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

Why are we starting at 1975? To focus on re-evaluating less-acclaimed material?

Yep. I could've started with Slimer but no.

lol Smiler

Rod the Mod & the Real Ghostbusters

Smiler doesn't really fit here--It's the last of his folky-Faces albums, and he took a hard turn towards studio Rock in '75. The last Faces single (from late '74) clearly forecasts this: The Topside is a proto-Disco Philly International-style number, while the Flip is this slow jam, "Hi Records Does Reggae"-type thing.

"Alright For An Hour": This is pleasant. Nice groove. Fits in well with all the other Cod-Reggae 70s Rock Tracks ("D'Yer Maker", "Haitian Divorce", "Hey Negrita" etc.) if not among the better ones.

"All In The Name Of Rock'n'Roll": I like the whiny synth solely in there to remind you it's 1975. Good riffage in search of a better song. Kind of rolls on a little longer than it needs to.

i'm totally fascinated by the buried-vocal mix aesthetic on this album.

mostly, "all in the name of rock 'n' roll" makes me want to listen to paul mccartney doing this sort of thing better. or maybe the replacements doing it worse. would've fit right in on "the shit hits the fans."

Decent riff - would work in a Tarantino scene easy

Sounds pretty Stonesy to me, and 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll' had first been recorded at the home of Rod's old mucker Ron Wood circa 1973.

listen to paul mccartney doing this sort of thing better.

who fact checks the fact checkers?

my macca checking cuz checks me :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU_2oNF9CZE#t=1m06.5s

man that is not my cup of tea

feel like rod can phone in some boogie rock way way better than mccartney ever could

this song sounds like a bar band covering an aerosmith b-side

Yeah it's pretty good

Almost forgot!

"Drift Away" (Mentor Williams)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB9PYLEVp_Y

yes THAT "Drift Away"

oh no that breakdown in the last chorus

(and then it gets worse after that)

in tidal, he is credited in this song, and only this song, as "rod steward"

to wash the taste of all of this out of my mouth, i skipped ahead to tomorrow's song, which i guess is illegal to talk about today, but at least i know there are better days ahead.

agreed

Haven't listened yet, but just want to point out now that "Drift Away" was shortlisted by the Stones for their covers/live album that was shelved in favor of It's Only Rock'n'Roll.

listen!

i don't get it is smth wrong with this song?

it sounds lazy and rote to my ears

I loathe the original

okay, not familiar with the original but can tell from wiki page it's a cover favorite

works on the album, just a nice/silly rocknroll song to my ears

i look forward to the revisiting and re-evaluation etc. of the post-'76-not-Tonight-I'm-Yours-material but all the same I'm thinking it might be wise to savour these first two p good albums since in my head (and I'm hoping this thread will prove me wrong) Rod's career p much follows Allmusic's assessment:

(SPOILER ALERT)

http://i.imgur.com/sRrYJsc.png

also, I never thought much about the Atlantic crossing thing but you all seem knowledgeable - so AC was Rod's breakthrough album in the US?

Nah, Every Picture Tells A Story!

AC marked a # of important things: He left England for the States; he signed a very lucrative deal w/Warner Bros.; he ceased working with the core of the Faces in the studio in favor of LA session dudes (and the initial sessions were with a reformed Booker T & The MGs, and were among Al Jackson's final recordings before his murder); and--after Smiler and Ooh LA LA--were the first times critics had knives out.

I see, thanks!

i was obsessed with Atlantic Crossing as a kid but never ever heard it again since the late 70s. this is going to be a fascinating thread i can tell. he really dropped off the fastest *and* the most didn't he, of all the rockers that got mega in the 70s?

idk "rockers that got mega in the 70s" is a p long list

i think i meant him, Elton, Queen type mega.

I don't think he did. Unlike Queen, he kept having American hits, and unlike Elton (who coughed up a handful between 1977 and 1982), his top ten run didn't stop, like, at all from 1975 through 1993. He was a constant MTV and radio presence. He never seemed like a fogey even when he was releasing "Lady Jane" and "Love Touch."

yeah that's why this era is so interesting, tho i don't know much of the albums. As a kid in the early 80s, Rod didn't seem like some old hippie but rather some lecherous dude who was always on the radio.

i'm with Alfred: the orig. "Drift Away" is a pretty dire song, part of the early 70s "remember real rock 'n' roll, man?" nostalgia binge, without any of the wit. Rod's cover does as much with it as you can---he commits to the thing, a bit too much (but hell so did Dobie Gray). Genteel studio "reggae" was a default setting by '75, it seems

thank you, Eric Clapton!

