Rod Stewart – Absolutely Live (1982)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, six of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart’s music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as a harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that year. Stewart’s early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B. His third album, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad “Maggie May”. His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, “You Wear It Well”, topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After Stewart had a handful more UK top ten hits, the Faces broke up in 1975. Stewart’s next few hit singles were ballads with “Sailing”, off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia with each release. That album’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) contained the hit “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” as well as the rocker “Hot Legs”. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart’s albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart’s music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single “Rhythm of My Heart” was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991’s Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad “All for Love”, which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook.

In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists”. A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.[8] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

Absolutely Live is a live album by musician Rod Stewart. It was released as a double–LP in 1982. The subsequent CD version omitted the tracks “The Great Pretender” and “Guess I’ll Always Love You” in order to fit the album onto a single disc. The liner notes state that there are no overdubs on this live album. (wikipedia)

This live album assembles the best known Sir Roderick CBE’s songs up at that time and just sums up in a definitive way his period of relevance for pop rock music. Liner notes stress out how these live recordings are raw as they are authentic, with no overdubs, no editing of performing mistakes, no tamper of audience response and maintain clear report of female stage invaders. However the overall quality is a bit flat and the sound quite muffled, so maybe Rod the Mod should have not retained for himself the producing and mixing duties. In the end this live ‘outing’ could have just remained an ‘internal’ for the Stewart’s camp, because a release should have required a better care or a reason wider than just a celebration of the star that goes meet and greet with his audience, resulting an audio experience filled with extended singalongs of the singer repertoire and the band kicked a bit too far in the listening background.

Despite that, all the hits are here, from the rousing rockers and rollers (“Sweet little rock and roller”, “Hot legs”, “Little queenie”, “Tear it up”), to the beautiful big ballads (“Tonight’s the night”, “You’re in my heart”, “Maggie May”, “Sailing”) and the (by then) latest ventures in that pop/new wave/disco mixture (“Tonight I’m yours”, “Passion”, “Young turks”, “Da ya think I’m sexy?”) that also the Stones were trying at the time (starting from the “Emotional rescue” lp, from which “Dance pt. 1” was clearly reworked by Rod creating “Passion”). There’s even room for resurrect old numbers from the Jeff Beck Group and Faces days (“Rock my plimsoul” and “Stay with me” respectively) and an embarassing cover of the Platters’ classic “The great pretender” (with no surprise excluded from the cd version of this live album), that’s an incredibly hard song to perform (it will be tackled more graciously later on in the decade by Rod’s dear friend Freddie Mercury). The best bits are a mellowed relaxed rendition of Stewart’s solo career golden age hymn “Gasoline alley” and a hot infectious lead vocals terzetto version of Faces’ “Stay with me” featuring Kim Carnes and Tina Turner. (by IlGagario)

But to be honest … Rod Stewart had already passed his peak by the early 80s

Personnel:
Tony Brock (drums)
Jim Cregan (guitar, background vocals)
Jay Davis (bass, background vocals)
Robin Le Mesurier (guitar, background vocals)
Kevin Savigar (keyboards, background vocals)
Rod Stewart (vocals)
Wally Stocker (guitar)
Jimmy Zavala (saxophone, harmonica, keyboards)
+
vocals on 19,.:
Kim Carnes & Tina Turner
+
The David Rose Orchestra on 01.

Tracklist:
01. The Stripper (Rose) 0.11
02. Tonight I’m Yours (Cregan/Savigar/Stewart) 4.11
03. Sweet Little Rock And Roller (Howdar/Yellowstone/Danova) 4.11
04. Hot Legs (Stewart) 4.50
05. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Stewart) 4.10
06. The Great Pretender (Ram) 3.50
07. Passion (Grainger/Cregan/Savigar/Chen/Stewart) 5.48
08. She Won’t Dance With Me (Ben/Stewart) / Little Queenie (Berry) 4.57
09. You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim) (Stewart) 5.25
10. Rock My Plimsoul (Rock Me Baby) (King/Josea/Jackson/Jones/Beck/Stewart) 4.52
11. Young Turks (Appice/Hitchings/Savigar/Stewart) 5.22
12. Guess I’ll Always Love You (Taupin/Cregan/Savigar/Lemesurier/Stewart/Brock) 4.56
13. Gasoline Alley (Stewart/Wood) 2.17
14. Maggie May (Quittenton/Stewart) 5.08
15. Tear It Up (Burnette/Burlison) 3.25
16. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? (Appice/Stewart) 6.19
17. Sailing (Sutherland) 4.42
18. I Don’t Want To Talk About It (Whitten) 4.35
19. Stay With Me (Stewart/Wood)

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More from Rod Stewart in this blog:

The official website:

Rod Stewart – A Night On The Town (1976)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, six of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart’s music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as a harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that year. Stewart’s early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[5][6] His third album, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad “Maggie May”. His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, “You Wear It Well”, topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After Stewart had a handful more UK top ten hits, the Faces broke up in 1975. Stewart’s next few hit singles were ballads with “Sailing”, off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia with each release. That album’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) contained the hit “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” as well as the rocker “Hot Legs”. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart’s albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart’s music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single “Rhythm of My Heart” was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991’s Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad “All for Love”, which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook.

In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists”. A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time.[8] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

A Night on the Town is Rod Stewart’s seventh album, released in 1976. The cover art is based on Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s painting Bal du moulin de la Galette, with Stewart inserted in the centre in period costume. On 30 June 2009, Rhino reissued the album as a two-disc CD with bonus tracks. A Night on the Town was Stewart’s last UK number-one studio album until Time in 2013.

