DON'T LET THEM PUT YOU DOWN: The Official ILM Track-By-Track ROD STEWART 1975-1988 Listening Thread

One day and one track at a time as we explore how, despite lager, coke, and Britt Ekland, Rachel Hunter, and on and on, the mighty Rod's hair kept its equipoise.

http://societyofrock.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/rod-stewart-tonights-the-night--735x413.jpg

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03159/stewart-1990_3159829k.jpg

First up from Atlantic Crossing...

"Three Time Loser" (Rod Stewart)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezYjnGRweNM

That whole record is very good - and Three Time Loser is a joy, I always get a Beatles vibe from it though it's obviously much more of a Stones song

this is very "opening track"

yeah I'd dismissed this album unheard for years until I read Marcello's mixed review a couple years ago. "Three Time Loser" sounds forced, but I like Snarling Rod.

don't think i've ever heard this song before. weird mashup of stones/keef verse and AM gold chorus. and a not very good sax solo.

also, springsteen/e street could've easily done this one circa "the river."

the cover art made me avoid that album for years, turned out it was not indicative at all of the tunes

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0000/041/MI0000041421.jpg

He's still figuring out how to sound post-Faces, post-Britain.

"Three Time Loser" kicks off the FAST SIDE

http://vinylrecordsuk.co.uk/images/Wimg/art_123/w12399_Full.jpg

He's still figuring out how to sound post-Faces, post-Britain.

The Faces actually still were a going concern when he did this album. Part of what broke them up was having to tour behind it and cop licks from these new songs they otherwise had nothing to do with (Jessie Ed Davis & a cadre of string and horn players were added to the touring group).

"Three Time Loser": Did say "jackin' off/reading Playboy on hot afternoon"? (checks lyrics) HE DID! Mick never woulda been that, er, open. Kinda goes on a little too long. Faces did fake Stones better. Hell, the fast stuff the Stones had on offer at the time on IOR&R kick harder. FCC OTM about River-era Springsteen handling this (even down to the jerk-off line).

feels appropriate to have the Greil Marcus anathema against Rod early on in this thread

http://66.media.tumblr.com/451b4f40c8cecc7f0118868f9fb0deb0/tumblr_od409zZLna1qaszffo1_1280.jpg

when we get to "Young Turks," I'll share what Marcus told me about it at my first EMP a decade ago.

My mom had this album but she never played it. The cover was vaguely frightening / too strange to process for me.

i have never seen this album cover--it is something.

i never want to hear that song again.

"Alright for an Hour" (Stewart, Jesse Ed Davis)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avrZM-MnO7s

yeah another transition piece---a Faces song given the 461 Ocean Blvd treatment. this isn't awful but Rod's voice is sunk like a stone in the mix (maybe it's just the YouTube quality)

Jesse Ed Davis sure was everywhere in 1975, wasn't he?

the songwriter who sounds like a presidential assassin

this light skank is making my skin crawl

There's definitely something hinky about the vocals. There's an alternate version where everything sounds a little more balanced, albeit with less punchy drums:
https://youtu.be/A1XnRJo-vxQ

hey this is a good thread idea thanks alfred

three time loser is decent fun...def feel fact checking cuz's observation that it could totally be a River-era Springsteen throwaway

I dunno any of this era beyond the big hits

these first two aren't terrible but they do sound a bit lackluster/tentative

I'm interested in this thread so I made a playlist for people like me who don't want to listen to youtubes

It's collaborative so feel free to update if I don't

https://open.spotify.com/user/nathanwoolls/playlist/3kLXjPzlZdjqIMA6Y062Pf

good idea! from past threads like this, it's often been the case that lesser-known album tracks sometimes aren't on YT

"alright for an hour" sounds totally, err, alright to me. an album track that i wouldn't skip. i don't mind the light skank; it kinda works. but, yeah, weird vocal mix.

this song is sort of groovy. such a great voice, what a waste.

this really is the same guy who put out brilliant stuff like Handbags & the Gladrags?

https://youtu.be/edbFVGrTG-c

oh man this "commander in chief forum" is nuts. Trump said we should've "taken the oil." "Take the oil," he repeats. Because Matt Lauer is a polite man when not dealing with female co-hosts on "Today," he doesn't ask, "With what -- beach buckets? portable gas tanks?"

what?

God please no to Trump. America is not this bad off...

haha wrong thread

"All in the Name of Rock 'N' Roll" (Stewart)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA6Yxhcz1r8

never a good sign when "rock 'n' roll" is in the title. Sounds a bit like Rod trying his hand at a Mud track. Horns liven it up towards the end

yes the strain shows

i don't know if it's just the youtubes, but this album's production is kinda dull and muddy sounding, kinda odd since it was the 70s and generally all these type of records sounded really solid

No, I'll admit this particular clip sounds terrible.

ok on spotify is sounds good, kinda gritty in a good way, the vox aren't mixed super high

I actually will be the witness for the defense on In the Name of Rock n' Roll, I think this is a decent Faces type song, the band on this is really good

Didn't know Tom Dowd produced this album!

like the little end guitar solo

Why are we starting at 1975? To focus on re-evaluating less-acclaimed material?

Yep. I could've started with Slimer but no.

lol Smiler

Rod the Mod & the Real Ghostbusters

Smiler doesn't really fit here--It's the last of his folky-Faces albums, and he took a hard turn towards studio Rock in '75. The last Faces single (from late '74) clearly forecasts this: The Topside is a proto-Disco Philly International-style number, while the Flip is this slow jam, "Hi Records Does Reggae"-type thing.

"Alright For An Hour": This is pleasant. Nice groove. Fits in well with all the other Cod-Reggae 70s Rock Tracks ("D'Yer Maker", "Haitian Divorce", "Hey Negrita" etc.) if not among the better ones.

"All In The Name Of Rock'n'Roll": I like the whiny synth solely in there to remind you it's 1975. Good riffage in search of a better song. Kind of rolls on a little longer than it needs to.

i'm totally fascinated by the buried-vocal mix aesthetic on this album.

mostly, "all in the name of rock 'n' roll" makes me want to listen to paul mccartney doing this sort of thing better. or maybe the replacements doing it worse. would've fit right in on "the shit hits the fans."

Decent riff - would work in a Tarantino scene easy

Sounds pretty Stonesy to me, and 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll' had first been recorded at the home of Rod's old mucker Ron Wood circa 1973.

listen to paul mccartney doing this sort of thing better.

who fact checks the fact checkers?

my macca checking cuz checks me :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU_2oNF9CZE#t=1m06.5s

man that is not my cup of tea

feel like rod can phone in some boogie rock way way better than mccartney ever could

this song sounds like a bar band covering an aerosmith b-side

Yeah it's pretty good

Almost forgot!

"Drift Away" (Mentor Williams)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB9PYLEVp_Y

yes THAT "Drift Away"

oh no that breakdown in the last chorus

(and then it gets worse after that)

in tidal, he is credited in this song, and only this song, as "rod steward"

to wash the taste of all of this out of my mouth, i skipped ahead to tomorrow's song, which i guess is illegal to talk about today, but at least i know there are better days ahead.

agreed

Haven't listened yet, but just want to point out now that "Drift Away" was shortlisted by the Stones for their covers/live album that was shelved in favor of It's Only Rock'n'Roll.

listen!

i don't get it is smth wrong with this song?

it sounds lazy and rote to my ears

I loathe the original

okay, not familiar with the original but can tell from wiki page it's a cover favorite

works on the album, just a nice/silly rocknroll song to my ears

i look forward to the revisiting and re-evaluation etc. of the post-'76-not-Tonight-I'm-Yours-material but all the same I'm thinking it might be wise to savour these first two p good albums since in my head (and I'm hoping this thread will prove me wrong) Rod's career p much follows Allmusic's assessment:

(SPOILER ALERT)

http://i.imgur.com/sRrYJsc.png

also, I never thought much about the Atlantic crossing thing but you all seem knowledgeable - so AC was Rod's breakthrough album in the US?

Nah, Every Picture Tells A Story!

AC marked a # of important things: He left England for the States; he signed a very lucrative deal w/Warner Bros.; he ceased working with the core of the Faces in the studio in favor of LA session dudes (and the initial sessions were with a reformed Booker T & The MGs, and were among Al Jackson's final recordings before his murder); and--after Smiler and Ooh LA LA--were the first times critics had knives out.

I see, thanks!

i was obsessed with Atlantic Crossing as a kid but never ever heard it again since the late 70s. this is going to be a fascinating thread i can tell. he really dropped off the fastest *and* the most didn't he, of all the rockers that got mega in the 70s?

idk "rockers that got mega in the 70s" is a p long list

i think i meant him, Elton, Queen type mega.

I don't think he did. Unlike Queen, he kept having American hits, and unlike Elton (who coughed up a handful between 1977 and 1982), his top ten run didn't stop, like, at all from 1975 through 1993. He was a constant MTV and radio presence. He never seemed like a fogey even when he was releasing "Lady Jane" and "Love Touch."

yeah that's why this era is so interesting, tho i don't know much of the albums. As a kid in the early 80s, Rod didn't seem like some old hippie but rather some lecherous dude who was always on the radio.

i'm with Alfred: the orig. "Drift Away" is a pretty dire song, part of the early 70s "remember real rock 'n' roll, man?" nostalgia binge, without any of the wit. Rod's cover does as much with it as you can---he commits to the thing, a bit too much (but hell so did Dobie Gray). Genteel studio "reggae" was a default setting by '75, it seems

thank you, Eric Clapton!

I mean, look at this top ten list through '93:

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Passion
Young Turks
Some Guys Have All the Luck
Infatuation
Love Touch
My Heart Can't Tell You No
Downtown Train
This Old Heart of Mine
The Motown Song
Have I Told You Lately
All For Love

That's not counting top fifteen hits that got as much or more airplay (and still do!) like "Forever Young" and a Sirius radio perennial like "People Get Ready" whose massive MTV airplay convinces listeners that it was a huge pop hit.

yeah Baby Jane, Tonight I'm Yours, the crappy "Twistin' the Night Away" for 'Inner Space' def. seemed to get nearly as much airplay as this set too. I have an awful memory of "Dynamite" too which I'll share when we get to it

"Forever Young" might be his biggest perennial hit; I hear it ALL the time.

forgot "Rhythm of My Heart" on that list.

I checked iTunes: "Forever Young" is his most popular song.

Rod Schlocky Stewart

"Drift Away": The Dobie Williams original is ime one of those inescapable songs--it was huge on Oldies Radio when I had access to such a thing, and it was one of the few R&B-type oldies that was pretty big on Classic Rock Radio, probably because--message aside--it really isn't that far removed from a Seger or Mellencamp hit. To me it's always been sonic wallpaper. Rod doesn't really add much to this other than some light Reggae touches. Why is this on "The Fast Side"?

Of course, I'm forgetting that Uncle Kracker (with Dobie in tow, no less) added a couple years of cultural relevancy and higher performance fees to his career by Karaoke-ing this into the charts in the early 00s.

i like the original of "Drift Away" the vocal are so much better. have no idea why Rod redid this song.

He needed to fill the album...and he's not above Karaoke (see: all those "Songbook" albums).

For comparison, here's the Stones' unreleased version: https://youtu.be/tey6tjsq9Vo

More lived-in, some nice Country touches.

that is so much better, isn't it?

whaaaat I had never heard Rod's forever young and consider myself both a p big Rod & Bob fan

decent cover!

"Stone Cold Sober" (Stewart, Steve Cropper)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR3DWqJqiLI

By far the best song we've heard to date. Maybe the Cropper co-write helped. This is a convincing rocker.

btw starting tomorrow I won't post the full YouTube links.

"stone cold sober" is great. that's how you rock. verse owes something to the rolling stones' "happy." which, if you're gonna owe something, is a good place to owe that something to.

not sure i need the minute and 20 seconds of instrumental at the end (with occasional vocal interjections so buried in the mix they might as well not be there).

