Rod Stewart At His Peak

Rod Stewart’s career has been lengthy, sometimes controversial, and always interesting. In my opinion, he was never better than he was in 1971 when Every Picture Tells a Story was released. Rod’s early career through the early to late 60s had him working with a who’s-who of the British rock scene. Being involved with people like Mick Fleetwood, Brian Auger, Long John Baldry (a great overlooked singer), Peter Green, and Jeff Beck, can prepare you pretty well for the rock stardom that was to come. His first two solo albums, The Rod Stewart Album and Gasoline Alley though uneven, had enough solid material to show the promise of things to come.

I still remember hearing Maggie May everywhere I went during the fall of my freshman year of college. Stewart’s raspy whiskey tinged voice retold the story of a young man learning about “love” through the guidance of an older woman. The record buying public was hooked on Rod Stewart. It was initially intended to be the “B”side of a single with another song off the album, Reason To Believe, the “A” side.

Do you kids know what 45 rpm singles were back in the day???

The success of Maggie May tends to overshadow the greatness of the rest of the album. Side one starts off with the title track which gives us a glimpse of things to come in Rod‘s career. Co-written by Ronnie Wood, this rocker also employs other members of the Faces to kick off the album on a proper tone. Also on side one is a reworking the Arthur Crudup tune, That’s All Right which helped launch Elvis’ career as the King’s first single. Rod covers a wonderful Bob Dylan tune, Tomorrow is Such a Long Time to close out side one. In my world, of all the great cover versions there are of Bob Dylan compositions, it would be hard to find one better. I think of the love of my life in the lyrics of the final verse every time I listen to this song.

Side 2 leads off with Maggie May but certainly doesn’t stop there. Mandolin Wind is a beautiful ode to the power and endurance of love through difficult times. Written by Stewart, it is as great a performance as any of Rod’s more successful commercial tunes. Rod’s cover of the Motown song, I Know I’m Losing You, is a better version than the hit single by Rare Earth. Stewart then ends the album with the hopeful Reason To Believe.

The album cover itself is not extremely remarkable. The front cover features a picture of Rod captured on stage with microphone and stand in hand while performing. As one of the best live performers of the era while sharing the stage with Faces, this is a apt visual to introduce you to Stewart. The back of the cover simply features the song titles presented as you might purchase them on sheet music from an era that has passed us by. This presentation however is also quite apt. This album of music features one of rock’s greatest and most unique voices performing great songs. After all, isn’t that where it starts…great songs. Whether penned by Dylan, Tim Hardin, Arthur Crudup, or Rod Stewart, the music doesn’t endure without great songs.