The album is regarded as one of Stewart’s finest. “The Killing of Georgie” is one of Stewart’s most hard hitting set of lyrics, a melancholic tale of a gay friend who is cast out by his family and becomes a sensation in the New York nightlife, only to be murdered by a New Jersey gang during an attempted robbery. Controversial “Tonight’s the Night” was a No. 1 hit but was banned by some radio stations due to the very obvious lyrics about sex and loss of virginity. A cover of Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut Is the Deepest” was also a success and has since become one of Stewart’s signature songs. (wikipedia)

In some ways, it’s easy to think of A Night on the Town, Rod Stewart’s second album for Warner, as a reprisal of the first, cut with many of the same musicians as Atlantic Crossing, produced once again by Tom Dowd, and even following its predecessor’s conceit of having a “Slow Side” and “Fast Side” (granted, this flips the two around, opening with the slow one first). Superficially, this seems true, but A Night on the Town has a crucial difference: despite its party-hearty title, this album finds Stewart folding folk back into his sound, a move that deepens the music tonally and emotionally, particularly in the case of “The Killing of Georgie (Pts. 1 & 2),” Rod’s most ambitious original.

A winding, sensitive narrative about the murder of a gay friend — a hate crime years before the term existed — “The Killing of Georgie” finds Stewart filtering Dylan through his own warm, conversational style, creating a remarkable work unlike anything else in his body of work, yet the song’s smooth synthesis of folk storytelling, soul, and incipient disco act as an appropriate conclusion to a side-long suite of songs of seduction, beginning with his classic come-on “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright),” running through his splendid reading of Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” and his fine original “Fool for You.” On the Fast Side, Stewart has only one original — the lewd, riotous “The Balltrap” — but he more makes up for it by spinning two country classics, Gib Guilbeau’s “Big Bayou” and Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life,” into thick, Stonesy rock & roll, and turning Manfred Mann’s “Pretty Flamingo” into a rave-up. With all this in mind, A Night on the Town isn’t a revival of Atlantic Crossing, it’s its inverse, with Stewart shining as an interpreter on the fast songs and writing the best slow ones, but it’s also its equal, proving that Stewart could still stay true to his open-hearted, ragged soul while on a big budget. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

And… check the line-up !!!

Personnel:
Barry Beckett (keyboards)
Pete Carr (guitar)
Steve Cropper (guitar)
Jesse Ed Davis (guitar)
Donald Dunn (bass)
David Foster (keyboards)
Bob Glaub (bass)
Roger Hawkins (drums)
David Hood (bass)
Al Jackson Jr. (drums)
Plas Johnson (saxophone)
Jerry Jumonville (saxophone)
John Barlow Jarvis (keyboards)
Joe Lala (percussion)
David Lindley (guitar)
Andy Newmark (drums)
Billy Peek (guitar)
Rick Shlosser (drums)
Lee Sklar (bass)
J. Smith (keyboards)
Rod Stewart (vocals)
Fred Tackett (guitar)
Tommy Vig (percussion)
Joe Walsh (guitar)
Willie Weeks (bass),
+
Tower of Power horn section (french horn)

Tracklist:

CD 1:
Slow Side:
01. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Stewart) 3.57
02. The First Cut Is The Deepest (Stevens) 4.29
03. Fool For You (Stewart) 3.48
04. The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II) (Stewart) 6.19

Fast Side:
05. The Balltrap (Stewart) 4.47
06. Pretty Flamingo (Barkan) 3.32
07. Big Bayou (Gilbeau) 3.55
08. The Wild Side Of Life (Carter/Walker) 5.09
09. Trade Winds (McDonald/Salter) 5.23
+
10. Rosie (Stewart) 4.01

CD 2 (all previously unissued)
11. Share (studio outtake) (Stewart) 4.17
The Alternate A Night On The Town (early versions)
12. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Stewart) 3.52
13. The First Cut Is The Deepest (Stevens) 3.50
14. Fool For You (Stewart) 3.40
15. The Killing Of Georgie (Part I) (Stewart) 4.24
16. The Balltrap (Stewart) 4.44
17. Pretty Flamingo (Barkan) 3.27
18. Big Bayou (Gilbeau) 4.12
19. The Wild Side Of Life (Carter/Walker) 4.46
20. Trade Winds (McDonald/Salter) 4.46
21. Rosie (Stewart) 4.18
22. Get Back (Alternate Version) (Lennon/McCartney) 3.37

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More from Rod Stewart:

The official website:

Various Artist – Tapestry Revisited – Tribute To Carole King (1995)

Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at the Brill Building and later as a solo artist.

Regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of all time, King is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1962 and 2005.

King’s major success began in the 1960s when she and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits, many of which have become standards, for numerous artists. She has continued writing for other artists since then. King’s success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album Writer, King scored her breakthrough with the album Tapestry, which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years.

King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her record sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a performer and songwriter. She is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honored. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree.

Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King is a 1995 tribute album honoring American singer, songwriter, and pianist Carole King. It features a diverse lineup of artists including Richard Marx, Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, The Bee Gees and Amy Grant. The idea of this release was to re-create King’s 1971 album Tapestry track-for-track using other artists.