For comparison, here's the Stones' unreleased version: https://youtu.be/tey6tjsq9Vo

loving those harmonies

"Stone Cold Sober": This is nice, faux-Faces. Kind of begs the question, 'if you're gonna cut tracks like this, why have the session guys play like the Faces when you have access to the real thing?' Woody's first couple solo (I've Got My Own) albums (To) do what Rod's trying to do here on "The Fast Half" but with much more success on all fronts.

Of course, our answer comes once we get into 'The Slow Half' and it's slick, mainstream balladry, which are what really sold this album.

Y'all know this one.

"I Don't Want to Talk About It" (Danny Whitten)

https://youtu.be/Azcy9_F0DCE

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RG9ql-91U90/hqdefault.jpg

I'm having trouble finding the original 1975 recording; y'all might need to hit Spotify.

the "Slow Side" defines this album, at least in my vague memory of it. the Fast was, barring "Stone Cold Sober," middling, competent rock that was nowhere as good as the middling mid-70s Stones

Rod pretty much took over this song, no? I always forget it was a Crazy Horse tune. Arif Mardin for the string arr

Everything But the Girl scored their biggest UK hit with a lovely cover that I prefer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UujO_YwaB_I

"I Don't Want To Talk About It": Seems like this is one of the great song rescues. The Crazy Horse version is brilliant, an all-time tear jerker (when David Briggs talked about being more impressed with some Whitten's songs of the time than what Neil Young was doing, this one is almost certainly what he was on about). But it wasn't heard much in it's time. Ol' Rod, still in master song-finder mode, lands on it (has it ever been discussed how he actually got ahold of it?). I can still kind of see the Faces tackling it (pathos looms large in their ballads), but it wouldn't quite be so polished and certainly wouldn't have been the hit it was.

much prefer iain matthews' version which was done a year before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9hQm9MiGGc

also jackie de shannon's drift away which went unreleased for decades
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0rHAu1SNRc

"It's Not The Spotlight" (Barry Goldberg, Gerry Goffin)

https://youtu.be/VdDyf0DmJ3M

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2053718.1419279605!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/gallery_1200/rod-stewart-joe-cocker-circa-1975.jpg

huh i really expected to like Rod's version of "Don't Want to Talk About It" as I love that song and generally love Rod's singing but it doesn't really have that extra haunted quality that Whitton has

can we discuss how awful that room must smell

who is that joe cocker?

and 10,000 cigarettes

I was feeling a little bad for not keeping up with this thread but now that I read people knocking "Drift Away" I'm just gonna drift away, it won't be good for my soul here.

I like Drift Away

"This Old Heart of Mine" (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, Sylvia Moy)

https://youtu.be/819RoBdTzsg

http://www.45vinylvidivici.net/SEVENTIESplus/2012oct/stewart%20rod16659.jpg

I won't lie: I find the 1989 remake with Ronald Isley a much more exciting and poignant performance.

catching up:

It's Not the Spotlight: a vocal better than the lyric, which is one of Goffin's more anonymous efforts. Wish Rod had done a full-on country album at some point in the 70s.

Old Heart of Mine: I like the immaculate studio vibe of the '75---how it's basically a trio of lead guitar, keyboard and hi-hat---but agree the '89 has a more engaged Rod (plus Ronald Isley elevates most things he's involved in). Feels like it was meant to be an uptempo song--take it too slow and something's missing

"It's Not The Spotlight": Like the guitars and mandolins. Would not have sounded out of place on one of the Mercury albums.

"This Old Heart of Mine": Not that familiar w/the later Rod version. The original Isleys version is pretty much perfect (a certified 'keep the floor filled' number at the monthly Soul Night I go to), and this 70s AM Gold arrangement is interesting if not the most winning reinvention.

Wish Rod had done a full-on country album at some point in the 70s.

Much too late, but back when he did that "Rock Songbook" album, he mentioned to Rolling Stone that he also wanted to do R & B and Country editions as well, but "...the label isn't so keen on the Country one..." Of course, this was right before Raising Sand...Of course, given the track record, Rod's album would have most likely been another Karaoke effort.

The '89 remake since we're not getting to it: https://youtu.be/N9eQShsxkj4

The video distracts from the fact that the song is a valentine from Rod to Ron and vice versa

"Still Love You" (Stewart) – 5:08

https://youtu.be/3Z6tkCU140I

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c1/51/68/c151688c3c715a3e1c624b7e0251dd71.jpg

My favorite song after "Stone Cold Sober." It has hints of "Wish You Were Here." Judicious use of drums and violin.

this is good! the violin/guitar in the coda works nicely. a good example of how losing the more shambling Faces for ace studio pros had its upside for him

"It's Not the Spotlight" is lovely - and def wouldn't feel out of place on Every Picture...man he's so good at this type of song...it's funny even the arrangement and production feels more natural and open than a lot of the stuff on the album

This Old Heart of Mine I really love the bass playing, man that's nice who's on it? Nearly Jamerson quality

Still Love You is great too...actually I'd take the back half of this from "I Don't Want to Talk About It" on as a nice little low-key EP...(without having cheated and listening to Sailing yet so that might be bad)

"Still Love You": Wow, this is another one that would have fit well on the Mercury LPs. The echo effect on the "Love You"s on the chorus is kinda awkward, an unnecessary production trick on a track otherwise barren of them. Still, my favorite so far on the album.

I'm curious also how Rod got a hold of "I DOn't want to Talk." In my head, Rod and Neil / Crazy Horse exist in two separate universes.

Has Rod done any Neil songs? Seems odd if he hasn't.

"Sailing (Gavin Christopher)"

https://youtu.be/FOt3oQ_k008

http://eil.com/images/main/Rod+Stewart+Sailing+-+BLUE+vinyl+181886.jpg

his "Mull of Kintyre": enormous UK #1, didn't do much at all on US radio. still don't hear it on classic rock stations that often

tom ewing's summary of it works for me: "Stewart seems to be trying to create something that’s expressing yearning in as straightforward and widescreen a way as possible, but all subtlety’s been boiled away and we’re left with a great voice being put to dreary use."

this is not the Chris Cross song, right?

Unfortunately no.

I had never heard of "Sailing" until reading about it a few years ago.

hmmmm "Sailin'" almost seems like it's the first trial balloon for Stewart's "Rod sings the American Songbook" type albums

in any case I hereby declare Atlantic Crossing by Rod Stewart to be.....PRETTY OKAY...I GUESS.

I think I could scrap together a decent Spotify EP version of it with most of the second half and a couple of the rockers from side 1.

though this is kinda a funny contrast to the Eagles thread in that I'm gonna be trying to bend over backwards to give Rod the benefit of the doubt whereas with the Eagles one bad lyrics or drum part and I'm like FUCK THESE ASSHOLES haha

well, Stewart was a better songwriter by himself than Frey-Henley and their bros.

the majority of his Jeff Beck Group/Faces/early solo era is as good as rock music gets for me

Sailing is of course is a cover originally performed by Sutherland Brothers & Quiver.

https://youtu.be/0dSU8XR0Gmc
http://scdb.abradio.cz/uploads/400x400/songs/oldies/s/sailing-3.jpg

The interesting story behind this one of course is that bass player Terry Comer from contemporaneos bar-band Ace was surrepticiously gigging with the Sutherland Bros. without his regular band being informed of this, with the inference he might jump ship if he liked the Sutherlands better. Singer Paul Carrack learned what he was planning, which he turned into a song regarding the situation which became the hit "How Long"

...which we'll be hearing a Rod version of eventually ITT! #WheelsWithinWheels

p sure "Sailing" is his signature song in Denmark

it's not v good tho imo

"Sailing": This has got the classic Power Ballad 'build build build' singalong structure. Pretty tune, although yes it feels a harbinger of rougher sailing (ha!) to come Rod-wise. Isn't this a big football anthem over in Blighty? And on that tip, will "Ole Ola" be part of our revue?

Also, what the hell was this TV show it was the theme of?

Whoo! Let's go to 1976's A Night on the Town!

"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (Rod Stewart)

https://youtu.be/IZr6AE-u2UM

http://justhungry.com/files/images/70s2.jpg

A classic about which I've nothing to say. Means nothing to me.

"Sailing (Gavin Christopher)"

Who is Gavin Christopher? Written by Gavin Sutherland of course! And, yes, this is probably his most famous/popular song in the UK.

I suppose there's a Scottish thing going on there - musically and lyrically? Possibly?

a typo

xpost

Gavin Christopher was an American singer-songwriter

A young Giles Coren in the photo Alfred posted.

... serving cocktails to Sue Perkins in a wig.

The Great British Fuck Off

Also, I reckon Do You Think I'm Sexy must give Sailing a run for its money as Rod's most popular/well known song in the UK

Grand, warm-hearted sleaze. the French lines in the coda give it a touch of Gainsbourg/Birkin.

Also, what the hell was this TV show it was the theme of?

If you mean "Ole Ola", I don't think it was a TV show theme tune but it was the theme song of the 1978 Scotland World Cup Squad. Not that it did them much good "over there".

... ova tha' surely?

The song itself is dire but the lyrics still raise a chuckle, "'Cause we invented football anyway", aye, you tell 'em, Rod. Getting ahead fo ourselves here though.

love this old warhorse of a tune

this video is something

the Guild/vest/bowtie combo is some peak Rod shit

subquestion: it's always weird when you see basically "music videos" from pre-MTV era, where did these things air and why were they made?

In the UK they would air on Top of the Pops, the weekly chart program, when the acts were too famous or busy to turn up in the studio.

Top of the Pops, certainly. For bands who couldn't or wouldn't appear in person.

xp hah

I remember seeing the video for "Sailing" multiple times on TOTP. Pretty sure he never "sang" it in the studio.

xpost - ah ok that makes sense

If you mean "Ole Ola",

Sorry for the confusion, I meant "Sailing", which has a plug for a BBC series called "Sailor" on the posted 45 sleeve.

Should note that this album again has a FAST SIDE and a SLOW SIDE. But in a reversal of previous practice, the SLOW SIDE is first.

Also, second verse has some of the most LOLworthy lyrics ever

"Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)": ...and whatever old school Rod tendencies left over on Atlantic Crossing get killed dead right where they stood. Slick Slick and Slicker still, this one continues the chain of Rod ballads ignored by Classic Rock radio (which is kind of weird when you consider similarly styled tracks from Elton, the Eagles, and, er, Journey still achieve microwave rotation at the expense of rockier & just as popular at the time tracks from those same catalogs). A Muzak staple, this number has been sexing up grocery shopping for as long as I can remember. In the famous Greil Marcus essay screencapped way upthread, this was the one post-Mercury Rod record he praised, albeit qualified that it's success was purely down to craftsmanship and formula. A hit by design, capturing the softer side of 70s sexual permissiveness. Can you imagine how many handjobs this has soundtracked?

Also, for some reason I can see Lana Del Rey having fun with this as a cover.

well, Janet Jackson did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVIeSqJqfTk

^^Forgot both that and the subsequent 7th period art class discussions as to whether or not Janet was a lesbian because she didn't change the lyrics.

"this one continues the chain of Rod ballads ignored by Classic Rock radio "

yeah that's a good point--i don't hear it that much (my sampling is whenever I drive to Connecticut to see my parents--CT is one of the spiritual homes of classic rock). maybe because it was such an AM smash--i think it was one of the biggest US singles of '76-77, up there with "You Light Up My Life"--that a whole generation wearied of the thing

Rod's Classic Rock cannon is surprisingly small: 2/3rds of EPTAS, "You Wear It Well"; "Stay With Me"; "Hot Legs"; and "Young Turks", with a further handful of "Deep Cuts".

"Maggie May" is a staple on our classic station

"The First Cut Is the Deepest" (Cat Stevens)

https://youtu.be/c5NRH_DxWJE

http://freshindependence.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/a-rod.jpg

Straight up love this song

one of those songs that seems to have been around forever but doesn't really have a definitive version---the P.P. Arnold is great but still fairly unknown in the US (there was a sheryl crow hit, too, in the 00s?). This is fine, if a touch shlocky (see the 30-second harp intro), and Rod seems a bit miscast for the lyric, not so much a rueful broken-heart as a guy trying out a line and seeing where it gets him (very Rod)

"Miscast" is an apt descriptor.

yeah Sheryl Crow had a huge early '00s hit w/it

love that much of the video seems to be a promotion for a landscaper/ fountain design company

looooooool that Tonight's the Night video - lyrics too, yikes! Starts of quoting Dylan, soon enough into "Spread your wings and let me come inside" and "Don't say a word my virgin child" territory

First Cut is a fantastic song and imo Rod's version is definitive

However that entire album suffers from a bass-heavy production, sounds kinda muffled - lacking mids and highs. No idea how the achieved this, sounds like a mistake to my ears.

where would these videos have been broadcast btw?

