode for Rock My Plimsoul, a vocal/guitar showcase on Blues De Luxe and a stomping finish with I Ain't Superstitious.
Cop that, young Harry!
In that context, sans repeats and filler, it's a magnificent album. With them in it's still, for Hughesy's money, an outstanding one.
And, with every repeat listen there's a reminder of what a great vocalist Rod Stewart used to be. Admittedly he went on to mega-stardom, but there's a chemistry on Truth that I'd argue is missing from much of his later work.
It's fairly obvious that most of that chemistry comes from Beck and Stewart sparking off each other, which is even more remarkable in the light of Stewart’s suggestion (in Rock Family Trees) that he spent two and a half years in the Jeff Beck Group without once looking Beck in the eye.