The album peaked at number 53 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by the RIAA in the United States. (wikipedia)

Carole King’s 1971 album Tapestry was one of the best-selling LPs of the early ’70s and has had a lasting influence on pop singer/songwriters ever since. The idea of this tribute album was to re-create the album track-for-track using other artists. Since King had begun her career as a songwriter, with songs such as “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” hitting for other artists before turning up on Tapestry, it was an appropriate concept. Though each artist was asked to submit a finished track, there was some musical continuity in that several tracks — “You’ve Got a Friend,” by BeBe & CeCe Winans, featuring Aretha Franklin, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?,” by the Bee Gees, and “Smackwater Jack,” by the Manhattan Transfer — were produced by Arif Mardin, and a couple of others — “So Far Away,” by Rod Stewart, and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” by Celine Dion — were handled by David Foster.

In such a project, casting is everything, and the best versions were turned in by artists who grew up with the original album, such as Amy Grant (“It’s Too Late”), Richard Marx (“Beautiful”), and Faith Hill (“Where You Lead”). Such artists achieved a reasonable compromise between the King versions and their own sound. Artists like the Bee Gees and Stewart, who were King’s contemporaries, seemed to be going through the motions, and a raft of newer artists, such as Eternal, Curtis Stigers, Blessid Union of Souls, All-4-One, and Dion, seemed to be on the album because someone at their management companies thought it would be a good idea and displayed little feel for the material. But King’s music has a flexibility that allows for many interpretations, and while this album could not be recommended over the original, the new performances didn’t do it much harm. (by William Ruhlmann)

Personnel:
I am too lazy to list all the musicians who participated in this album (see booklet)

Tracklist:
01. Eternal: I Feel the Earth Move(King) 4.59
02. Rod Stewart: So Far Away (King) 4.25
03. Amy Grant: It’s Too Late (King/Stern) 3.58
04. Curtis Stigers: Home Again (King) 3.41
05. Richard Marx: Beautiful (King) 3.46
06. Blessid Union of Souls: Way Over Yonder (King)  3.53
07. BeBe & CeCe Winans feat. Aretha Franklin: You’ve Got A Friend(King) 6.03
08. Faith Hill: Where You Lead (King/Stern) 3.32
09. Bee Gees: Will You Love Me Tomorrow (King/Goffin) 5.02
10. The Manhattan Transfer: Smackwater Jack (King/Goffin) 4.37
11. All-4-One: Tapestry (King) 3.12
12. Celine Dion: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (King/Goffin/Wexler) 3.43

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More from Carole King:

Rod Stewart – Downtown Train – Selections From The Storyteller Anthology (1990)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, 6 of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity. (wikipedia)

Downtown Train is a compilation album released by Rod Stewart in March 1990. It was a US only release by Warner Bros. Records (WEA 926 158-1/2).

The album is made up of twelve tracks from the previously released Storyteller Anthology. The album is skewed toward the more recent period of Rod’s career, most of the songs dating after 1980.

Included, however, is Stay with Me, a contemporary sounding song from 1971. This is also the only song on Downtown Train that is not from Rod’s solo catalog, though Storyteller includes ten. In the US Downtown Train would peak at #20 and by 1995 would be double platinum. (wikipedia)

A good and nice compilation album … Great mix for any Rod fan!

Personnel:
Rod Stewart (vocals)
+
many, many studio musicians

Tracklist:
01. Stay With Me (Stewart/Wood) 4.39
02. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Stewart) 3.56
03. The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II) (Stewart) 6.27
04. Passion (Chen/Cregan/Grainger/Savigar/Stewart) 5.32
05. Young Turks (Appice/Hitchings/Savigar/Stewart) 5.03
06. Infatuation (Hitchings/Robinson/Stewart) 5.14
07. People Get Ready (feat. Jeff Beck) (Mayfield) 4.55
08. Forever Young (Cregan/Savigar/Dylan/Stewart) 4.06
09. My Heart Can’t Tell You No (Climie/Morgan) 5.14
10. I Don’t Want To Talk About It (Whitten) 4.53
11. This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak for You) (L.Dozier/Holland/B.Holland/Moy) 4.12
12. Downtown Train (Tom Waits) 4.39

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More from Rod Stewart:

The official website:

Rod Stewart – It Had To Be You … The Great American Song Book (2002)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, 6 of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart’s music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that same year. Stewart’s early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[5][6] His third album, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad “Maggie May”. His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, “You Wear It Well”, topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After a handful more UK top ten hits, Stewart announced the breakup of the Faces in 1975. His next few singles were ballads with “Sailing”, off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in North America, the UK and Australia with each release. That album’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) featured the major hit “You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” as well as the rocker “Hot Legs”. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart’s albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart’s music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single “Rhythm of My Heart” was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991’s Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad “All for Love”, which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists”. A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces. (wikipedia)

It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook is the first album of American pop standards recorded by British musician Rod Stewart, and his 20th album overall. It was released on 22 October 2002, and became the first in a five-volume series.

The album was Stewart’s first release for Sony Music imprint J Records. It included his second recording of “Every Time We Say Goodbye.”