Discussed upthread. Top of The Pops and other TV music shows Rod couldn't be arsed into showing up for. He had enough of these stockpiled that when MTV went on the air he was on like every hour with a different clip.

Haha. Great.

"The First Cut Is The Deepest": Kind of a hard song to go wrong with. Rod handles it well, although it might have cut, er, deeper, with a Mercury-era (or Atlantic Crossing) style arrangement--mandolins, single violin in place of the "Rock" guitar solo. Wasn't that that single release pictured above the thing that kept the Sex Pistols (either "Anarchy In The UK" or "God Save The Queen") out of the #1 spot on the UK singles charts?

The video feels like--minus Rod--a bunch of cutaways from a Radley Metzger film.

Is there some alternate album mix of this? I had a '70s Rod comp on cassette when I was a kid and i swear it had a more rustic sound and no harp intro

Rod handles it well, although it might have cut, er, deeper, with a Mercury-era (or Atlantic Crossing) style arrangement--mandolins, single violin in place of the "Rock" guitar solo.

He did a live unplugged version in 1993 that had an arrangement much like that

"Fool for You" (Rod Stewart)

https://youtu.be/gxODMDa4MqA

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x9jEWJmnMxg/hqdefault.jpg

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6701/165187900.1d0/0_c29bd_bb0f3060_orig

A wee bit of nuthin', almost drenched in the L.A. sound.

Nice enough, but why does he recycle the intro for "You're In My Heart" verbatim?

"You're in My Heart" came later, if I'm reading you correctly.

oops, meant "Tonight's the Night"

(those two songs blend into one for me, for whatever reason)

spends much of its time in drowsy anticipation of a second-rate refrain. still, pleasant enough. Giving your ex a forwarding address (to mail "all my records" to?) seems like a bad idea

"Fool For You": I think he's leaving her the records, and the forwarding address is just for his mail and magazines (Time, Sports Illustrated, Oui...). Nicely detailed lyrics, those Bardots, those Lorens. This is Celebrity Music, Rod's tabloid problems and caviar dreams with a music bed of El Lay session dudes doing it tropical-style with their eyes closed.

"The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)" (Rod Stewart)

https://youtu.be/g9E6lNsI22I

http://www.towleroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/6a00d8341c730253ef017c32d2488f970b.jpg

I have genuine ambivalence about this song. On one hand it's a powerful sentiment, sung with feeling, and, yeah, I'm sure it wasn't what his audience wanted to hear. On the other hand, the musical borrowings are...curious. The do-do-dos from "Walk on the Wild Side' are purloining for irony's sake, but the "Don't Let Me Down" coda is sentimental mush (I don't hear "A Simple Twist of Fate" in its structure though).

Sorry for the confusion, I meant "Sailing", which has a plug for a BBC series called "Sailor" on the posted 45 sleeve

Ah gotcha, it was a documentary series about life on board the HMS Ark Royal.

i hear "Simple Twist" in the melody of the verses--similar phrasing. there's some Desire-era Dylan in the lyric too; the "street reporting" accumulation of detail

Pts 1 and 2 really seem like two different things (one of which being, as you said, a complete steal of "Don't Let Me Down" ("the lawyers never noticed" J. Lennon) that were welded together with the harp/guitar/Rhodes passage; greatly prefer the first part

Using "Georgie was a friend of mine" as a refrain is poignant.

"It's probably because I was surrounded by gay people at that stage. I had a gay PR man, a gay manager. Everyone around me was gay. I don't know whether that prompted me into it or not. I think it was a brave step, but it wasn't a risk. You can't write a song like that unless you've experienced it. But it was a subject that no one had approached before. And I think it still stands up today."

heard of "killing of…" for like 30 years without hearing it til now…it does seem sedate for a song that I understood to transmit so much pathos…

the videos that he made at this time are striking for how he really really sells each one…he seems aware of how to play to the camera, inculcating an intimacy with the viewer that I think is not present when peers like Freddie M., Mick J and Elton seemed to perform as they would if they were onstage. His hacky, bad actor mannerisms therein seems charming now, although probably were seen alongside like 25 other qualities by the punks as egregious.

has anybody read his book? its sposed to be one of the best dino-memwahs…he really seems like a great, self aware guy to me…he was great on Howard S. last year… he talked about how his oldest child is 55 and his youngest is six months or something…

I read a good chunk when I had a couple hours to kill at a Barnes & Noble a few years ago; at the very least it's as entertaining as Keef's and he's 10 times more likable.

it was featured on the new Billboard 100 best music books list with this enticing blurb:

Stewart knows what his readers want and he delivers it. From seven solid pages on his hairstyle and its maintenance to an explanation of the Faces’ technique for getting drunk off a single can of beer, Stewart’s self-deprecating memoir is ceaselessly entertaining.

"Fool For You" is a saccharine snooze

"Georgie" is good & probably pretty daring for him at time (? i'm assuming?)- Alfred I can't believe you don't hear that phrasing from "Simple Twist of Fate"! It's so noticeable

could do without the "doo doos"

though it's nice to hear him trying to do something on this album which is reaaallly Rod on cruise control

also interested in whether "53rd and 3rd" in just because it's a well-known corner or an explicit reference to the Ramones? (guessing the former maybe a NYCer can tell me)

the album was released in 1976 but recorded, I'm sure, before the Ramones debut

I think the Ramones' song gives some clue as to the significance of that particular street corner.

well yeah but i guess there's like known to punk junkie dee dee ramone and then known to international rock superstar rod steward which are two different things

but if it came out in 76 then it's surely not a reference anyway

probably haven't considered rap enough cuz its' not the 70s but this is so classically this formula, esp that it's a pun on his name and the elipses

http://images.rapgenius.com/764ca16fe26b9feb02fc7a6bb329735c.770x768x1.jpg

"The Killing of Georgie Pts. 1 & 2": Yeah, the influence of Dylan is thick with this one, reaching as back as far as stuff like "...Hattie Carroll". Rod, of course, sells it softer--this isn't his story, it's something he observed and resigned himself to that there was no control over it. The coda confuses matters a little, feels more appropriate for a song wherein Georgie committed suicide or died of natural causes. After the quote unquote fan service of the prior songs on this side, this number is an eye-opener in revealing Rod wasn't quite as artistically bankrupt as reported at the time, and was able to stretch out in a way he hadn't really been able to before. I think mature is the word I'm looking for.

haha um the too short thing was for the i got my own album to do thread :/

Great thread. The comment above about giving Rod the benefit of a doubt otm. We all know there's genius hidden somewhere in all of these otherwise subpar recordings. I'm perfectly fine with that attitude.

well yeah but i guess there's like known to punk junkie dee dee ramone and then known to international rock superstar rod steward which are two different things

True but, commendably, Wiki fills in some of the blanks and mentions Rod too: 53rd & 3rd is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones.

"The Balltrap" (Rod Stewart)

https://youtu.be/xZ3otrObWJw

http://www.bmhmagazine.com/blog/2809/large-default/ball-trap-roches-les-blamont.jpg

i thought this would have a much more lurid accompanying photo

man, Rod was an open song-stealing crook in the mid-70s (see the upcoming "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"). Here it's the Stones--the sax riff from "Brown Sugar," a refrain hook from "All Down the Line," probably others.

this is ridiculous, bawdy and pretty fun. Rod singing at the top of his range gives it this gawky desperation that fits the lyric

I couldn't find an (in)appropriate photo.

I concede the Dylan thievery in "Georgie," but having heard "Taj Mahal" and "...Sexy" many times I still don't hear the lift. But we'll discuss it soon enough.

"Pretty Flamingo" (Mark Barkan)

https://youtu.be/3ruIXYPNm4o

http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-134322588545647/flamingo-meat-1.gif

yikes, this is a mess

not a great song

"Big Bayou" (Gib Guilbeau)

https://youtu.be/FtBSTYh4xA8

http://www.themorris.org/images/art/straus_bayouteche.jpg

the balltrap, highly questionable and/or ridiculous and/or silly lyrics aside, is a pretty rowdy fun little rocker, Rod seems genuinely into it in a way that almost feels like his Faces work, way more spirited than any of the rockers on Atlantic Crossing

one youtube comment said Joe Walsh played on Balltrap? that would maybe explain the goony esprit de corps

he does

ok i'm kinda into pretty flamingo, it's so awkward but kinda loveable like a bunch of stuff jammed together the incongruous horn arrangements a flute solo why the fuck not?

cuz seventies

yeah that's why i love the 70s so much

big bayou is a fucking jam

Big Bayou is a lot of fun, if another kitchen-sink arrangement like "Pink Flamingo." Cajun fiddle, horns, Chuck Berry guitar; surprised there wasn't a conga solo at some point

Catching up

"The Balltrap": Starts out like a rough draft for "Hot Legs". The lyrics on this are....interesting. Rod really got away with murder re:the raunchy stuff back then, no? Boogies convincingly, and yeah, maybe the best reclamation he's made thus far of the Faces' spirit.

"Pretty Flamingo": A 70's boogie recasting of the Manfred Mann ballad hit from prior decade (which had Jack Bruce on bass during his hot minute with the group before jumping ship for Cream). Not entirely successful, but the horns and flute and such save the day. Latin/Island touches like that are some of my favorite '70s sonic excesses.

"Big Bayou": Ron Wood also did this on his second LP, Now Look. His is a little undercooked by comparison. This swings like a mofo. I imagine this is how the Eagles wanted their rockers to sound like in the early days.

I'll be interested to hear when he really takes a turn stylistically.

Because, in essence, Atlantic Crossing and Night on the Town are, for the most part, just slightly slicker and less satisfying versions of what he'd done w/the Faces or on the Mercury albums

i think the arrival of Carmine Appice (next LP?) will start to shift things a bit

"Big Bayou" is not more than an OK change of pace. "Pretty Flamingo" defines the '70s: heavy fluttering curtains, processed snack food, cigarette smoke in closed rooms.

i think the arrival of Carmine Appice (next LP?) will start to shift things a bit

― col, Thursday, September 22, 2016 3:48 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

shiiit, an Appice brother! those dudes are always popping up somewhere can't be stopped

Mojo recently did a Hello/Goodbye on Carmine & Rod. They fell out in the early '80s over production credits and the manufactured rumor that Carmine was leaving Rod's band to join Led Zep(!).

Appice co-write "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" so he's made.

Meetings all day. Here we go:

The Wild Side of Life" (Arlie Carter, William Warren)

https://youtu.be/5KMQJUhvrb4

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k2i1y8Z8SCU/UfdAc0LTwFI/AAAAAAAACDc/ZoxeXQWTuzU/s640/rodpool.jpg

it's gettin hot in herre

all right! this is a solid cover (it swings more than the Status Quo version, from the same year) and a credible update of Hank Thompson for mid-'70s LA---wish the whole "fast side" had been like this

"Trade Winds" (Ralph MacDonald, William Salter)

https://youtu.be/Gk5QOLvmXlk

http://f.tqn.com/y/geography/1/W/y/B/itcz5.gif

ok, let's get another "sailing" themed-song for the LP closer, as mandated by law, apparently

more seriously this shows how keen an ear Rod had for contemporary R&B. No other rocker was covering a song originally performed by the Three Degrees (though maybe R came to it via Maggie Bell)

His vocal is marvelous -- one of his best on the record. The arrangement could've come from a Doobies session.

"The Wild Side of Life": Another smash'n'bash er on the road to "Hot Legs". Fantastic fiddle. Doesn't need to be five minutes long, but the band brings it.

