Before and through his climb to worldwide adulation and 100 million worldwide album gross sales, Rod Stewart, born on January 10, 1945, made a sequence of formative information which might be nicely value reinvestigating. The authentic 5 LPs he launched for Mercury between 1969 and 1974 comprise a few of the greatest work of his total catalogue.
An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down
Stewart was already a seasoned recording artist of some 5 years by the point he launched An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down within the US in late 1969, and early 1970 within the UK. At the time, he was within the uncommon state of affairs of attempting to launch solo and band careers on the similar time, since he was additionally now confirmed because the singer within the Faces, the retooled model of the Small Faces.
Raincoat missed the UK charts altogether, as did its solely single, Stewart’s model of the Rolling Stones’ rocker from 1968, “Street Fighting Man.” Indeed, the album did not chart wherever important, aside from a No.139 rating within the US and No.31 in Australia.
Buy or stream An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down.
The music that’s grow to be by far probably the most well-known on that debut album, Rod’s interpretation of Manfred Mann frontman Mike D’Abo’s elegant composition “Handbags and Gladrags,” was not solely not a success, however not even a single. D’Abo performed the distinctive piano on that observe himself, on an album additionally that includes readings of conventional songs like “Man Of Constant Sorrow” and “Dirty Old Town.”
Gasoline Alley
Gasoline Alley, launched in 1970, once more featured a lot of Rod’s mates within the line-up, together with all of his fellow Faces. This one included an early Elton John cowl, of “Country Comfort,” in addition to displaying Stewart’s love of soul music, and Bobby Womack specifically, on a rendition of “It’s All Over Now.”
Buy or stream Gasoline Alley.
Every Picture Tells A Story
1971’s Every Picture Tells A Story was, in fact, the breakthrough, thanks largely to the chart-topping “Maggie May,” which helped the album hit No.1 within the UK, US and Australia. Stewart, co-writer of “Maggie” with Martin Quittenton, additionally contributed two extra co-writes, of the elegant “Mandolin Wind” and the title music, with Ronnie Wood.
Buy or stream Every Picture Tells A Story.
Never A Dull Moment
Never A Dull Moment, a yr later, was additionally blessed with a No.1 single, the sumptuous “You Wear It Well.” Rod coated one other of his heroes, Sam Cooke, with a rocking “Twisting The Night Away,” created a extra mild temper on variations of Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel” and the Billy Foster/Ellington Jordon music most carefully related to Etta James, “I’d Rather Go Blind.”
Buy or stream Never A Dull Moment.
Smiler
That album was one other large worldwide success and once more topped the UK chart, as did Stewart’s last Mercury album Smiler, in 1974. This was a million-seller worldwide, even when the vital tide was turning in opposition to Rod and he was additionally coming in the direction of the tip of his days with the Faces.
But he nonetheless contributed three co-writes to Smiler, and delivered variations of songs by pals and heroes, recording Elton’s “Let Me Be Your Car,” Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Rock’n’Roller,” and a Cooke medley of “Bring It On Home To Me” and “You Send Me.” There was additionally a touch of the Great American Songbook sequence of a few years later, with a closing, transient instrumental and acoustic model of Lerner and Loewe’s “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face.”
Buy or stream Smiler.
After that album got here Rod’s transfer to to Warner Brothers and actually international stardom, however the Mercury years supplied him with a few of his greatest materials, and a few of the greatest enjoyable he ever had.
Listen to uDiscover Music’s Rod Stewart Best Of playlist.