A live DVD of the same title was released on 4 February 2003, which featured performances of material from the studio album as well as Stewart’s earlier material. (wikipedia)

It’s the kind of concept that seems brilliant on paper: revive the career of one of the great vocalists of the rock era by having him sing the great American pop songs of the pre-rock era. It was done before with Linda Ronstadt, and it worked well, so why not Rod Stewart, whose career was in shambles in 2002 following the disastrous modern R&B record Human? Clive Davis, the man behind Santana’s comeback, masterminded the whole thing, and It Had to Be You was born. Again, the whole thing sounds good on paper, but in practice, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Certainly, following a throat operation, Stewart is singing better than he has in years, and he feels much more comfortable here than he did on Human, but the whole project has an artificial undercurrent that’s hard to shake, especially since the song selection, the arrangements, and the performances play it so safe they’re largely undistinguished. It’s not necessarily bad, but it doesn’t have much character outside of Rod’s voice, and his soulful rasp isn’t really suited for these songs. Nevertheless, this is exactly what it’s billed as — Rod sings the Great American Songbook — and it’s done with professionalism and ease, so it’s a pleasant listen. But it won’t replace Sinatra, of course, or even Ronstadt’s similar work with Nelson Riddle. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Rod Stewart joins the ranks of rockers who have opted later in their careers to momentarily shift gears and tackle the lofty task of interpreting pop standards. Of all the performers who have tried their hands at such challenging material, Stewart is perhaps the most initially odd match for songs like George & Ira Gershwin’s “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and Cole Porter’s “Everytime We Say Goodbye.” It’s hard not to hear raunch-rockers like “Hot Legs” echo in the back of your head while listening to him gamely croon amid lush strings and traditional jazz arrangements. But after moving past those first moments of seeming artist/song incongruity, the listener will discover an album full of pleasant surprises and vocals that show Stewart in a most flattering light (LF, Billboard October 26, 2002)

Personnel:
Tal Bergman (drums on 01., drum programming on 01. + 11., perussion on 07.)
Chris Botti (trumpet on 13.)
Michael Brecker (saxophone on 04.)
Dennis Budimir (guitar on 11.)
Dave Carpenter (bass on 01.)
Andrew Chukerman (synthesizer on 03., 07. 10. + 13.)
John Ferraro (drums on 02., percussion on 07.)
David Finck (bass on 04. – 06., 08. – 10. 12. + 14.)
Jim Fox (guitar on 01.)
Dan Higgins (clarinet on 01., saxophone on 02.)
Will Hollis (piano on 01., 02., synthesizer on 02., vibraphone on 03.)
Russ Kassoff (piano on 08., 10., 12. + 14.)
Doug Katsaros (piano on 06.)
Randy Kerber (piano, synthesizer on 03., 07. + 13.)
Dave Koz (saxophone on 06. + 10.)
Bob Magnusson (bass on 03., 07. + 13,)
Bob Mann (guitar on 03., 07. + 13.)
Harvey Mason (drums on 11.)Reggie McBride (bass on 02.)
Jeff Mironov (guitar on 04. + 06. 08. – 10. 12. + 14.)
Lee Musker (piano on 09.)
Rob Mounsey (keyboards on 04., 05. + 08.,  piano on 04. + 05.)
Renato Neto (piano, synthesizer on 01., synth flute on 13.)
Shawn Pelton (drums on 04. – 06., 08, – 19., 12. + 14.)
Jimmy Rip (guitar on 01. + 02.)
Philippe Saisse (keyboards on 04, – 06., 08, . 10., 12. + 14.)
Arturo Sandoval (trumpet on 05., flugelhorn on 08.)
Allan Schwartzberg (drums on 03., 07. + 13.)
Don Sebesky (piano on 09.)
Rod Stewart (vocals)
Randy Waldman (piano on 11.)

Tracklist:
01. You Go To My Head (Coots/Gillespie) 4.17
02. They Can’t Take That Away From Me (G.Gershwin/I.Gershwin) 3.26
03. The Way You Look Tonight (Fields/Kern) 3.49
04. It Had to Be You (Jones/Kahn) 3.24
05. That Old Feeling (Brown/Fain) 2.55
06. These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You) (Link/Marvell/Strachey) 3.48
07. The Very Thought Of You (Noble) 3.20
08. Moonglow (DeLange/Hudson/Mills) 3.32
09. I’ll Be Seeing You (Fain/Kahal)  3.51
10. Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye (Porter) 3.28
11. The Nearness Of You (Carmichael/Washington) 3.01
12. For All We Know (Coots/Lewis) 3.25
13. We’ll Be Together Again (Fischer/Laine) 3.54
14. That’s All (Brandt/Haymes) 3.03

*
**

More from Rod Stewart:

The official website:

Rod Stewart – If We Fall In Love Tonight (2001)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, 6 of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart’s music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that same year. Stewart’s early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[5][6] His third album, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad “Maggie May”. His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, “You Wear It Well”, topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After a handful more UK top ten hits, Stewart announced the breakup of the Faces in 1975. His next few singles were ballads with “Sailing”, off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in North America, the UK and Australia with each release. That album’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) featured the major hit “You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” as well as the rocker “Hot Legs”. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart’s albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart’s music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single “Rhythm of My Heart” was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991’s Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad “All for Love”, which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists”. A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

If We Fall in Love Tonight is a ballad album released by Rod Stewart on 12 November 1996 (see 1996 in music). It includes mostly previously released songs. The album was released in both the US and UK, though the versions differ slightly. It was released by Warner Bros. Records, and produced the singles “If We Fall in Love Tonight” and “When I Need You”.