"Trade Winds": Somebody got lost looking for the "Slow Side". A fine number, well-played and arranged.

The album on the whole feels like a slicker refinement of Atlantic Crossing. The "Fast Half" benefits most, although Rod bank account rules all with changes made to "The Slow Half".

So here we are with Foot Loose & Fancy Free...

"Hot Legs" (Rod Stewart, Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/AHcjjxYbgNM

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RCs-IKUKtAw/TiE0aMdZFtI/AAAAAAAAAu0/6miHHsw-Ru0/s1600/legs72.jpg

One of Stewart's most loathsome hits.

yeah, this feels like something's shifted. sure, on paper, it's basically another sub-Faces knockoff, whose lyrics aren't much different from "Stay With Me" or "Balltrap." But there's a new, hectoring crassness to it---Rod's vocal is overbearing and grotesque, as are the guitars.

as kid, this track (& another soon-to-come Rod hit) symbolized "the 70s" to me. By '82 or '83, this sounded like gross, sleazy old man rawk from the stone age. ("hot legs" seemed to hang around for a while, too---i'm sure it was being played regularly in the early 80s on the AOR station my dad liked.)

I'll get into this more later (just got called into work), but "Hot Legs" strikes me as more of a forecast for Hair Metal than anything Zep or most Glam Bands (Kiss & Slade being major exceptions) ever did.

Yes. I have a theory that it spawned "You Shook Me All Night Long."

"You're Insane" (Rod Stewart, Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/jYNdmfobfNk

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mEbK8Y4IA2c/maxresdefault.jpg

Sorry: songwriting credits should read Stewart and bassist Phil Chen

this is a pretty vile song (see the rape verse). I can see why people who fell in love with the guy for "Mandolin Wind" and "Gasoline Alley" were repulsed by this stuff.

on the plus (ish) side, the band---the 'classic' set of Appice, Chen, etc---already has a distinct identity & does seem to be setting the template for a lot of early 80s hard rock (Billy Squier and so on)

catching up....."Tradewinds" is pretty grown & sexy adult R&B, can imagine a 70s couple in soft focus sitting on a bearskin run in front of a fire, they clink wine glasses and kiss...slow dissolve, all that said Rod's one of the few white artists who can really pull something like this off, still a little saccharine for me

Hot Legs...I dunno...it's okay I guess, I don't hate it as much as everyone else but never really need to hear it again

"You're Insane", actually feel like the groove is pretty damn good for a white rocker dude doing cocaine funk/disco, not quite Bowie or Disco Stones but good...holy shit the lyrics though, not cool Rod. It's nuts what dudes got by with in the 70s.

"You're In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)" (Rod Stewart)

https://youtu.be/v1qxJPzjObI

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02533/rodstew_2533220c.jpg

A chestnut that leave me cold.

jeez, that's a harsh segue from "You're Insane"

just because he wants to rape her doesn't mean she's not in his heart, jeez

he's a sensitive dude

ah i kinda like this one. it's Rod trying to rewrite Cole Porter's "You're the Top" for Britt Ekland and it's both stupid and mildly clever. the sort of refrain that seems to have been around long before Rod wrote it

you're in my heart is one of his big songs i've always kinda hated

but yes this x10000000

jeez, that's a harsh segue from "You're Insane"

― col, Tuesday, September 27, 2016 9:55 AM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Born Loose" (Stewart, Jim Cregan, Grainger)

https://youtu.be/WU-FjBJyyg0

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2013/08/Rod-Stewart-D.-Morrison.jpg

love the photos where Rod looks like a drunk rooster

wow "You're in My Heart" is bizarrely sequenced on this LP. well, here's Rod writing "Respectable" a year before the Stones did. easily could've been faded at the three-minute mark but the sloooowdown speedup is fun enough. Appice's drumming helps

This is his best attempt at slop-rock since "Stone Cold Sober."

"Born Loose" is a jam...def Rod in his comfort zone, like watching Barry Bonds take batting practice

Gradually catching up...

"Hot Legs": Yup, this is basically the template for Hair Metal. Yes, this thing has roots in the Faces (it's "Stay With Me"'s dumber, younger brother) and 70s Cock Rock, with a pinch of purloined Stones too (the shadow of "Brown Sugar" looms large). But it goes...further somehow. You've got this big dumb riff, big dumb drums (Hello Mr. Appice!), an unexpected bass breakdown to imply 'Funk', followed by much whammy bar abuse and Chuck Berry rips in the guitar solo, and despite it's absence in the video, Rod really gets into the spandex at this time. Alfred brought "You Shook Me All Night Long"* up upthread, which is indeed another key text. But AC/DC frequently had a lot more going on under the surface, and this...doesn't. In other words, here's where Poison et al got all their moves they didn't score from Kiss.

That said, I do like it probably because of all that. It's got those big 70s guitars and drums and bass and keyboards and horns that were all on their way out. If you're gonna be stupid, go all the goddamn way. He truly was a critic's pet no more. Which is kind of funny, since this number is like a super slicked out New York Dolls song.

*Which is kind of a fusion of this and "All Right Now", another U & K text.

...and iirc, Rod butchers "ARN" sometime in the early '80s, no?

AC/DC were minimalists, very stylistically strict which Rod is definitely not

good lord, here we go...

"You Keep Me (Hangin' On)" (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland)

https://youtu.be/N83uZp6uU4c

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/08/e6/bf/08e6bf0350977504a68bb0e6edc246e4.jpg

get a load of that Vanilla Fudge organ!

I'm assuming this was the drummer's idea?

This album smacks of Rod showing up rehearsals with the band and saying, "So, any ideas, lads?

"Carmine, let's do "'Angin' On" like you did with the Fudge, shall we?"

dreadful. it's rare to hear Rod completely out to sea in a song, but he's pretty lost here

This album smacks of Rod showing up rehearsals with the band and saying, "So, any ideas, lads?

― (SNIFFING AND INDISTINCT SOBBING) (Tom D.),

I've no doubt it happened this way.

Worst moment we've heard to date?

It's like when Lou Reed all of a sudden started writing songs with... Michael Fonfara.

wow the intro is so proggy! honestly if you played me this song up until the point that his vocals some in, i don't know if i would have guessed it were a rod steward in 1000 guesses

this is so turgid

This album smacks of Rod showing up rehearsals with the band and saying, "So, any ideas, lads?

― (SNIFFING AND INDISTINCT SOBBING) (Tom D.),

I've no doubt it happened this way.

Worst moment we've heard to date?

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, September 29, 2016 7:07 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dunno with the really counter intuitive arrangement and string section and everything, this feels really labored over (in a bad way)

"You're Insane": Damn, this is almost Gun'n'Roses ten years ahead of schedule. I can also hear Vince Neil having fun with these lyrics, which in the case of that last verse, yeah, Rod getting away with murder again. Prior to that though, this bit...

You went to Woodstock and all that trash
Your generation is fading fast
You wear them hot pants, they're out of style
You like brown sugar, I think it's vile

...reads as pretty Punk, like a rejected bit from the Pistols' "New York" or "EMI" or something.

"You're In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)": I've always had a soft spot for this one. Used to hear it all the time on the Easy Listening station my Mom listened to when I was growing up. This, "Count On Me" by Jefferson Starship, and, er, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" really take me back to otherwise forgotten station wagon trips and so forth.

i dunno with the really counter intuitive arrangement and string section and everything, this feels really labored over (in a bad way)

Laboured over by the lads in the band while Rod is off playing with Britt or following Scotland's successful World Cup qualification campaign.

(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right (Homer Banks, Carl Hampton, Raymond Jackson)

https://youtu.be/gwmAs-FwFgI

http://therawgallery.com/en/wp-content/uploads/REA-RodStewart01.jpg

instead of "Slow Side" this is more like the "Overcooked Side". Going for a Thom Bell-style arrangement but it's just sterile and leaden

"Born Loose": "Hey, maybe I want to be the Stones after all!" Caught somewhere between (as pointed out) "Respectable" & Black and Blue, this finds our Rodster reveling in being a working band again, a tighter Faces for the late '70s who can stretch a sketch of a song like this into a 6 minute jam that you want to listen to again and again.

"You Keep Me Hangin' On": Now this is lazy. Beginning as exact 1977 cop of the 1967 Fudge arrangement, this was better when Wilson Pickett did the same trick in '69 (https://youtu.be/h6VooKUj9Y8) And now there are strings. Perhaps he should have done a Disco version instead?

"(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right": Rod had first cut this with the Faces during the Ooh La La sessions (it's on the Five Guys box, can't find online). Nice guitar solo. This feels like an obvious move here. Makes me wish he pulled "If It's All The Same To You Babe" from the Luther Ingram catalogue instead (https://youtu.be/PIHdAf8I_gk). Rod and this band could have turned it into a right Disco banger.

Day off?

Nope! It's Saturday!

"I Was Only Joking" (Stewart, Grainger)

https://youtu.be/U4RVRkurm4Y

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/U4RVRkurm4Y/hqdefault.jpg

Many critics say this comes too late, but I like it enough to consider it my favorite track of the album and my favorite period ballad.

in that genre of "determined self-effacement"

From the illustrated booklet that came with the Footloose and Fancy Free vinyl:

http://img.wax.fm/releases/3099677/rod-stewart-foot-loose-fancy-free-2282060.jpeg

see? He didn't mean it!

Even compared to other 70s rock dudes Carmine Appice really looks like a 70s rock dude

We got a yuuuuuuge one

"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (Rod Stewart, Carmine Appice, Duane Hitchings)

https://youtu.be/Hphwfq1wLJs

http://e.snmc.io/lk/f/l/0c9ae048cb83bc48a9d5baa0778c3d0b/2841124.jpg

"shuh-gah...SHUH-GAH"

Rod crossing the Rubicon on this one---this, more than any other hit, is the meat of the "Rod Stewart sold his soul" charge. also doing your disco sell-out after "Miss You" was already out made Rod seem a bit desperate

i used to hate really this, now I'm fine with it---it's campy and gross but it grooves. The big steal isn't "Taj Mahal" but Bobby Womack's "If You Want My Love, Put Something Down On It" ---the Womack string hook really makes the track.

& along w/"Hot Legs" this symbolized The Seventies for me as a kid; it seemed like an awful period America had luckily escaped

Phil Chen's bass playing is insane on this -- there's a wild reggae-disco thing he's doing that Appice completely ignores and almost drowns out, but he makes the track work, and the two-bar solo with percussion but no drums is terrific.

yeah I fucking love "Sexy?" these days. That synth hook is really something.

Appice and Chen are really going for that "Miss You" sound, aren't they? Sax solo too.

Appice is, yeah -- but Chen's got a different feel going entirely. The pre-verse octave line seems to me to be a reggae feel, with the sixteenth notes in the higher octave imitating reggae rhythm guitar. Charlie Watts and Chen together would have been a more interesting rhythm section, for sure.

So why is it "Da Ya" and not "Do Ya"? Eh, Rod?

agree Chen is the MVP on this thing. I guess Appice wrote a big chunk of it after Rod said "give me a disco song" (R's only responsible for the refrain)

First, since I missed yesterday, must note that "I Was Only Joking" is maybe Rod's best late-'70s track and one of my favorite album closers. If only it had a better album to close.

My thoughts on today's song later tonite...

Was "Miss You" perceived as such a betrayal as this at the time? Even with all its disco moves it seems very "Stones" to me. Mick just channelling a little different sense of sleaze...but maybe that's just perception on my part

the climate was disco but it'd been disco since 1973 at least. I mean, the Stones released "Hot Stuff" in 1976.

"Dirty Weekend" (Stewart, Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/0ZfpfZBoYTM

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Dirty_Weekend_FilmPoster.jpeg

"Hot Legs II: Dirty Weekend". another one that seems to be creating hair metal. A refrain would've been nice

The drums are mixed loud; they sound like Phil Collins' on Robert Plant's Pictures at Eleven.

Catching Up Again...We missed a Footloose etc. track!

"You Got A Nerve": Another slow one. Seems to be going for some sort of Zep ballad majesty, with sad guy Rod lyrics with a kiss-off ending and whistling instead of stuff about albion or hobbits. Could be shorter.

