Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story poll

"(I Know) I'm Losing You"

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

The album needs the Temps cover because that's the only moment of real electric tension. Without that the instrumental moods are too unvarying. It's the grit in Rod's oyster.

Hard to choose among all the gems on this album. I hate to be that guy but I really think it's Maggie May.

I also voted "Maggie May" but what can you say about that; always a startled "oh" @ its mandolin solo at the end, takes the wind right out of me, so clear-eyed. I wouldn't change a thing.

The album needs the Temps cover because that's the only moment of real electric tension.

I can see an argument for it along those lines; 12 "Mandolin Wind"s would not be a good thing. One the merits, though, I've never gotten anything out of it, although clearly there are people who do.

Mawkish, icky story that I'm not ashamed to admit: tearing up to "Mandolin Wind" a few years ago as I drove through the countryside on a beautiful fall day.

how would 12 mandolin wind's be a bad thing???

yeah I've never really liked Rod's "(I Know) I'm Losing You"; just a bleating grind.

"Mandolin Wind" is unearthly: it sounds ancient, like a Celtic rune or something.

how would 12 mandolin wind's be a bad thing???

Let me rephrase: too much of a good thing. Or too samey, which I think was ithappens' point. (Obviously, I love "Mandolin Wind.")

the hooting after the "coldest winter in fourteen years" part at the end is a highlight of the album for sure: I know that feeling.

I'm listening to it right now. I think my favorite line is "so the next few lines could really hurt". Meta-tastic!

I think the Eagles may have sung a similar line circa 1979.

The Eagles were talking about penetrating young pussy though.

You're muscling in on my joke with a better one.

yeesh when the drums come in on "Mandolin Wind", so great

have no idea which is the Elvis cover or the Temps cover, this was all new material to me when I first heard it

the drumming on (I Know) I'm Losing You = monstrous. The band is just unbelievable on this record, so loose and powerful

Reason To Believe

This is just another example why 1971 could have been the greatest year for albums, ever.

so effortlessly great

I know this album is still held in high regard but it's not enough. It should be there with There's A Riot Going On and Exile On Main Street as a no brainer when discussing 70's greatness

yeah...and the rod stewart album (or old raincoat or whatever the UK vers is called) is nearly as good too!

and the faces! oh the faces! the other rolling stones that haven't been beat to death by classic rock radio but with a better singer!

I like Gasoline Alley best out of the first three Stewarts. The Faces boxset is epic.

http://img.maniadb.com/images/album/347/347093_1_f.jpg

never heard gasoline alley i really need to get that.

what a fucking great singer he was.

Gonna put Gasoline Alley on right now.

I really think I prefer GA as an lp experience over EPTAS.
But it's a trifling difference, all this music is great.

Rod repeatedly calling the woman he purportedly loves a 'slit-eyed lady'.

Generally not too big on his early output, but he did release a couple of fine singles then, one out of which being "Maggie May".

Yep. Any rightminded person would prefer the post Atlantic Crossing stuff to the Mercury albums.
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I think my favorite line is "so the next few lines could really hurt".

I've always heard this as "I never was good with romantic words, so the next few lines come really hard."

just bought a mint vinyl copy of this for 2 euros.. really liking what i'm hearing so far..

I've always heard this as "I never was good with romantic words, so the next few lines come really hard."

I didn't quote the preceding line, which sets it up, but that's exactly what's going on.

so is this the consensus pick for best rod album? i think i like never a dull moment more.

I'm definitely on board with anyone who wants to argue that "You Wear It Well" is his greatest song; I did a top 100 countdown on the radio once, and indeed had that as my favorite song ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4PXMCCTMwM

so happy to see so much love for this album. the 15-second intro to "maggie may," and then the way the first chord strikes up, may be my favorite moment in pop music ever -- right up there with the opening of "be my baby," the fadeout of "madame george," anything.

Title track, but I love the Georgia Satellites' version as much.

"You Wear It Well" is a great song, yet a bit too much of a rewrite of "Maggie May" to really score with me. See also "The Same Old Song" and "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" for referance.

"You Wear It Well" is a great song, yet a bit too much of a rewrite of "Maggie May"

That's a reasonable objection, but for me it takes everything that's brilliant about "Maggie May" and kind of...I don't know how to put it; it's four minutes of complete and utter mastery, like when Dylan sings "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" in Don't Look Back. Amazing lines tumble forth: "Madam Onassis got nothin' on you," "think of me and try not to laugh," "I don't object if you call collect." It'll never be as famous as "Maggie May," but if I could only have one, "You Wear It Well" it would be.

I posted this on another thread a few months ago, but a second time won't hurt (someone clued me into the fact they're probably lip-synching, making the lyric sheet extra-amusing):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJo3w66JorM

At the EMP Pop Music Conference in 2007, I asked Greil Marcus, knowing his answer, if Rod Stewart had done anything after EPTAS worth closer scrutiny (I posited "Young Turks"). He said he experienced a "palpable letdown" when Never a Dull Moment's first number "True Blue" started and he cringed at its opening couplet.

I never played the LP more than a couple of times--he could well be right about that one particular song. But if he extends the comment to cover "You Wear It Well," I think he's as wrong about that as he is about P.T. Anderson's use of music in Boogie Nights.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

He's wrong. I love NADM almost as much as EPTAS.

the real question is: You Wear It Well or Gasoline Alley?