The title track, If We Fall in Love Tonight, written for this album, had some legal wrangles regarding its copyright and track title which have now been resolved. The album includes three newly recorded cover versions of hit songs: “Sometimes When We Touch,” originally sang by Dan Hill; “When I Need You,” originally sang by Leo Sayer; and “For the First Time,” originally sang by Kenny Loggins. Two other songs had not been previously released on a Rod Stewart album: “So Far Away”, originally by Carole King, which had been released as a single in 1995 from that year’s Carole King tribute album, Tapestry Revisited, and “All for Love,” sang with Bryan Adams and Sting, from the 1993 film soundtrack The Three Musketeers. Additionally, two songs were revamped for If We Fall in Love Tonight: “Have I Told You Lately”, originally by Van Morrison and initially released on Stewart’s Vagabond Heart, was remixed here; and “Forever Young”, initially on Stewart’s Out of Order, which was completely re-recorded. The remaining tracks were all previously released on various Rod Stewart albums. (wikipedia)

Taking its cue from Madonna’s ballad collection Something to Remember, Rod Stewart’s If We Fall in Love Tonight combines several of his biggest ballads with three new songs. If We Fall in Love Tonight is targeted directly toward an older, adult contemporary audience who no longer wants to hear Stewart’s harder-edged material. Which means that not only is “Maggie May” not included, but neither is “This Old Heart of Mine,” since both are a bit too uptempo for this collection. Instead, the album is nothing but ballads, going back as far as “Tonight’s the Night,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” and “You’re in My Heart,” but concentrating on ’80s and ’90s hits like “Downtown Train,” “All for Love,” “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” “Have I Told You Lately,” and “Broken Arrow.” The compilation also contains rarities like the Sting and Bryan Adams collaboration “All for Love” and the Carole King cover “So Far Away,” a new version of “Forever Young,” a cover of Leo Sayer’s “When I Need You,” the James Newton Howard song “For the First Time,” and the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis collaboration “If We Fall in Love Tonight.” The new songs are good adult contemporary radio fodder, yet they pale next to his classic ’70s cuts. Nevertheless, If We Fall in Love Tonight is a very enjoyable soft rock collection. It may not draw an accurate portrait of Stewart’s career, but it does offer a good overview of his soft rock hits. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
Rod Stewart (vocals)
+
many, any studio musicians

Tracklist:
01. If We Fall in Love Tonight” (new original song; previously unreleased) (Jam/Lewis) 5.42
02. For the First Time (new cover song; previously unreleased) (Friedman/Rich/Howard) 4.02
03. When I Need You” (new cover song; previously unreleased) (Sager/Hammond) 4.50
04. Sometimes When We Touch (new cover song; previously unreleased) (Mann/Hill) 4.25
05. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (previously released on Stewart’s A Night on the Town) (Stewart) 3.33
06. I Don’t Want To Talk About It (original version on Stewart’s Atlantic Crossing; this version taken from Stewart’s Storyteller – The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990) (Whitten) 4.50
07. Have I Told You Lately (studio version remix) (new remixed version; previously unreleased) (Morrison) 3.58
08. Broken Arrow (previously released on Stewart’s Vagabond Heart) (Robertson) 4.21
09. Forever Young (1996) (new re-recorded version; previously unreleased) (Stewart/ Cregan) 4.52
10. You’re In My Heart (previously released on Stewart’s Foot Loose & Fancy Free) (Stewart) 4.28
11. My Heart Can’t Tell You No (previously released on Stewart’s Out of Order) (Climie/ Morgan) 5.11
12. The First Cut Is The Deepest (previously released on Stewart’s A Night on the Town) (Stevens) 3.50
13. Sailing (previously released on Stewart’s Atlantic Crossing) (Sutherland) 4.20
14. Downtown Train (previously released on Stewart’s Storyteller – The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990) (Waits) 4.36
15. Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda) (previously released on Stewart’s Lead Vocalist) (Wits) 6.10
16. All For Love (with Bryan Adams & Sting, previously released on The Three Musketeers Soundtrack) (Lange/Adams/Kamen) 4.41

*
**

More from Rod Stewart:

Rod Stewart – Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (1979)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, 6 of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart’s music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that same year. Stewart’s early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[5][6] His third album, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad “Maggie May”. His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, “You Wear It Well”, topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After a handful more UK top ten hits, Stewart announced the breakup of the Faces in 1975. His next few singles were ballads with “Sailing”, off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in North America, the UK and Australia with each release. That album’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) featured the major hit “You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” as well as the rocker “Hot Legs”. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart’s albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart’s music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single “Rhythm of My Heart” was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991’s Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad “All for Love”, which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists”.[7] A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time[8] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is Rod Stewart’s 1979 Warner Bros. Records best-of compilation. (wikipedia)

The whole notion of a Greatest Hits package seems rather antiquated today with so much music available at our fingertips for a reasonable fee or no fee at all. Of course, it wasn’t always the case. There was a time when a Greatest Hits album provided an affordable introduction to your favorite singer’s most commercially successful songs. Released in 1979, by Warner Bros. Records, Rod Stewart’s skimpy ten-track Greatest Hits is a perfect example of such a collection.

This best-of compilation features many of Stewart’s most popular songs including “Maggie May” from 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”, and “Sailing” from 1975’s Atlantic Crossing, “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)”, “The First Cut Is the Deepest”, and “The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)” from 1976’s A Night on the Town, “Hot Legs”, “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)”, and “I Was Only Joking” from 1977’s Foot Loose & Fancy-Free, and finally “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” from 1978’s Blondes Have More Fun. Unfortunately, there’s nothing here from any of his records (An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, or Smiler) with the Mercury label. If you’re a casual fan of Stewart’s music from the 1970s, Greatest Hits might suffice. However, for a more definitive look at his career, there really is no substitute for the 4-disc compilation Storyteller – The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990. (George Zandona)

This compilation includes one of the most important songs of Rod Stewart: “The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II)”