"I Was Only Joking": Nice melody, reminds me of Sam Cooke. Feels like a "Maggie May"/"You Wear It Well" updated for '77. Manages to use the 6 minutes well. "Verse 7 is never clear" is a classic meta-Rod smirk.

Such a strange album, Rod finally has good working band that he can write with surrounding him again, and ends up turning in his most generally product-y effort yet--"'er's som rockahs, and sum ballads...ah've a hot chick waitin' for me in bed so see ya!"

what'd I miss?

"You Got A Nerve", 7th track on LP.

you got a nerve? - which i actually think in some spots seems to prefigure 80s pop metal ballads

i really like do ya think i'm sexy's synth like that dah-dah-dahdahdah-dah-dah dah-dah-dahdahdah-dah-dah

"Hot Legs II: Dirty Weekend". another one that seems to be creating hair metal. A refrain would've been nice

― col, Monday, October 3, 2016 7:22 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The drums are mixed loud; they sound like Phil Collins' on Robert Plant's Pictures at Eleven.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, October 3, 2016 7:31 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah really "80s" drum sound, remarkably so....i'd love it if Tape Op did some investigative historical piece on the origins of the heavy gated 80s sound

To return to Da Ya Think I'm Sexy, this was considered the height of humour in the UK in 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqOh4z2ASdk

man that is terrible

This is one of my all time favorite covers - a terrific techno/industrial take of Rod's big hit from a year earlier by British Standard Unit from the album Hybrid Kids, which was actually Morgan Fisher pretending to be a compilation of obscure post-punk acts that didn't really exist. The whole track is hilarious but especially the ending....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eULilLiRdv8

... lol, I haven't heard that in literally decades.

Me neither, though I've probably heard it more recently than that "Do Ya Think I'm Disco" novelty song that was all over the radio for several weeks in 1979 on the very stations that had bombarded us with disco just months earlier.

"Ain't Love a Bitch" (Rod Stewart, Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/UN07R9PN9MU

http://ring.cdandlp.com/golfdrouot73/photo_grande/114769162.jpg

I'm surprised this as the second single.

bit of a bait-and-switch title: you expect this to be another vicious putdown like "You're Insane" and it turns out to be an acoustic reverie on all those crazy birds Rod's gone through (inc. poor Maggie Mae). "I can't comprehend this thing called love/ Maybe it's a matter of fact I just can't grow up" is pretty much his credo

agree this is a weird choice for single. apparently didn't do that great, as I don't recall hearing it

It sounds like another attempt at self-deprecation a la "I Was Only Joking" but so much has been lost

"The Best Days of My Life" (Stewart, Jim Cregan)

https://youtu.be/SEyQO8NP8zA

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7295/11387516424_dc81cc79c9_b.jpg

these late 70s Rod albums are sequenced so oddly/randomly. Can imagine someone who bought "Blondes" for the hit single & maybe expected a few rockers would've lifted the needle at this point

It's too rueful for the album we've heard so far, but it works on its own terms. What schizoid tendencies: he can't apologizing in song for being a sleaze.

*apologize

"Is That the Thanks I Get?" (Stewart, Cregan)

https://youtu.be/YTGfu7CVwz8

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/05/20/00/0520003e3c845928fe1dd74056737d3e.jpg

another in a series of put-upon cad's songs; catchy enough, though. once in a while it sounds like a Rod scratch vocal was used by mistake. Appice doesn't know what to do with this one, so he plods through it.

Increasingly BHMF doesn't sound like its reputation suggests: a disco album. It's a typical uneven Stewart album with a disco-influenced monster hit.

Alimony was kicking in I assume?

no, he hadn't ever been married at this point (which does separate him from a lot of his peers, who had ex-wives and kids by '78_

but I think this is the post-Britt E. album

"Ain't Britt a bitch, eh, gents?"

Lyrics are a tad pointed.

catching up....

"dirty weekend" - another rocker he seems to throw out at random on these albums, some of these lyrics o_O

I'll bring the red wine you bring the ludes
Your mother's doctor must be quite a dude
We'll hang the 'Don't Disturb' outside our door
I'm gonna rock you till your pussy's sore

"ain't love a bitch" - as someone said, biggest surprise so far! thought this would be another dirty weekend, but yeah a real nice tender little midtempo bit...almost reminds me of a ronnie lane type song

best days of my life is a snooze, again seeing the roots of his current incarnation as an ez listening singer

these late 70s Rod albums are sequenced so oddly/randomly. Can imagine someone who bought "Blondes" for the hit single & maybe expected a few rockers would've lifted the needle at this point

― col, Wednesday, October 5, 2016 8:48 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's too rueful for the album we've heard so far, but it works on its own terms. What schizoid tendencies: he can't apologizing in song for being a sleaze.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, October 5, 2016 8:49 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

very otm posts

is that the thanks i get? i think is marginally better than best days of my life....but yeah this album is super boring, do ya think i'm sexy at least some zest

can't wait to hear if "attractive female wanted" lives up to the title

don't know if Alfred's power got knocked out by the hurricane, so I'll step in just in case:

"Attractive Female Wanted" (Stewart, Grainger)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-nEtkVKr4

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/A2JNDD/rod-stewart-and-the-faces-backstage-in-1978-A2JNDD.jpg

well these lyrics really deliver!

Now that is crap.

what's with this album? I guess this is Rod trying to relate to his fans

Was this one of those things where he had an album done then they tacked the big single on? Do Ya Think I'm Sexy seems so out of place

Thanks, col. No power outage -- I was taking shutters down.

I'm not sure what's going on here except Stewart having a title idea and tossing it around with Granger. The guitars have a nice dead-insect crunch. Um...what else?

"See that little riff you were playing earlier... just keep playing that... yeah, that one... I'll come up with something... we got 4 bleeding' minutes to fill up here, lads..."

he sits alone
waiting for suggestions

"Last Summer" (Stewart, Philip Chen)

https://youtu.be/Z3KpaDvqYB4

http://mathiastef.free.fr/rodstew22.jpg

The bassist gets a credit!

Also: Nicky Hopkins on piano.

ohhhhh boy -- reggae!

"She purred...like a cat in a Panama hat"

i recall Rod saying he felt Blondes.. was his worst album as whenever he met fans they never mentioned anything off it.

(this was in Q in about '95)

yeah, while there may well be further contenders, so far this is his worst. A big disco hit single sitting atop a pile of third-rate filler. did he ever sing this stuff on stage? Can't imagine the fans were calling out for "Last Summer"

Say this for Stewart: he co-wrote every song on this album except for this cover...

"Standin' in the Shadows of Love" (Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland, Brian Holland)

https://youtu.be/Kr9NtHnhSYU

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/48/bb/27/48bb2764fa2994370733dea4cfe5c500.jpg

by the standards of this album, this cover's not bad at all---everyone sounds awake in the studio, at least. sounds like the guys in the band singing backup are about to erupt into "IF--ya think I'm sexy" during the refrain

"Scarred and Scared" (Stewart, Grainger)

https://youtu.be/eA9Xltmmfb4

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/f5Lw-pqlaNU/maxresdefault.jpg

going for the epic, as this sinking boat of an album finally ends. The melody feels like it's been nicked from somewhere? OK vocal with some weird phrasing choices ("Killed-a BOY!"); a song yearns to be better than it is

oh wait, we skipped the title track! another Stones ripoff with some ZZ Top flavoring.

https://youtu.be/J6iTWaKoZ5U

I don't mind "Scarred..." -- he's trying to remember a grace he lost.

The title track sure kicks up a racket.

I was NOT expecting this record to be his worst to date.

the sort of album that justified home taping. I can't imagine even big fans were happy with how much chaff was on this one

This album is a dog.

I was all set to give it the Soto Treatment too: unjustly forgotten blockbuster better than expected.

yeah, hard to imagine just two albums earlier Rod Stewart was still a critic's pet; A Night on the Town was #9 in the Pazz and Jop poll. I think BHFM was when they got off the bus for good.

to give Alfred a break, I'll put up a few of the songs this week.

Welcome to the '80s: it's Foolish Behaviour.

"Better Off Dead" (Stewart, Chen, Savigar, Appice)

https://youtu.be/vp-nOc4XH60

http://www.photofeatures.com/rodstewart/images/prevs/rod-stewart-80-074a.jpg

Awise, Sir Wodewick

just catching up on blondes have more fun

overall, i'm with the consensus, real turd.

last summer is at least funny in it's ridiculousness, feel like it's looking ahead to the movie Cocktail

"she said my passport photo was un-NIQUE!"

"sharing a pina colada, we broke into laughter"

"Standing in the Shadows of Love" is way more what I thought this album would be like, the disco record

also...jesus fucking christ the heyday of the record business was easy money:

The album has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide.

well, it may be 1980 but it's still 1972 in Rod's head, as he does yet another workable Stones knockoff ("Rip This Joint" here). I suppose my biggest surprise so far is just how long he kept at this: figured by now it would all be disco & slick coke-rock on these albums.

haha i was coming to post the exact same thing! i totally thought this might be a "new wave" type record or something given the success he'd just had with reaching out of his wheelhouse with "do ya think i'm sexy?"

my tolerance for these stonsey throwaways is really wearing thing

The coke rock is in Foolish Behaviour and it's superior followup.

omigod this really is "Rip This Joint"

christ the sleeves too..

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61GTHQM1Z6L.jpg

I love that shirt!

"Passion" (Stewart, Chen, Savigar, Appice)

https://youtu.be/Mdq0_zZOFLg

http://streamd.hitparade.ch/cdimages/rod_stewart-passion_s_4.jpg

The albm's requisite top five hit, and among my least favorite Stewart singles. Christgau: Stewart invokes passion "as universal solvent (like an asshole at a bar where the women are taken."

in its favor, at least this sounds like Rod & the guys have been listening to the radio a bit. There's a touch of New Wave in it (was the "New York--Moscow--Hong Kong--Tokyo" bit inspired by "Pop Musik?") and at least it's not another sloppy Stones retread.

but otherwise, yeah, it's a dud. Feels like it takes 3 minutes to get to the refrain, which is pretty middling. Rod worked best with first-person lyrics (until the great single coming up); he's not well suited to be surveying "passion" in the streets and the alleys

also, keytar in the video! which seems on the early side

The albm's requisite top five hit, and among my least favorite Stewart singles. Christgau: Stewart invokes passion "as universal solvent (like an asshole at a bar where the women are taken."

Only reached 17 in the UK, which was pretty bad for a Rod single. In one ear and out the other tbh.

hahaha Carmine Appice doesn't look sleazy enough he has to wear a SEX POLICE t-shirt

this definitely more what i thought the album would be like but agree it's a bit of a slog and not catchy

rod's black & white floral print w/vertical stripe pants is something else too

EVEN THE PRESIDENT NEEDS PASSION

Carmine explains the "sex police" shirts in his new memoir

"Carmine tells of patrolling hotel hallways as a member of the “Sex Police.” with Rod and the rest of the band listening for anyone in the band or crew having sex with a girl they had got lucky with and sabotage these encounters any way they could. After donning their official “Sex Police” T-shirts, the crew would “charge down the hotel corridor to that person's room, singing our theme song as we went: ‘Sex Police, we’re the Sex Police. Sex Police, we’re the Sex Police!’ ” once inside the room, they would “cause as much mayhem as possible. Beds might get tipped over; sometimes the chick would be thrown out of the room without her clothes. Normally she would take one look at the 10 to 15 guys bursting into the room and leave of her own accord anyway.”

just ugh

adorable

Aww I like "Passion." It's one of the earliest music videos I remember seeing so maybe it's nostalgia, but I like the creepy late-night mood.

Yeah, I like it too. Much better than "Better Off Dead."