On a 100-point scale: "You Wear It Well," 100; "Gasoline Alley," 99; "Mandolin Wind," 98.5; "Every Picture Tells a Story," 98.2; "Maggie May," 97; "Handbags and Gladrags," 90. But some days "Handbags and Gladrags" gets a 100.

Voted for "Reason to Believe" narrowly over the title track. No bad choices.

Couldn't resist posting the Faces doing "Maybe I'm Amazed." No disrespect to Ronnie Lane but it really kicks in when Rod takes over.

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

thinking about starting a poll for best rod stewart album on mercury...

I need to hear more from the Faces. Only know a few songs (Stay With Me, Ooh La La, Debris and You Can Make Me Dance).

I read great things about the box-set (Five Guys Walk Into A Bar) but is it too much for a first listen?

Xpost Let Him Run Wild is so good.

xpost yeah that's a devastating line

he really was as good as it gets for a time

I was reading his autobiography and he mentions that writing lyrics was torturous and embarrassing for him and he’d feel terribly nervous about showing them to anyone. (He also devotes a chapter to his hair.)

probably deserves two chapters tbh

ha, we should poll some other classic era Rod Stewart albums.

Yeah and a big Rod poll would be ace!

If it hasn’t been done already.... *runs to check*

hey, col and I did the difficult and un-sober (*hic*) of a listening thread:

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

75-88! That’s some heavy deeds

Wussy poll before Rod Stewart poll is some fucked up priorities, ilx.

Also no Seger poll, what the hell

lol

xpost

i would totally vote in a Rod Stewart poll, it would be some hard listening in a short period of time.

i would totally listen to every rod stewart record

lol

Every Picture: I’m gonna get all Steve Hoffman Forum on yer ass here

I picked up a minty UK early (1st?) press a few years back, with contemporaneous clippings from the NME & Melody Maker laid in. Wasn’t super impressed with the sound.

Then I picked up an early US pressing & thought it absolutely rocked. Sold my UK version.

(Was running a Thorens TD-318 at the time)

Then the customer who bought it fell on hard times and sold me his record collection (most of which he’d bought from me) *and* his turntable, a TD-160. Played the 2 versions back to back & holy shit! I was SO WRONG — the UK absolutely slays & the US sounds harsh & over-EQ’d (likely to compensate for a later-gen source tape).

Moral: keep your shitty turntable or you’ll never be satisfied

"Love Touch" Top Ten if not #1.

I'm the Wussy guy...Of course Rod Stewart's more important--the order reflects when you volunteered, not importance. As one of the most enthusiastic Rod Stewart posters on here, though, I will say that Wussy at their best are in the same neighborhood.

As Dirk Diggler would say, they're that good!

Yeah, don't see the controversy here.

Really, the only way they part company is that Wussy hasn't yet had there ugly 1974-till-forever phase.

Attica was their Gasoline Alley

Lol

Ten minutes till midnight...released May 28, 1971.

I don't know that anyone will agree, but the one song on here I could absolutely do without is the Temptations cover;

In fact someone did agree but, personally, I could hardly disagree more!

Yeah, it's a pretty amazing cover, a rare instance of a rock band recording a cover of a great Motown hit that's on par with the original.

The title song is playing right now in the coffee shop I patronize. Frustrating, because not nearly as loud as I want to be.

In light of your location, are you sure he isn't saying "every picture tells a story, donut"?

I used to hear that almost final line as 'you didn't ask to come here anyway', like this is all about how you're thrown into life, so fuck it, live, make the best out of bad. Once I heard it correctly, 'didn't have to come here anyway' I was a bit disappointed but I still love this song beyond reason.

I always heard it your old way too.

hmmm maybe that is it, despite lyric sites. Excuse to relisten, fine.

& I even love that last run of 'every picture tells a story, don't it?'s, like there's nothing really to say, just offering a stupid-maybe-true cliché that I think barely has anything to do with the bunch-of-stuff-that-happened song we've just heard, so here we are and isn't it fun - no advice, no quotes, just laugh it up.

I liked this piece: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/rod-stewart-every-picture-tells-a-story/

"Mandolin Wind" is such a vocal performance and really highlights what he brings to the table. Such an interesting career.

The thing with Rod Stewart is, he's never figured out that he's Rod Stewart.

80 today--Jesus.

Looking through all the threads, I don't think there's ever been an overall song poll? Lots of mini-polls, but I couldn't see one all-encompassing one.

(And by all-encompassing, I of course mean 1969-72. That's all you need to encompass.)

Tonight I’m Yours Yo

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

(xpost) Was that his early-'80s hip-hop phase?

That was his early-80's jacket-sleeves-rolled-up-to-the-elbow phase.

I loved hearing how many times Rod turned up in Andrew Hickey's podcast, during those years when he was auditioning to be the singer for every band in england.

Also, when I just searched for him, I got a kick out of Google's "People Also Searched For" suggestions. Think Rod had a type?

https://i.imgur.com/uxyHseN.png

I should extend my timeline back a year or two to include the two Jeff Beck albums. I don't think I've ever heard the bands he was in before that.