Rod Stewart – Rod The Mod

What can you say about the great Rod Stewart.  When he was with The Faces (see F) he (they) were the best live band in England.   But before that he had played with Long John Baldry and Jeff Beck (see B) {who sadly died a few days ago}.  The first in my collection is Rod Stewart Live – not sure when this was released, obviously when he achieved fame.  It is stuff from his Jeff Beck days I think, but there are no credits on this unlicensed CD.  Not so wonderful really, apart from ‘Shake’ and ‘Little Miss Understood’ it is a bit bland really.   His real solo career happened when he had already signed for Mercury, but was tied to another contract with The Faces.  He managed to combine both skillfully, often using the band members, especially Ronnie Wood as his studio band for solo efforts.  First up is the oddly titled An Old Raincoat Won’t let You Down 1969.  Of course, I, like almost everyone else missed this at the time but when Maggie May exploded I went back and bought his first 2 albums.   And what a debut it was….a pretty good rocking sound; a cover of The Stones ‘Street Fighting Man’…a pretty good ‘Dirty Old Town’ and best of all his first real Masterpiece of a song.  He took a song written by Mike D’Abo of Manfred Mann and transformed it.  ‘Handbags and Gladrags’  never sounded better and never will.  The album sold relatively poorly, but his next was a ‘bubbling under’ hit.  Gasoline Alley 1970…was a step up again.  It was essentially a Faces album (and better than they ever achieved themselves).  Elton and Bernie wrote a track ‘Country Comforts’, and there were a couple of full-on Faces tracks, in fact ‘My Way Of Giving’ was an old Ronnie Lane/Stevie Marriot tune. But best were ‘Cut Across Shorty’ and a Rod solo write ‘Lady Day’.  A brilliant album.  The album was a  slow burner but really took off after Rod’s next.  Every Picture Tells A Story – 1971 was the alum that broke Rod. In fact it had the distinction of being number one in both America and Britain along with the single ‘Maggie May’.  I can still recall seeing Rod and the Faces live on Top Of The Pops, along with Gallagher and Lyle in the background.  The album itself was immaculate; a mixture of pure rock  – the title track with Long John Baldry sharing vocals; a lovely rendition of a Tim Hardin song ‘Reason To Believe’ but my very favourite was the beautiful ‘Mandolin Wind’.  Not a bad track on the record.  Rod was now officially Rod the Mod, with his signature haircut he was king of the pop world.  1972 saw the release of another classic Never A Dull Moment with another hit single ‘You Wear It Well’ to boot.  A similar template, with contributions from The Faces and Ronnie Wood in particular.  Best songs; Dylan’s ‘Mama You Been On My Mind’, ‘Twisting The Night Away’ and ‘Lost Paraquayos’.  Another hugely successful record.  Well, Rod’s fame was tearing the Faces apart, with promoters even listing them as Rod Stewart and the Faces, to the annoyance of, especially Ronnie Lane.  His next album 1974’s delayed Smiler was a disappointment.  It felt a bit half-hearted and only Wood of the Faces appeared on it.   12 songs of which only a handful were originals….however on re-listening it is not really that bad….best – ‘Sweet Little Rock’n’Roller’, ‘Girl Form The North Country’ and ‘Mine For me’.  Well, by this time Rod’s contract with Mercury was fulfilled and America and big bucks were calling.  He recorded his next album in the States without The Faces and he left the band soon after (which may have been precipitated by Ron Wood joining The Stones}.  Atlantic Crossing 1975 was not only a complete change of style but a triumph and the first of a run of brilliant records.  Gone was the ramshackle but great fun band recordings, in came session players and a subtle and very commercial (but still wonderful) sound.  Our boy sure did good.  Hard to pick best songs but ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’ and ‘This Old Heart Of Mine’ are standout tracks…but may best was the worldwide hit ‘Sailing’; this was an album track from The Sutherland Brothers (see S). Rod was always very adept at picking songs.  He did write a few himself, but was very clever at choosing great songs which suited his voice and style.  A Night On The Town followed in 76, and if anything this was even better.  Not a poor or filler track on it.  From the old Manfred Mann song ‘Pretty Flamingo’ to the Cat Stevens classic ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ he managed to make these songs his own.  But his own songs ‘The Killing Of Georgie’ and ‘Tonight’s the Night’ are brilliant too – but my favourite is the final track ‘Trade Winds’.  Rod was now unassailable, and along with Elton he was the Seventies personified.  Footloose and Fancy Free came out in 1977 and was the third of an incredible run of American albums.  In some ways he was getting better and better, especially with the poignant, semi-autobigraphical ballads such as ‘I Was Only Joking’ and ‘You’ve Got A Nerve’.  The album had the first of his sexy songs ‘Hot Legs’, which appealed to a different but large fanbase.  But best of all was the classic ‘You’re In My Heart’ – possibly dedicated to Britt Eckland, who many credit with his move to America, break-up with the Faces and change of direction.  Who knows – it may well have happened despite her.  In any case Rod broke up with her in 1977 and soon embarked on a series of leggy young blondes, many of which gave him children; 7 in total.   His last (in my opinion) really great American album was Blondes Have More Fun (1978), even if does contain the mega hit ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’.   He did of course, write and record several more brilliant songs, however, mostly the albums were patchy.  Of course this didn’t stop me buying them.  Blondes does have some great songs and is pretty good throughout.   Best are ‘Is That The Thanks I Get’, ‘The Best Days Of Our Lives’ and ‘Aint Love A Bitch’.  Finishing off this section I have a Greatest Hits from the Mercury Years, all the best bits from first 5 albums plus John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’ and ‘I Think It Will Rain’ – a pretty good summary.  Also a double Handbags and Gladrags which had a few b sides of singles on and all the old favourites to boot.