"Foolish Behaviour" (Rod Stewart, Phil Chen, Kevin Savigar, Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/ZwtcemMCkjY

http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-condemning-all-women-in-order-to-help-some-misguided-men-get-over-their-foolish-behaviour-christine-de-pizan-68-60-33.jpg

Sex Police team up to craft epic wife-killing fantasy

"So Soon We Change" (Rod Stewart, Phil Chen, Kevin Savigar, Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/vtNJAIQQJGw

http://0.tqn.com/d/80music/1/S/n/b/-/-/rodstewart-GettyImages-540993961.jpg

Sex Police team up to craft epic wife-killing fantasy

0_o

another thought on "Foolish Behaviour": is there a Zevon thing going on a bit? the hire-a-hitman/run-to-Mexico lyric, etc.

"How Soon We Change": because I guess "Another Summer" wasn't enough.

"So Soon We Change" & "Last Summer," rather. coffee not kicked in

It's better than "Last Summer" b/c bands w/New Age undertones had less of a problem with reggae.

"Oh God I Wish I Was Home Tonight"

https://youtu.be/ZsmvDpFh4zs

http://darumaya.boy.jp/img/UPDATED2016/0411/233951.jpg

I gotta say: I love this song, always have. The "Maggie May" lift feels as shrewd as Bowie updating the Major Tom saga the same year. Good lyrics too: "They're a great bunch of guys/But I think they're all gay/What am I doing/Avoiding what I'm trying to say?" and "Write a pornographic letter/You know I won't tell."

yes! a welcome reminder that this guy once wrote "You Wear It Well." his best track in ages. a fair bit of "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" in the verses

even the title suggests he's trying to remember a hunger and a place he has long since forsaken.

"Gi’ Me Wings" (Rod Stewart, Phil Chen, Kevin Savigar, Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/OdprQjLulY0

http://reelnerdspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/rod80s.jpg

All I could find was a live version with a loud synth.

Real one is on Spotify...which also has some exclusive expanded versions of 80s Rod albums (most of the extras are live stuff).

I need to get back on this...things have been nuts in C.Grissoland as of late.

My Girl" (Stewart, Chen, Savigar, Cregan, Grainger, Appice)

https://youtu.be/li-h0hRa--s

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nftWDQm2umI/hqdefault.jpg

at first glance i thought this was a Motown cover & I braced myself. But this is okay, if a bit dull, and could have done without the generic sax solo. there's a consistency to this album that makes it a better listen than the previous LP

yes this record has been a relief

"She Won’t Dance with Me" (Stewart, Jorge Ben)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHKHjtup3Qk

http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3903633.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Rod-Stewart.jpg

Among the first videos played by Music Television in summer '81.

what's up with the Jorge Ben credit -- guilt?

the Ben credit seems to be some sort of legal settlement as part of the "Taj Mahal"/"Sexy" thing? not much info out there. weird pick for a co-credit

Rod's hack actor mannerisms at full peak in the video. song makes a good racket and is barely 2 minutes long, so fine w/me

yeah this sounds like a solo song he had to crank out

Not hearing too much Jorge Ben there tbh.

what'd y'all think of "Oh God..."?

Pretty good song, if a bit too nostalgic.

Getting caught up.. Title track is ok but damn I guess I always saw Rod as more good-natured than the Stones and he's dropped some pretty nasty lyrics so far

This album after the first song is way more the Louche sleazy sellout stuff I'd expected the last one to be

"Somebody Special" (Stewart, Chen, Savigar, Cregan, Steve Harley)

https://youtu.be/qz0plaQ2N6k

http://cdn3.volusion.com/mfldx.ukade/v/vspfiles/photos/t_11_gigi-2.jpg?1319805513

a flop single, and understandably so. It feels a bit out of time---a Philly Soul lite-disco thing. but tasteful, by Rod standards! i like how he sings "negativity"

It's an outlier, at least amid the material released since 1975. Wonder if the Steve Harley credit has something to do with it?

wait steve harley of cockney rebel?? weird

yep!

off topic alfred, have you ever heard their album "fearless flight" an odd mix of arch glam with steely dan studio pro r&b, think you might dig it (or find it ponderous haha) but i like it a lot

I have not! Thanks. First good rec out of this thread

i think it's the record their trv kvlt glam rock fans think is kind of a shitty/sellout move

"Say It Ain’t True" (Rod Stewart, Phil Chen, Kevin Savigar, Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger)

https://youtu.be/xu96y8HlHIQ

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SXI9xWkTQek/TQy5gnYkHYI/AAAAAAAAD3o/KfwQFDQCca8/s1600/rod-stewart-faces.jpg

"Foolish Behaviour" winds down with a long, slow weeper. On the whole this was a better LP than the last 2?---the sloppy third-rate Stones knockoffs are gone at least and even the dull tracks sound good

oh and very tasteful photo accompaniment for the YT clip

a pure "yacht rock" tune, this

It's funny how he mostly eschewed those tropes for messin' with the boys in the studio

rooting for "Tonight I'm Yours" ; hope it's not another singles + "WTF, Rod?" tracks

We have one more live extra track, which I might post today.

yeah, get it out of the way

Some housecleaning: a live version of "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" (Live) (Willie Dixon)

an extra track

https://youtu.be/uoJ7K_8aAJY

aaaand we step confidently into the eighties with the title track of...

"Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me)" 4:09 (Stewart, Jim Cregan, Kevin Savigar)

https://youtu.be/kMKlQGDqD1A

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51E7KacHLpL._SY355_.jpg

finally! his best single in a decade +. It's the same scenario as "Tonight's the Night" but Rod's far more aware of his ridiculousness now (the "don't hurt me"s still crack me up, along with the shrieks at the fade out)---no grand seduction, just the offer of few hours in the company of an aging rake. You WON'T Be HOME! Ya WON'T BE HOME!

forgot how damn hooky this thing was---the Cars-esque keyboard riff, the guitar fills on the verses, the synth-claps, the chimes on the refrains, the piano break.

Catchy, only got to no. 20 in the US charts though, top 10 in the UK.

yeah that's odd. definitely got a lot of radio play at the time, if not as much as Young turks

there's something of Robert Palmer's "Looking for Clues" in the verses.

yes!

don't hurt
don't hurt

"How Long" 4:12 (Paul Carrack)

https://youtu.be/_Bj-w7zEwZg

http://img.wennermedia.com/article-leads-horizontal/rs-182263-71023095.jpg

Crisp drumming and engaged singing -- I'd rather Rod have a go at the lyric's pained sentiments than Ace -- but inessential.

yeah, why this song? why do it now? Also a weird pick for a single

& i know this has been my hobbyhorse throughout this survey, but why are these albums sequenced so shittily? big fun uptempo opener and then--bung--right into a ballad

"Tora, Tora, Tora (Out With The Boys)" (Stewart)

https://youtu.be/SC2zbH5aOlk

http://www.schnittberichte.com/pics/SBs/200/431099/tora_title.jpg

So Rod writes his own "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and it's...not bad! More crisp drumming (hint of New Wave swing), decent use of the title catchphrase.

yes the drumming's key, & perhaps one reason is that Carmine got the boot for Tony Brock (ex-Babys) (though CA is playing on the singles, apparently).

a track that couldn't be as bad as its title, and isn't. refrain is about as close as Rod ever got to punk

I'll throw in today's. rockabilly!

"Tear It Up" (Dorsey Burnette, Johnny Burnette, David Burlinson)

https://youtu.be/CHsJAYwFep4

http://www.the-world-of-tina.com/img/Tina-Gallery-Live-1981-Rod-Stewart-01.jpg

A song also memorably addressed by The Cramps at around the same time: https://youtu.be/YIQR_3TPtJw

thanks, col!

"Only a Boy" 4:09 (Stewart, Jim Cregan, Kevin Savigar)

https://youtu.be/2yEAbA_oCjk

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zVbOl5lbEH4/hqdefault.jpg

never knew how many autobiographical songs Rod threw onto these albums, and this one has some sharp details and a nice contempt for teachers he still hates, 20 years later. there's a great energy to all of these tracks; maybe they upgraded their coke dealer or something.

Another good song. So far TIY reminds me of Jump Up!, Elton's '82 good minor album: boomer icon finally "gets" New Wave.

I almost missed my deadline, which is just as well, for:

"Just Like a Woman" 3:55 (Bob Dylan)

https://youtu.be/M-9AZYNRwSI

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2015/02/Bob-Dylan-and-Rod-Stewart-630x420.jpg

missed a day! along with "Rainy Day Women," my least-favorite Dylan hit. Rod oversings it to the point of karaoke, the band is reverent

I'm liking how the band is mixed on this record.

"Jealous" 4:30 (Stewart, Carmine Appice, Jay Davis, Danny Johnson)

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/00/45/fd/0045fd9c28f14ba33788caf65bd8e617.jpg

https://youtu.be/-P4MFZBJnE0

first appearance of future cowriter Jay Davis

ah, this is another start of '80s Rod in a way---"Baby Jane" and "Infatuation" (which I think are Davis co-writes too?) lurk in its shadow. again the band lifts this up beyond what the mediocre songwriting deserves---bass and piano in particular

It should be called "Peeved."

"Sonny" 4:01 (Stewart, Cregan, Kevin Savigar, Bernie Taupin)

https://youtu.be/kVpTYNFdnbg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_n4XXPi6FERc/SbGwZwF_XBI/AAAAAAAACe8/e_rX-eWsg_E/s320/sonny.gif

In which Rod Stewart essays a sitcom theme

Bernie Taupin!

this is like 3 sitcom themes rolled up into one limp ball

The big one...

"Young Turks" 5:04 (Stewart, Appice, Duane Hitchings, Kevin Savigar)

https://youtu.be/hSWp6c86Edg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J6m0fnFTVQE/hqdefault.jpg

I adore every note of this song: the clipped, terse Mark Knopfler solo, Stewart's lyrics and obvious enthusiasm, the tightness of the rest of his band. Stephen Thomas Erlewine said in his review that YT shows Stewart "totally at ease with a synth pop beat." I'd go further: he stumbled on a sound signaling where the rest of the decade's rock dabblings would go.

yes--his best single of the decade. i think one reason it works is the third-person---Rod manages (if briefly) to discard his lecherous cad persona for once and instead gives his blessing on the younger generation of screw-ups.

didn't you say you had a Greil Marcus story about this one?

also "Dancing in the Dark" starts here, whether Bruce ever admitted it or no

Yeah. So in 2007 Greil delivered his 41st lecture about the greatness of "Every Picture Tells a Story": something something the drums bang and we're taken back to "I Want to Hold Your Hand," to "Hound Dog," to William Howard Taft's 1909 inaugural address something something.

During the Q&A session I asked, "Do you like ANY song by Stewart after 1971? Often all I'll listen to is 'Young Turks."

Marcus looked stricken. "I return to the first line off Never a Dull Moment's first sog 'True Blue': 'Never been a millionaire
and I tell you mama I don't care.' He did care."

hah! I guess "Smiler" was a bridge too far

wrapping up "TIY" with a weepy tribute to the then-just-deceased runner Terry Fox

"Never Give Up on a Dream" 4:20 (Stewart, Cregan, Taupin)

https://youtu.be/7XoI8IK5f6s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox#/media/File:TerryFoxToronto19800712.JPG

Or, "Never Give Up on Song Doctors"

"needs a touch more bombast, Bernie"

Onward to Body Wishes

"Dancin’ Alone" (Rod Stewart, Robin LeMesurier)

https://youtu.be/WMMDznagzJg

https://s31.postimg.org/m3ld78y0r/Rod_Stewart_Body_Wishes_245345.jpg

a T. Rex cop two years before Power Station's cover!

the stupidest Rod LP title yet!

not only a rip of T. Rex but Robert Palmer's "Sulky Girl" in the refrains! but the sound is still mostly the 2nd-rate Stones rehash he's been doing since the mid-70s.

j blount said on my FB wall that during this decade Stewart and Palmer were living The Double Life of Veronique.

that's perfect.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/group-portrait-of-from-left-british-musician-rod-stewart-american-g-picture-id543609718

don't let it bring you down

"Baby Jane" (Stewart, Jay Davis)

https://www.tv80s.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/rod-stewart-baby-jane.jpg

https://youtu.be/rWDm1BK7Fgo

col loves this jam

I had Young Turks on the first album I ever bought when i was little kid

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7RxLu7BR-U0/maxresdefault.jpg

all time great song

i lolled at "william howard taft" and then thought, wait, did he actually mention william howard taft?

