Spent Time Feelin' Inferior Standin' in Front of My Mirror... Every Picture Tells A Story

Rod Stewart - "Every Picture Tells A Story" (1971) - Mercury Records

Hello Friends,

We've got some classic Rod The Mod on the turntable tonight!

Every Picture Tells A Story is Stewart's third record as a solo artist.  It would be his first number one record in both the U.S. & England.  It features Ronnie Wood on guitars, Ian McLagan on organ, Andy Pyle on bass and Micky Waller on drums. 

Of course, its a great album.  Practically a greatest hits record!  Think of it as a Faces record in all but name actually! (Even Kenny Jones and Ronnie Lane make "cameo" appearances!)

Its a blend of varying styles of rock, country, blues, r & b, gospel & folk, as well as a blend of originals and covers.

Side One kicks off with the Stewart & Wood-penned title track, "Every Picture Tells A Story" followed by the ballad, "Seems Like A Long Time" (which sounds a lot like "Handbags & Gladrags, part 2") and also featuring a KILLER Ron Wood guitar solo.

Stewart then rocks a swampy barroom version of the Elvis Presley hit, "That's All Right". Pub rock at its absolute finest!

Things simmer down considerably with his respectful (if not a little middle-of-the-road sounding) take on "Amazing Grace".

The side concludes with a then-unreleased Bob Dylan track, the acoustic "Tomorrow is a Long Time". Very good and very rootsy.  This is Rod Stewart for Wilco fans, friends.


Side Two kicks off with "Henry", a short classical guitar piece featuring Martin Quittenton, that blends right into the Stewart & Quittenton-penned classic rock masterpiece, "Maggie May" which, incidentally, contains one of our all-time favorite rock lyrics: "The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age..."  Ouch!

Stewart's folksy "Mandolin Wind" is next, followed by the utterly amazing, "(I Know) I'm Losing You", a ballsy, rocking-take on The Temptations 1966 Motown hit.

The album concludes with a cover of Tim Hardin's folky classic, "Reason To Believe".

Stewart's raspy vocals are the real story here.  Hitting all the right notes through a variety of song styles.  An amazing record featuring an amazing collection of musicians!

Classic!

RATING: 4.5 getting enough of the things that keep a young man alive out of 5

Faces - "Stay With Me" (1971)

Hello Friends,

This clip of The Faces is taken from concert filmed in 1971 on the BBC television program, "Sounds for Saturday".

Great song by a great, great band!

Won't need to much pursuading
I don't mean to sound degrading
But with a face like that
You got nothing to laugh about...

Ouch!

Gimmie Some Truth

Jeff Beck - "Truth" (1968) - Epic Records

Hello Friends,

Jeff Beck's first LP gets a little lost in the shuffle these days, but it is arguably one of the more important blues-rock records to come out of the last 60's.

Not only does it feature some proto-heavy metal blues guitar work by the innovative Beck, but its the first album to feature Rod Stewart on lead vocals.  Produced by legendary Mickie Most (!), with a young Ron Wood on bass(!!) and expert session drummer, Mick Waller, this album will rock your fucking socks off!

Beck left the Yardbirds in 1966, so what better way to kick-off his first solo LP with a hard rock, bluesy rearragement of the Yardbirds' hit, "Shape of Things"?  Not only is Beck's guitar virtuosity on full display, but a young Rod Stewart's prowess when it comes to interpreting a song lyric.  Boy, this guy might have a future in biz!  

The combination of Beck and Stewart breath life into more traditional covers like Bonnie Dobson's "Morning Dew", Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me" & "I Ain't Superstitious", Jerome Kern's "Ol' Man River", and the English instrumental, "Greensleeves".  (Three originals on the album are credited to "Jeffrey Rod"-- which, coincidentally, would also be my porn name!)

The highlight on the record is the instrumental, "Beck's Bolero".  Written by Yardbirder and session man, Jimmy Page, and featuring Beck & Page squaring off on lead guitars, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Keith Moon (credited on the sleeve as "You Know Who") on drums.  That's a shitload of talent on one song!

 

Pretty amazing record all around... a must-listen!  And if you can, listen to it the way it was meant to be heard... Loud and On Vinyl! 

RATING: 5 SHAPES OF THINGS TO COME OUT OF 5

Rod the Mod

Rod Stewart - "The Rod Stewart Album" (1969) - Mercury Records

Hello Friends,

Rod Stewart's debut solo album hit American shores in November 1969.  In England, it was released under the much-better title, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down.  

Fresh off his duties as singer in the groundbreaking Jeck Beck Group, Rod "The Mod" Stewart recruited Ronnie Wood (also from Beck's group) on guitar & bass duties, Ian "Mac" McLagen (from the Small Faces) on piano & organ, drummer Mick Waller, guitarist Martin Pugh and even future prog-rocker Keith Emerson (who lends his keyboard talents to the Stewart original "I Wouldn't Ever Change a Thing") to record an LP of 8 songs that combines rock, blues, country & folk and features Stewart's impeccable and distinctive vocal phrasings.   

The album opens with a boozy, bluesy rendition of "Street Fighting Man".  It actually takes the unsuspecting listener a few verses to realize that this is indeed a cover of the Stones classic.  Next up is another cover song--the traditional American Folk Song, "Man of Constant Sorrow"-- that Stewart does it up in a laid-back country style.  This song might be better recognized from a version in the Coen Bros' movie, O Brother Where Art Thou?

"Blind Prayer"-- a seldom-heard, sleazy, bluesy gem written by Stewart is next.

Side One concludes with the melancholic ballad "Handbags and Gladrags"-- written by Manfred Mann's Mike d'Abo and more famous for its use as the theme song to the British "Office" television show!



Side Two contains three Stewart originals-- "An Old Raincoat...", "I Wouldn't Ever Change a Thing", "Cindy's Lament"-- and concludes with a slow rocking version of Ewan MacColl's folk ditty, "Dirty Old Town".  Yet another example of a song on this record that is probably more famous for a version that's not Stewart's (in this case, The Dubliners or The Pogues!) Overall, its an excellent debut record even though it really didn't have any of the humongous hits Stewart would have had throughout the 70's.

"Now what'd I do with me shovel?"

Fun Fact: Hey kids... did you know that before Rod Stewart became a rock & roll icon, he worked as a gravedigger in North London's Highgate Graveyard? Spooky!

RATING: 4.5 handbags and gladrags that your Grandad had to sweat so you could buy out of 5