Personnel:
Rod Stewart (vocals)
+
many. many other musicians

Tracklist:
01. Hot Legs (Stewart) 4.14
02. Maggie May (Stewart/Quittenton) 4.57
03. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? (Stewart/Appice) 5.28
04. You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) (Stewart) 4.28
05. Sailing (Sutherland) 4.23
06. I Don’t Want To Talk About It (Whitten) 4.21
07. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Stewart) 3.34
08. The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II) (Stewart) 6.29
“The First Cut Is the Deepest” (Cat Stevens)
“I Was Only Joking” (Rod Stewart; Gary Grainger)

*
**

Oh yeah
In these days of changing ways
So called liberated days
A story comes to mind of a friend of mine
Georgie boy was gay I guess
Nothin’ more or nothin’ less
The kindest guy I ever knew
His mother’s tears fell in vain
The afternoon George tried to explain
That he needed love like all the rest
Pa said there must be a mistake
How can my son not be straight
After all I’ve said and done for him

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

Leavin’ home on a Greyhound bus
Cast out by the ones he loves
A victim of these gay days it seems
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Georgie went to New York town
Where he quickly settled down
And soon became the toast of the great white way
Accepted by Manhattan’s elite
In all the places that were chic
No party was complete without George
Along the boulevards he’d cruise
And all the old queens blew a fuse
Everybody loved Georgie boy

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

The last time I saw George alive
Was in the summer of seventy-five
He said he was in love I said I’m pleased
George attended the opening night
Of another Broadway hype
But split before the final curtain fell
Deciding to take a short cut home
Arm in arm they meant no wrong
A gentle breeze blew down fifth avenue

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

Out of a darkened side street came
A New Jersey gang with just one aim
To roll some innocent passer-by
There ensued a fearful fight
Screams rang out in the night
Georgie’s head hit a sidewalk cornerstone
A leather kid, a switchblade knife
He did not intend to take his life
He just pushed his luck a little too far that night
The sight of blood dispersed the gang
A crowd gathered, the police came
An ambulance screamed to a halt on fifty-third and third

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

Georgie’s life ended there
But I ask who really cares
George once said to me and I quote
He said “never wait or hesitate
Get in kid, before it’s too late
You may never get another chance
‘Cause youth a mask but it don’t last
Live it long and live it fast”
Georgie was a friend of mine

Oh Georgie stay,
Don’t go away
Georgie please stay
You take our breath away
Oh Georgie stay,
Don’t go away
Georgie please stay
You take our breath away
Oh Georgie stay,
Don’t go away
Georgie, Georgie stay (please stay)
You take our breath away

More from Rod Stewart:

The official website:

Various Artists – The Vertigo Annual (1970)

Vertigo Records was the late 60s progressive rock arm of the Philips Records empire.

Vertigo Records is a record company, which originated in the United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today it is operated by Universal Music UK.

Vertigo was the brainchild of Olav Wyper when he was Creative Director at Phonogram. It was launched as a competitor to labels such as Harvest (a prog subsidiary of EMI) and Deram (Decca). It was the home to bands such as Colosseum, Jade Warrior, Affinity, Ben and other bands from ‘the “cutting edge” of the early-’70s British prog-folk-post-psych circuit’. The first Vertigo releases came with a distinctive black and white spiral label, which was replaced with Roger Dean’s spaceship design in 1973.

Vertigo later became the European home to various hard rock bands signed to Mercury in North America, such as Bon Jovi, Rush and Kiss.

Vertigo is a division of Island Records in the United States and operates as Virgin EMI Records in the UK, which in turn is a frontline music group operation of Universal Music UK. In Germany, Vertigo has merged with Capitol Records and is mainly used for German rock artists. The label’s legacy artists include Metallica (outside the US and Canada), Razorlight, Rush (Europe) and Dire Straits (except the US). More recent signings include The Rapture, The Killers (UK/Ireland), One Night Only, Amy Macdonald, Noisettes and Thee Unstrung 2004-2005 and Kassidy in 2009. Black Sabbath returned to the label in 2013 (including the US and Canada for the first time via sister label Republic) until their dissolution in 2017 although former sister label Sanctuary Records Group acquired international rights to their back catalogue in the interim (the band were last on Vertigo in 1987). (by wikipedia)

And here´s a damn good sampler, the first sampler of the legendary Vertigo Label:

A two-LP label sampler from the nascent Vertigo label — Polygram’s answer to EMI’s progressive — psychedelic boutique, Harvest. Overall, for a label sampler, this was a better than average double slab of vinyl, with tried-and-true heavy cuts (from Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Juicy Lucy, May Blitz) jostling for space with lighter stuff (Magna Carta, Dr. Strangely Strange). Rod Stewart turns up as well, with an early solo outing on “Handbags and Gladrags.” (by Steven McDonald)

The title of this double label sampler leads one to believe that there were plans for an annual release, but Vertigo never got any further than 1970. Contrary to the ‘Heads together’ sampler, this one contains previously released material only and so serves quite succeedingly as an introduction to Vertigo’s miracles.The contents are chosen with taste: almost every track is among the best from the respective album and therefore this sampler comes recommended for anyone who wants to start to explore what the fuzz is all about.Red foliage surely is a favourite of Keef the album designer. This time a naked lady on a dotted hobby-horse fronts the landscape. A small boy dressed in parade uniform plays the drum and looks at her. Quite striking.

The lettering is chosen in accordance to the ‘annual’ idea and could have been taken from any children’s annual of the times.

Inside the horse’s head is displayed in a coloured negative photograph and also proudly quotes underground magazine ‘it’: Vertigo is the least pretentiously and most happily married of the ‘progressive’ labels to emerge from ‘neath the wings of the large record companies.