(was this at em?, bcz if so i saw that lecture and still don't know the answer^^^)

so: the mystery of "Baby Jane": why was *this* his '80s UK #1 (his last solo #1, I think, too)? Tom Ewing, tho aptly calling it a "blowsy wreck of a single" doesn't really get into why it did the business---prob. a hangover after the fall of New Pop, and a lot of label money pushing it during a lull month.

It's bizarre to think of this topping during the era of "Billie Jean," "Little Red Corvette," "Every Breath you Take," etc. but i suppose there's always a counter-current of mediocre hits by established brands, like Rod had become in '83.

sounds like it was recorded on a boombox & Rod's vocal is totally "that'll do, boys, I'm off to the pub." Structurally interesting only in that the verse is much catchier than the refrain, and if anyone remembers the song today, it's likely Rod singing the opening lines

I disagree: I've had IT'S GONNA LAAAAS 4EVA

...stuck in my head for hours.

A better than decent hit in America (#14) but I've no memory of it. Much airplay?

BAAAAY-BEE JANE tops LAAAS 4EVA for me

i don't recall hearing it that much. recall "Infatuation" and "Some Guys" having a much bigger radio presence

"Baby Jane" - the title rang no bells for me at all, but the second I clicked on the YouTube clip I was like "Oh yeah, this song." So many of Stewart's hits are like that for me - when I hear them, I remember them, but otherwise they're complete blank spaces. A lot of Elton John is like that for me, too. Each of them has, like, a whole string of albums (particularly in the 80s) that I've never even heard of, although I've heard at least 1 or 2 songs from each.

Oh God, yes, this song is so familiar.

IT'S GONNA LAAAAS 4EVA

otm

"Move Me" (Stewart, Tony Brock, Jay Davis, Wally Stocker, Kevin Savior)

https://youtu.be/HfUZDye75QI

http://www.who2.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/rodstewart-19-485x730.jpg

five songwriters for this?

OK, this is sort of slick crap I figured would be dominating his albums by 1978. that refrain: MOVE-MEH!

I'm enjoying the hell out of this record.

this is the fun trashy Rod record I've been hoping for since this thing started

"Sweet Surrender" (Stewart, LeMesurier)

https://youtu.be/O41hwi81LFA

http://www.voilamode.hu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/alana.jpg

A trifle, but much better than the would-be trifles on the late '70s albums. Maybe that ticking drum machine helps.

He co-wrote a song with Sgt. Wilson from Dad's Army? Was struggling to remember which blonde this one was, but it's Alana, of course.

nicely continues with the genial cheap sound of this album--that drum machine is mixed so front-and-center it's like a product placement. a non-hit single in the UK? (wondering why there was a video made for it)

"What Am I Gonna Do (I'm So in Love with You)" (Stewart, Davis, Brock)

https://youtu.be/GfiZGWZsd6s

http://ring.cdandlp.com/neil93/photo_grande/3000664.jpg

Crawled to #35 in America, a bigger hit in Englgand. Sounds like Jay Davis pressed the calypso preset on his DX-7, Rod spewed some lyric, and ran to the pub for a lager.

a very faint memory of this one, & yeah here the LP reaches the limit of its "bash something out over a keyboard & call it a day" aesthetic

"Ghetto Blaster" (Stewart, Cregan, Savigar)

https://youtu.be/qWWu9gb9E4U

https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/a-rad2-boombox-ghettoblaster-a1.jpg?quality=85&strip=info&w=500

i knew a Rod Stewart track called "Ghetto blaster" was coming up & i figured, how it can it be worse than what I'm imagining it being?

& oh man, it *is* a 'message' song (Nostradamus and neutron bombs mentioned in one line alone)--and the refrain has kids chanting "take us to your leader" (to the melody of Stevie Wonder's "Do Yourself a Favor"?) wow it pretty much delivered

It's the weirdness I wanted!

"Ready Now" (Stewart, Stocker)

https://youtu.be/8a4tYBLvMZ8

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c9/fb/4b/c9fb4b3d485802fb61fe04db67910783.jpg

ok, after Tues' disaster, back to the salt mines.

it's a bit reassuring now to hear some solid third-rate 80s hard rock, with a sax riff that's so trebly it bores into the ear and heaps of keyboards. Rod tries some Dylan-ish phrasing for a lyric it probably took 8 minutes to write

I thought the disaster was Elton grabbing a booby.

Rod's staring at him sadly, thinking, "Mate, you don't have to convince me."

ha! and yeah that shot is peak "Wrap Her Up: I Married a Woman, Me" Elton period

"Strangers Again" (Stewart, Cregan, Savior)

https://youtu.be/ET8F3QHm69Y

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9OwsNtOL_zg/hqdefault.jpg

sounds like he heard Journey once and liked it

AZERTY eric4 months ago

Je suis heureux d'entendre à nouveau cette chanson, qui me rappelle d'excellents souvenirs...j'en ai la gorge nouée!!!
Reply

classy. fills the slot on the LP usually reserved for the Club Med beach chillout song

slowly returning to normal...

"Satisfied" (Stewart, Bernie Taupin, Cregan, Savigar)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rsuV1exotvI/hqdefault.jpg

https://youtu.be/adJ6ckdWeBI

A load of macho bullshit ("He may cheat on you, but he still needs to hear you love him" is its message), with Bernie Taupin anticipating early '90s Elton.

man, that photo: peak aggro coke Rod

this fun, crappy goof of an album took a nosedive as it neared its end: this is just ambitious dreck, crumb-spirited and grandiosely self-pitying

and now we start the week with Camouflage.

"Infatuation" (Rod Stewart, Duane Hitchings, Rowland Robinson)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2VaazQfxGso/maxresdefault.jpg

https://youtu.be/nH_xiZZheg4

I'm not a fan: it gallumphs all over the place. Better than "Passion" in the Song About Abstractions category though.

I like it more than you, mainly for some nostalgia & enjoyment of its unabashed hackiness. it's kind of admirable how Rod could subtly keep on top of whatever trends were going on and always make his singles fit in the '80s---compare Jagger's solo singles from '85 to "Infatuation" and the former come off as more grasping. Rod is just there, being Rod. "Infatuation" collides its rock verses into its slightly disco refrains but it works; the use of real horns (inc. some Steely Dan guys) instead of synth lines makes a difference. The ridiculous "OH NO! NOT AGAIN!" is a battle cry; you can't kill the dude.

a cover!

"All Right Now" (Andy Fraser, Paul Rodgers)

https://youtu.be/65uNN9RTBOI

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r5ue_PGUfPU/hqdefault.jpg

this remake of a Free cover sounds like someone's been checking out New Order and Arthur Baker.

Oh man -- I love it when the proto-"Sussudio" horns. Pure smut.

Wow, that is awful. How was it never played over the closing credits of a buddy-cop action comedy?

No one had the imagination.

wow, wasn't expecting this. closing credits music of an action/comedy in 1986 is dead-on.

"Some Guys Have All the Luck" (Jeff Fortang)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sY2WIFGQttE/hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2WIFGQttE

The other hit. If Stewart had released it in 1982 it would've killed; in 1984 the sound is slightly behind the times.

And it's not better than Robert Palmer's version.

yes: a hit slightly out of time, but a persistent one: this thing had a long life, at least in dentist offices and cruise ship soundtracks. It's a testament to Rod's taste (the original Persuaders barely broke the pop top 40) but it winds up more of a period piece than the original. And yeah, Palmer kills him on this one (would be curious to hear Rod try "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" though)

We should make a list of Palmer songs that Rod could've sung.

But here's another chestnut instead...

"Can We Still Be Friends" (Todd Rundgren) – 3:46

http://davidmcgough.com/photos/Jeff%20Beck,%20Rod%20Stewart%201984%20NYC.jpg

https://youtu.be/oWSTslRCg_0

^^Which Palmer also covered!

the Double Life of Veronique theory really works

this is...pretty good? One of Rundgren's sweetest melodies, which gets a bit obscured here. But it's still a striking novelty in this survey to hear Rod backed by nearly-all-electronic instruments. A change from the reheated Stones stuff he was doing as late as '81

"Bad For You" (Stewart, Kevin Savigar, Jim Cregan)

http://www.tilleysvintagemagazines.com/gallery/IMG_0960.JPG

https://youtu.be/EOPJpb08WGw

yikes, bring back the covers. So generic a track it seems to have been done to test studio mikes and the mixing skills of aspiring sound engineers

"Heart Is On the Line" (Stewart, Jay Davis)

https://gcdn.emol.cl/los-80/files/2015/10/rock-in-rio-rod-stewart.jpg

https://youtu.be/xxgC5V6CGnQ

Apparently Rod and Jay Davis thought "Baby Jane" was the new "Maggie Mae."

Gonna do two to compensate for ILX's two-hour failure last night...

"Camouflage" (Stewart, Savigar, Michael Omartian)

http://www.showbiz411.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/rod-stewart-elton-john.jpg

https://youtu.be/I8EPgWcGK20

meant to include this fact about "Bad for you" as per wiki

"Michael Omartian produced all the songs except "Bad for You", which was self-produced by Rod. In the liner notes, a disclaimer alludes to the reason behind this (specifically mentioning that Omartian was recently "born again")." but "Infatuation" was ok?

"heart is on the line": you can hear how checked-out Rod is in his barely-there vocal, the sound of a guy who was possibly literally phoning it in. "'ey what rhymes with 'heart's on the line'? 'always on my mind'? 'hangin' on the vine'? '"

"Camouflage": man, Rod might've heard a Time record at some point. chorus is so ridiculous it kinda works

this album seems to predict "No Jacket Required" in a lot of ways---this is basically a poor rough draft of "Sussudio" or "Who Said I Would"

"Trouble" (Stewart, Omartian)

https://youtu.be/gv4Z5IsHkvs

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/37/c3/69/37c3699af878a5ce808f334684fd889d.jpg

A charming oddity: Michael Omartian brings chirps and Simon Says synth chords while Rod closes hie eyes and pretends Oake-Moroder recruited him for Electric Dreams.

*Oakey

A one-off!

"People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield)

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zO12vZpeITY/0.jpg

https://youtu.be/yC_j_dzkaVE

I love this version. Nile Rodgers kepes things simple: low key synth accompaniment and Beck plays cold almost impassive line. Stewart, clearly jazzed about singing a great song, is at the top of his game.

"Trouble": an odd little coda to slight record (only 8 tracks?, nearly half covers). The melody seems nicked from some Men at Work song I'm not remembering but yeah, some "Electric Dreams" in there, too. on the whole, I still like this era better than the dreary slop-rock late 70s Rod

"People Get Ready": what was the deal with this one, a stand-alone single for both of 'em? was it tied to a soundtrack? yeah, one of Rod's best vocals in ages

It was a single from Beck's "Pop" comeback LP Flash

https://img.discogs.com/VFZuXLTyfUJnCJaD5alPUW97O-A=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1449726-1373380518-3549.jpeg.jpg

Point of Local Pride: Beck's lapel pin is the Runaway Radio, the mascot of Rock 101 KLOL, an AOR station I grew up listening to.

fabulous outfit

so we beat on, boats against the current, to 1986's Every Beat of My Heart

"Here To Eternity" (Rod Stewart, Kevin Savigar)

http://kyigt1bcans3ofli94di0kch.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/9/files/2013/07/jimmy_N14_RodstewartLR.jpg

https://youtu.be/LJemEKp_CpY

acc to Wiki, this was officially a self-titled album that gets called Every Beat of My Heart in the US due to the single? (wouldn't it be called Love Touch then? a bigger hit here)

"Here to Eternity": lyrically a crap blend of "Young Turks" and "Killing of Georgie"; musically, seems a harbinger of Richard Marx

"Every Beat of My Heart" hit #2 in England! Crazy. I want to ask Britishes if they heard it on the radio.