I mean, look at this top ten list through '93:

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Passion
Young Turks
Some Guys Have All the Luck
Infatuation
Love Touch
My Heart Can't Tell You No
Downtown Train
This Old Heart of Mine
The Motown Song
Have I Told You Lately
All For Love

That's not counting top fifteen hits that got as much or more airplay (and still do!) like "Forever Young" and a Sirius radio perennial like "People Get Ready" whose massive MTV airplay convinces listeners that it was a huge pop hit.

yeah Baby Jane, Tonight I'm Yours, the crappy "Twistin' the Night Away" for 'Inner Space' def. seemed to get nearly as much airplay as this set too. I have an awful memory of "Dynamite" too which I'll share when we get to it

"Forever Young" might be his biggest perennial hit; I hear it ALL the time.

forgot "Rhythm of My Heart" on that list.

I checked iTunes: "Forever Young" is his most popular song.

Rod Schlocky Stewart

"Drift Away": The Dobie Williams original is ime one of those inescapable songs--it was huge on Oldies Radio when I had access to such a thing, and it was one of the few R&B-type oldies that was pretty big on Classic Rock Radio, probably because--message aside--it really isn't that far removed from a Seger or Mellencamp hit. To me it's always been sonic wallpaper. Rod doesn't really add much to this other than some light Reggae touches. Why is this on "The Fast Side"?

Of course, I'm forgetting that Uncle Kracker (with Dobie in tow, no less) added a couple years of cultural relevancy and higher performance fees to his career by Karaoke-ing this into the charts in the early 00s.

i like the original of "Drift Away" the vocal are so much better. have no idea why Rod redid this song.

He needed to fill the album...and he's not above Karaoke (see: all those "Songbook" albums).

For comparison, here's the Stones' unreleased version: https://youtu.be/tey6tjsq9Vo

More lived-in, some nice Country touches.

that is so much better, isn't it?

whaaaat I had never heard Rod's forever young and consider myself both a p big Rod & Bob fan

decent cover!

no "Young Turks" or "Tonight I'm Yours"?!?

From the 'comeback' album, which to be fair, did break the downward slide - it's better than the previous two. But if it was ever that good, it's aged poorly. The title track was a hit, but it does nothing for me. It's not a terrible song, but like most of the album, it's a cluttered sounding record. "Young Turks" and "Only a Boy" are potentially good songs - it's encouraging that Rod wrote the lyrics to both, but "Only a Boy" has too much '80s bombast, with Rod shouting over the drums, and "Young Turks" sounds like it was sung over a Dire Straits outtake. I also like the vocal on "Jealous" which otherwise sounds a bit derivative of the Rolling Stones' SOME GIRLS.

I think I what you mean about “young Turks” and dire straits, but to me the production on YT is so gentle and twee and warm and genuinely wavey. “walk on life” is such cold sonic horseshit, especially compared to the rest of Brothers In Arms, it’s like born in the USA never happened.

The general warmth pervading "Young Turks," coupled with his exuberant performance, is a poem.

it's aged poorly.

Soto alarm sounded

Watched only 20 minutes of that so far, we're really going to miss that guy when he's gone. There will be a giant David Lee Roth sized hole in the universe, and we're all going to feel it.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, July 22, 2019 5:48 PM (eight months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think we are really going to miss Rod Stewart when he's gone as well. There's gonna be a giant Rod Stewart's hair sized hole in the universe, etc.

"The Killing of Georgie" hit me tonight.

"Move Me" (Stewart, Tony Brock, Jay Davis, Wally Stocker, Kevin Savior)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfUZDye75QI

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, November 3, 2016 7:47 AM (seven years ago)

Maybe this should be in 'post a controversial music opinion', but when Rod went Full Disco or New Wave, he was a god-damn beast that rose above even his epochal 'Every Picture Tells A Story' album. That voice in a new wave/disco idiom was fucking fantastic.

I remember being told by Important People (including my 8th-grade english teacher, who chastised me for liking 'Infatuation' more than 'Maggie Mae') that Rod sold out with his disco/new wave turn on "Blondes Have More Fun", but then I listened to that cassette, hoping for more of that vibe, only to get (fun, I'll admit) bloooz like 'Dirty Weekend' and (also good, god damnit Rod you bastard) folky stuff like 'Ain't Love A Bitch'. What the hell, Rod? You totally misled us. Where's the disco?

Thankfully, we get 'Body Wishes', and the full-on FUCKYEAH harmonized guitars track 'Move Me', which is god-damn 10.0 Rod, ripping off 'Billie Jean' better than (also awesome) 'Caribbean Queen' or Cee-Lo's 'Bright Lights, Bigger City'. Is he saying 'punch me in the bible (Ezekiel 23!?), please'? Because, I don't care, that's what he's saying. And that extra measure he makes us wait before the last chorus? Damn, it's one of the reasons I love music.

I'm enjoying the hell out of this record.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, November 3, 2016 5:30 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is the fun trashy Rod record I've been hoping for since this thing started

― col, Thursday, November 3, 2016 6:24 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglin

I heard "Lost in You" at CVS this morning.

And how the hell did "Every Beat of My Heart" go #2 in England?!