One of those indispensable samplers, with so much going for it – label design, musical quality, rare tracks, top audio and alluring cover pics – it has become a collectors item by own merits. One cut each from the sixteen first albums realeased by the label. Most represented here didn’t sell a lot back then and the originals can sometimes be hard to find or afford. I haven’t had or heard all of those so I can’t compare, but get the impression they picked the better or best from each.

Some compilations have at least one downer regarding track choice or audio. On here I can’t find one thing less than marvelous. From the happy-go-luckys Fairfield Parlour “In My Box” and Magna Carta “Going My Way” over the heavy Sabbath, Juicy Lucy and Uriah Heep cuts to the jazzier Nucleus, Colosseum and May Blitz it’s all tophole.

Vertigo was a highly collectable label . and this sampler is the best way to start with this cult label…

Tracklist:
01. Colosseum; Elegy (from “Valentyne Suite VO1”) (Litherland) 3.10
02. Rod Stewart: Handbags And Gladrags (from “An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down VO4”) (d’Abo) 4.26
03. Jimmy Campbell: Half Baked (from “Half Baked 6360010”) (Campbell) 4.43
04. May Blitz: I Don’t Know (from “May Blitz 6360007”) (Black/Hudson/Newman) 4.50
05. Juicy Lucy: Mississippi Woman (from “Juicy Lucy VO2”) (Hubbart/Campbell/Mercer/ Ellis/Owen/Dobson) 3.49
06. Fairfield Parlour: In My Box (from “From Home To Home 6360001”) (Pumer/Daltrey) 2.00
07. Magna Carta: Goin’ My Way (Road Song) (from “Seasons 6360003”) (Simpson) 2.55
08. Affinity: Three Sisters (from “Affinity 6360004”) (Hoile/Naiff) 5.01
09. Black Sabbath: Behind The Wall Of Sleep (from “Black Sabbath VO6”) (Ward/Butler/ Osbourne/Iommi) 3.41
10. Gracious; Introduction (from “Gracious! 6360002” (Kitcat/Davis) 5.56
11. Cressida: To Play Your Little Game (from “Cressida VO7”) (Heyworth) 3.22
12. Nucleus: Elastic Rock (from “Elastic Rock 6360008”) (Jenkins) 4.06
13. Manfred Mann Chapter Three: One Way Glass (from “Manfred Mann Chapter Three VO3”) (Mann/Thomas) 3.36
14. Bob Downes: No Time Like The Present (from “Electric City 6360005”) (Downes) 3.05
15. Dr. Strangely Strange: Summer Breeze (from “Heavy Petting 6360009”) (Booth) 3.42
16. Uriah Heep: Gypsy (from “…Very ‘Eavy Very ‘Umble… 6360006”) (Byron/Box) 6.57
+
17. Catapilla: Changes (from “Changes 6360 074”) (Wilson/Calvert/Meek) 12.05
18. Gravy Train: Think Of Life (from “Gravy Train 6360 023”) (Davenport/Hughes/Barratt /Cordwell/Williams) 5.10
19. Jade Warrior: May Queen (from ” Last Autumn’s Dream 6360 079″) (Havard/ Field/ Duhig) 5.24
20. Mike Absalom: Frightened Of The Dark (from “Mike Absalom 6360 053 “) (Absalom) 3.25
21. Ramases: Life Child (from “Space Hymns 6360 046”) (Godley/GouldmanCreme/ Raphael ) 6.39
22. Patto: Give It All Away (from “Hold Your Fire 6360 032 ) (Patto/Halsall) 4.10

*
**

Rod Stewart – Unplugged … And Seated (1993)

Unplugged…and Seated is a live album released by British musician Rod Stewart on 24 May 1993. It is Stewart’s second live album and his first (and only) appearance on MTV Unplugged. The album was released by Warner Bros. Records (WEA 9362-45289-1/2). The unplugged versions of “Have I Told You Lately” by Van Morrison, “Reason to Believe”, “Having a Party”, and “People Get Ready” were released as singles, with “Have I Told You Lately” and “Having a Party” reaching success as singles. A special collector’s edition was released in March 2009 on Rhino Records. This two-disc package included the DVD of the MTV performance with 13 songs while the CD contained 17 tracks including two songs (“Gasoline Alley” and “Forever Young”) not on the original 1993 release.

The album was recorded on 5 February 1993 at Universal Studios, Los Angeles as part of MTV’s Unplugged series. The event aired on television on 5 May of the same year. Unplugged finds Stewart reunited, for the first time in nearly twenty years, with Ronnie Wood, a fellow Faces band member. Stewart performs some of the classics from his repertoire such as “Tonight’s the Night” and “Maggie May”, but also adds some new material such as “Having a Party” and “Highgate Shuffle”. The album title comes from a joke Stewart made during the taping about “Stay With Me” being difficult to perform while sitting down. Six songs were taped but not included on the subsequent album release, though “It’s All Over Now” was included as the B-side to the single for “Reason to Believe”. (by wikpedia)

Eric Clapton’s Unplugged turned the MTV series into a pop culture phenomenon, one that was especially appealing to veteran rockers because all they had to do was dust off their old hits and give them a nice, relaxed reading — the perfect re-imagining for middle-aged rock stars. Rod Stewart leaped at the opportunity and, in many ways, he seemed even better suited for the gig than Clapton as much of his ’70s prime prominently featured acoustic guitars, including “Maggie May” and “Every Picture Tells a Story.” Stewart upped the ante by reuniting with his old friend and Faces bandmate Ron Wood, giving Unplugged…and Seated the appearance of an event…an appearance that was entirely intentional. That Unplugged…and Seated falls well short of actually being an event is a disappointment but also inevitable. Where Clapton’s Unplugged was a natural phenomenon, a blockbuster delivered with no preconceived notions, Unplugged…and Seated is designed as a hits revue, playing upon nostalgia while delivering mellow sounds for middle age.