"Another Heartache" (Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Stewart, Randy Wayne

https://youtu.be/w0DMq8TdXg0

http://www.rixrecords.com/IMG/10120162.jpeg

A depressing chapter in his do-I-say-not-as-I-do cheatin' anthems, obv influenced by secret sharer Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love." Then again, look at the songwriting credits.

wow, Rod's discovered gated drums at last. also the polar opposite of his mid-70s albums in that his voice is mixed to blare out like a foghorn--good god

1985-1986 was when boomers discovered gated drums. I was going to write in my original post that Stewart's voice is mixed well, but in context it sounds like a second guitar.

"A Night Like This" (Stewart)

https://youtu.be/wF_7WSbrKkQ

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00672/rexfeatures_126228b_672163c.jpg

first solo songwriting credit in years

Does Stewart think he's fronting AC/DC? Some good recycled lines ("Sixteen years old, looking for a hideaway/I'm a set designer, my Mum and Dad thinking I'm gay"); he's using his purported sensitivity as a way to get laid, as usual.

Don't recognize the blonde tbh.

dude it's Rod Stewart

Has Rod ever gone teetotal btw?

So many of these guys do at some point or other.

Nope! Bless his heart.

Ah, knew it, good old Rod!

many xxp; yeah Every Beat Of My Heart was big on the radio for some reason in the Uk. it's probably the last RS song i could sing the chorus of. oh and Downtown Train i guess.

was this LP billed as a "return to rock" at the time? Rod sounds like he's downed a few coffees before he hit the vocal booth at least. some Dylan as usual in his phrasing (& the title too)

col, can you post the next one? I'm out for a couple hours.

sorry, post-Thanksgiving internet delays

"Who’s Gonna Take Me Home" (Stewart, Savigar, Jay Davis)

https://youtu.be/PSohId9Q4qA

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLe8XcYqEFA/UZKYoBCBmrI/AAAAAAAABjk/urwoPlZEI2c/s1600/rod-1986.jpg

who indeed

did they cobble this vocal out of a few warm-up sessions? getting to the refrain is like having to back up an 18-wheeler to a loading dock

"Red Hot In Black" (Stewart, Jim Cregan, Kevin Savigar)

https://youtu.be/mv37Gdidla0

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c5/30/83/c530833ebc88e27b394de132ce56cd31.jpg

I met her in a little French cafe
Legs like a young giraffe
She was sitting reading Baudelaire
Not exactly working class

well, hand it to Rod--not often do you get a young giraffe/ working class rhyme

it's time for the hit!

"Love Touch" (Mike Chapman, Gene Black, Holly Knight)

https://youtu.be/TUdEp3ZP9tc

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wID2uypUPRs/maxresdefault.jpg

if i recall, Rod has cited this one as the nadir of his career, rubbishing it in various interviews

It wouldn't even occur to me to number it among his best or second tier best but it's not unlikeable, despite the marimba.

is this the first Rod single that he didn't have any songwriting credit for? (Not counting covers, obvs)

He didn't write "Some Guys Have All the Luck" and "Sailing" either. We're gonna be seeing more of this trend.

"In My Own Crazy Way" (Stewart, Frankie Miller, Troy Seals, Eddie Setser)

https://youtu.be/4l3UKUMYPDw

https://img.discogs.com/wnrQ8040Xr_LsSpgfyg3bynJm8s=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-4323027-1361726036-7650.jpeg.jpg

the sound of a Rod that never quite was---'80s country/soul could've been good for him

My first thought was, "He's trying to remember a time when this came easily to him, and it's not anymore."

Rod Stewart stated that Miller "was the only white singer to have brought a tear" to his eye.

aaaaand here's the big British hit:

"Every Beat of My Heart" (Stewart, Kevin Savigar)

https://youtu.be/_biJqzRFS3Y

http://streamd.hitparade.ch/cdimages/rod_stewart-every_beat_of_my_heart_s_1.jpg

I don't dislike it: one of his better blowzy ballads, and he looks like he actually cared about the lyrics. The oddest verse of his career: "Pack my bags tonight/Here's one Jacobite/Who must leave or surely die."

sounds like the template for "Downtown Train" and "Rhythm of My Heart."

yeah that verse stood out for me too---Rod comparing his move to the US to an 18th century Scottish exile, i guess. "my heart's still in the highlands"

you're right that this seems like the blueprint for the big ballads to come. but it's telling that barring stuff like "All for One" this is it for Rod as a top UK hitmaker, and it feels like a goodbye in a way

"Ten Days of Rain" (Stewart, Savigar, Tony Brock) –

https://youtu.be/p98nW9S-dFQ

http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4954673.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Kelly-Emberg-and-Rod-Stewart-in-1987.jpg

feels like 10 days elapsed before Rod started singing. seriously, this is about as understated as he gets in 1986, and the track manages to sustain a nice, somber mood, which is something

I get the sense that Brock and Savior programmed the track and yelled to Rod, back from the pub, "Rod, you got something?"

Let's do a twofer. Two covers, one of which made famous 15 years earlier.

"In My Life" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:02

https://youtu.be/mWB9IaAN4ow

"Twistin' the Night Away" (Sam Cooke)

https://youtu.be/otyVxWqjBD4

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/otyVxWqjBD4/hqdefault.jpg

"In My Life": dreadful. Rod's one of the few guys who could've outsung Lennon on this song, but man, not here. only slightly interesting move is the dead-stop ending.

"Twistin'" why couldn't they have just used the original? too "raucous" for the long-forgotten Innerspace soundtrack i guess. remake is assembly-line rock 'n' roll with Rod karaoke vox

The final album in our survey is Stewart's best seller since Blondes Have More Fun and the real beginning of his Bush I-era commercial resurgence.

The first single:

"Lost In You" (Stewart, Andy Taylor)

https://youtu.be/QbkwEOZ6bWc

http://www.45picturesleeves.com/sleeves/rstewart6.jpg

Co-written with former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor. I won't front: the aggressiveness we noted in 1986 finally gets an appropriate setting, and while it's not first-tier Rod the single works. I like the faint mandolin strum in the background, a reminder of what once was. It got to #12 in the U.S. but I haven't heard it on the radio since.

according to both Stewart and Taylor these songwriting sessions were booze/football sessions.

Remind me why 88 is the cutoff?

it seems to mark the end of "sellout" Rod and the start of "respectable elder" Rod, but it's a bit arbitrary

Remind me why 88 is the cutoff?

― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱),

do you really want us to keep going?

I planned to stop with the Storyteller singles, which should happen before Xmas -- it's apt.

don't think i've heard "Lost in You" in 20+ years but yeah, this was on the radio a bit and it's better than i remembered. video seems to be building up to Rod having to face down the strip club boss but hey, a happy ending!

Yeah, the video's standard sexist drivel, on part for the era.

I like the HEY HOW'S YOUR MOTHER HOW'S YOUR section.

"The Wild Horse" (Stewart, Taylor)

http://i.quoteaddicts.com/media/q2/59781.png

https://youtu.be/gvMjU09bYDE

he's trying here, but the chorus is a dud. not too long a jump to get to '90s country from here, though

and he reprises "...run free tonight."

"Lethal Dose of Love" (A. Taylor, R. Stewart, Tony Brock)

http://www.steviesalas.com/file/2015/10/Rod-Stewart-Band-1988.jpg

https://youtu.be/NnFVQIGc7Oo

again, really trying for mid-'80s Robert Palmer sound a bit here (at least he got Andy T. on board). maybe a little less booze & football & a bit more time in the vocal booth & these tracks would work but nah

you guys gonna do 80s Macca next?

no YOU are

"Forever Young" (Jim Cregan, Kevin Savigar, Stewart)

https://youtu.be/yGEe_zpddNI

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-mMMkescgG8/hqdefault.jpg

This song has never gone away. A few weeks ago it was among the top two or three Rod Stewart songs in iTunes. It will never go away.

The structure of the lyrics in this song is very similar to a Bob Dylan song of the same title.[1] When this was realized, the song was then sent to Dylan, out of respect, asking whether he had a problem with it. The two men agreed to participate in the ownership of the song and share Stewart's royalties.[2]

Stewart wrote the song with two of his band members: guitarist Jim Cregan and keyboardist Kevin Savigar. Stewart told Mojo magazine in 1995 that he considered "Forever Young" to be one of his favourite songs and the reason for writing it was, "I love 'Forever Young', because that was a real heartfelt song about my kids. I suddenly realized I'd missed a good five years of Sean and Kimberly's life because I was so busy touring all the time. With these kids now I don't make that mistake- I take them on tour with me, so I can watch them grow up. So that's another favorite. Unfortunately, it wasn't a big hit in England, but it's like a national anthem here (America)"

more great bits from Wiki

Video

The video for this song features Stewart singing to a child while scenes of rural America pass by.
In popular culture

The song was featured in a Pampers commercial that showcased baby animals with their mothers.[4]

this feels like the end: Rod's first "grown up" song, the first song he wrote about his kids and passing the torch on to them, and sort-of apologizing for missing their birthdays. It's hilarious that he wrote the thing and then someone had to tell him, "er, mate, didn't Dylan have a song about his kid with like the same name?"

I think what kept Rod apart from many of his peers was his sheer refusal to grow up for most of the '80s--he just kept on, not acknowledging time, singing the same stuff: school and girls, being rich and girls. Jagger seems to be in another world from him. And finally Rod concedes here---the road to Unplugged and his 10 various Songbooks albums is visible now. he's ready to be a legacy act

and have I mentioned that it's one of his two or three biggest recurrent hits? I heard it twice in the last 224 hours!

ha -- 24 hours rather.

Here's another hit, the album's biggest:

"My Heart Can't Tell You No" (Simon Climie, Dennis Morgan)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0svqylN9oLA/maxresdefault.jpg

https://youtu.be/5wKPYL0WLr8

i drew a blank on the name, and it took the refrain for this thing to dredge up the memories. but Christ on a crutch, what generic pap this is. just dullsville, sounding like a forgotten John Waite hit

I beg you for mercy!

i'd take 10 "Infatuations" over this one

"Dynamite" (A. Taylor, R. Stewart)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UZRmTeMLD-8/hqdefault.jpg

https://youtu.be/fWYcRRHFG2c

a personal anecdote about this one. in '99 i lived in Astoria, Queens, and had to get to JFK airport. if you know the city, you will know that going from westernmost Queens to east Brooklyn is often a nightmare by car, involving the BQE & so forth. I was running late & took a gypsy cab as I couldn't find any yellow cabs on the street.

the driver was possibly on coke or uppers and almost certainly crazy. he drove 60 mph in the breakdown lane, nearly got into an accident every three minutes & I felt like i was on the verge of throwing up throughout the ride. Driver also had some sinus thing, so he kept snuffling up great gobs of snot and then spitting in a paper bag that had once held his lunch.

on the tape deck was a Rod hits compilation (maybe Storyteller?) & when "Dynamite" came on, the guy flipped. cranked it up loud, began clapping (both hands off the wheel to do so), singing loudly. "DY-NA-MITE!! FRIDAY NIGHT! BIG CITY LIGHTS! ALL RIGHT ALL Right!" I wondered: is this the last thing I hear before I die? It obviously was not. but hearing it today brings back that nice memory.

It took three months for the right anecdote to get shared.

i'm glad it came as a near-finale moment

as example of dumb loud rock it's better than "Hot Legs."

Famous cover time!

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Jimmy Cox)

http://davidmcgough.com/photos/thumbs/Rod%20Stewart,%20Kelly%20Emberg,%20daughter,%20Ruby%20%201989%20NYC.jpg

https://youtu.be/5VEIwRDkXpg

seems like the obligatory "I still love the blues" track but takes its cues from "Behind the Sun" Clapton. so garish and tasteless it's enjoyable in its way---Rod's singing some of it like Tina Turner

is the plan still to stop when we get to the end of Out of Order (so four more tracks?) I was going to start a track-a-day Eurovision song contest thread, but thought it might be best to wait until this one is finished.

We'll finish OOO and review a couple of the new Storyteller tracks. A week?

"Crazy About Her" (Duane Hitchings, J. Cregan, R. Stewart)

https://youtu.be/rCbxcaUg4VQ

http://streamd.hitparade.ch/cdimages/rod_stewart-crazy_about_her_s.jpg