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| Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells A Story |
Rod Stewart wore many faces in his long recording career. As lead singer of The Faces, or the first incarnation of The Jeff Beck Group, and as a solo artist, Rod the Mod hit super-stardom through his rock and roll classics and simple pop tunes.
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| Jeff Beck Group |
Performing with the iconic Jeff Beck and that group that bared his name, they explored British rock and dabbled in the Blues. The first album produced the classic instrumental Beck's Bolero and Shapes of Things.
Together with Ronnie Wood, Stewart left the JBG and joined The Faces. The Faces five albums each come across as lengthy rockin' blues jam sessions. While Wood went off to join the Rolling Stones in 1975, Stewart continued to pursue a solo career. He continued to perform and tour with The Faces while performing and promoting his solo work.
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| Rod Stewart |
The late 70s saw Stewart delve into the disco scene, becoming one of the first main stream rockers to succeed on the disco charts. Based on record sales many people were turned on to Stewart's music with the dance tinged Do You Think I'm Sexy. Many others believe he became a disco sellout in the 70s and later a pop sellout in the 80s and into the new century with his American Songbook reproductions.
With his raspy voice, in his youth Rod had the range to sing the blues, rock-and-roll or a tender ballad. In his elder days, Stewart would be envious of the vocal range of a Leonard Cohen.
Incredibly talented and a great performer to this very day here are the Top Six songs of Rod Stewart's musical career.
Plynth (Water Down the Drain) Jeff Beck Group, 1969 "Beck-Ola"
Gasoline Alley Rod Stewart 1970 "Gasoline Alley"
Around The Plynth The Faces 1970 "First Step"
Maggie May Rod Stewart 1971 "Every Picture Tells A story"
You Wear It Well Rod Stewart 1972 "Never A Dull Moment"
Tonight's The Night Rod Stewart 1976 "A Night On the Town"
Due to the usual copyright restrictions, these were the only songs I could load here.
Rod Stewart with the Faces, Around The Plynth from 1970s First Step.
Rod Stewart solo Maggie May from the 1971 release Every Picture Tells A story
I used to like Rod the Mod, now, I hate his spikey-haired ass. Why? He grates ever since 1980. That's 30+ years of shite music compared to his 10 or so of hard-rockin' glory. Unfortunately, the math leads to hate of this artist.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I would have also included "I don't want to talk about it" on your list. One of Rod's prettier songs. Still, now he sucks. Much like Sting does. But that's a subject for another day...
But that's just it isn't it? His Top 6, and likely most of his top 10 are from 1976 or before.
DeleteOh... what were we arguing about then?
ReplyDeleteRod was at his absolute best with the Jeff Beck Group.His first solo albums had great songs;Street Fighting Man,I'm Losing You,Cutacross Shorty,Your My Girl,to name a few,but with Beck,he could do no wrong!
ReplyDeleteI can't disagree. I could have just as easily came up with a top 20 list for Rod.
DeleteShawn,
ReplyDeleteI just downloaded Jeff Beck Group at the BBC.I'm in Rod Steward heaven!Also can't wait to hear the Live at Fillmore West,Hollwood Bowl and a few others that I found on an outlet!The Jeff Beck Group should have been "the next big thing"!Unfortunately,they only lasted two short years and are overlooked except by the few people that know better!
I just downloaded both Truth and Beck-Ola remastered with outtakes and other gems.This was Rod at his rock God best.I highly recommend both these albums or at least the new songs for any fan of the Rod the Mod days.
ReplyDeleteHey Doug, Truth was a terrific album. We consider these songs to be Beck songs, but aside from Beck's Bolero, they are all covers. And of course I referred to Beck-Ola above.
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