This is no bad thing, necessarily, particularly when the song selection is so strong — all the big hits from that early-’70s golden age, plus Rod’s recent cover of Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately,” Tom Waits’ “Tom Traubert’s Blues,” and a reworked version of the folk standard “Highgate Shuffle” thrown in for good measure — and the chemistry between Stewart and Wood is still so cheerful. Occasionally, this frivolity is a wee bit forced but that’s not quite as big of a problem as the punchy, professional production; these are ultimately nothing more than mild signs of road wear on a record that’s a nice night out with the boys, nothing more, nothing less. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

And for me this album is a very sentimental trip … from “Tonight´s The Night” (Spread your wings and let me come inside) to “The First Cut Is The Deepest” … many songs from this album was very important songs … I guess … they told the story of my life …

Rod Stewart … what a a voice !

Personnel:
Jim Cregan (guitar)
Jeff Golub (guitar)
Charles Kentiss III (keyboards)
Phil Parlapiano (accordion, mandolin)
Carmine Rojas (bass)
Kevin Savigar (keyboards, accordion)
Rod Stewart (vocals, banjo)
Don Teschner (guitar, mandolin, violin)
Ronnie Wood (guitar)
+
background vocals:
Dorian Holley – Darryl Phinnessee – Fred White
+
string section conducted by Jeremy Lubbock:
Marilyn Baker – Haim Shtrum – Mari Tsumura – Jay Rosen – Kwihee Shamban – Miran Kojian- Brian Leonard – Jean Hugo – Joel Derouin – Bruce Dukov – Joseph Meyer – Ronald Clark – Joan Elardo – David Shostac – Norman Ludwin – Drew Dembowski – David Shamban – Suzie Katayama – James Ross – Larry Corbett.

Tracklist;
01. Hot Legs (Rod Stewart/Grainger) 4.25
02. Tonight’s The Night (Stewart) 4.04
03. Handbags And Gladrags (d’Abo) 4.25
04. Cut Across Shorty (Walker/Wilkin) 4.58
05. Every Picture Tells A Story (Stewart/Wood) 4.45
06. Maggie May (Stewart/Quittenton) 5.45
07. Reason To Believe (Hardin) 4.07
08. People Get Ready (Mayfield) 4.59
09. Have I Told You Lately (Morrison) 4.08
10. Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda) (Waits) 4.40
11. The First Cut Is The Deepest (Stevens) 4.12
12. Mandolin Wind (Stewart) 5.23
13. Highgate Shuffle (Traditional)) 4.04
14. Stay With Me (Stewart/Wood) 5.27
15. Having A Party (Cooke) 4.44

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Ron Wood & Rod Stewart

Various Artists – The Prince´s Trust 10th Anniversary Birthday Party (1987)

The Prince’s Trust celebrated it’s 10th anniversary in 1986 with a concert at Wembley Arena attended by the then Prince and Princess of Wales. It is a more of a curiosity concert now in light of the fact that most of the stars and groups on show have either split up, moved on, or have shuffled off this planet (Stuart Adamson committed suicide years later) Inevitably, the performances are some of the big names at the time, for example, Suzanne Vega and Level 42 were top ten in England and Mark Knopfler was riding high post-BROTHERS IN ARMS with Dire Straits. Tina Turner and Eric Clapton duetted on “Better Be Good To Me”, Rod Stewart performed his classic “Sailing” …. and the concert culminates in Paul McCartney singing “Long Tall Sally” and “Get Back”with Tina Turner.

Professionally done with some good music to boot, THE PRINCES TRUST BIRTHDAY PARTY is more of interest now to fans of the decade.(by Doom Templer)

Nothing special in term of performances,it’s only a curious relic piece on collector’s shelve like mine to satisfy our addiction of music performed by our darling masterclas. (by Guitar Kiko)

Personnel:
Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, Francis Rossi, George Chandler, Jimmy Chambers, Jimmy Helms, John Illsley, Mark King, Paul Young, Ray Cooper, Rick Parfitt, Samantha Brown*, Sting, Trevor Morais, Vicki Brown and much more

Tracklist:
01. Dire Straits: Money For Nothing (Knopfler) 5.20
02. Midge Ure: Call Of The Wild (King/Mitchell/Ure) 4.21
03. Suzanne Vega: Marlene On The Wall (Vega) 3.16
04. Phil Collins: In The Air Tonight (Collins) 4.58
05. Big Country: Fields Of Fire (Adamson/Brzezicki/Butler/Watson) 4.26
06. Howard Jones: No One Is To Blame (Jones) 4.12
07. Level 42: Something About You (Gould/King/Lindup/Gould/Badarou) 5.07
08. Elton John: I’m Still Standing (John/Taupin) 3.47
09. Joan Armatrading: Reach Out (Armatrading) 4.40
10. Tina Turner: Better Be Good To Me (Chinn/Chapman/Knight) 5.02
11. Rod Stewart: Sailing (Sutherland) 5.25
12. Paul McCartney: Get Back (Lennon/McCartney) 3.33
13. Paul McCartney: Long Tall Sally (Johnson/Penniman/Blackwell) 2.36

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