1971 found Mr. Rodney Stewart in a ridiculous,
creative, productive, and not to say lucrative mind. In 1970 he already
released two solo albums, which were all but Faces albums in name only,
‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down’ and ‘Gasoline
Alley’, and one album fully credited to the Faces ‘First Step’.
But 1971 saw the Faces - and particularly their lead singer - shoot to
stardom beyond their wildest dreams.
First there was their first top thirty album on both
sides of the Atlantic with ‘Long Player’. Then the first single from
Rod Stewart’s new solo album ‘Maggie May’ went number one
worldwide followed by the release of ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’,
which followed the single to a worldwide number one. This was topped off
with another Faces album that again followed the previous album to
number one, ‘A Nod’s As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse’. They
crammed all this in while doing hundreds of magical concerts all over
the world.
To record ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ Rod
Stewart surrounded himself with his mates, wrote two new songs with
Faces’ mate Ronnie Wood, the title track and album opener, and one
with Martin Quittenton, ‘Maggie May’. The rest were all perfectly
selected covers. Some songs make you want to leap up and hug someone and
some will bring you to emotional tears; Rod Stewart lets all his Sam
Cooke influences hang out.
The title track is brought to a dramatic finale with
Maggie Bell of Stone The Crows fame in a grand style duet with Rodney.
The chorus lines in ‘Seems Like a Long Time’ are given a great touch
by Madeleine Bell and old ‘Steampacket’ buddy Long John Baldrey as
Rodney slows it all down.
The version of Arthur Crudup’s ‘That’s
Alright’ gives a huge nod of affection to Elvis, and Bob Dylan has
never been covered better than ‘Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time’.
‘Amazing Grace’ lives up to its name with some of
the best slide guitar that Ronnie Wood has ever laid down in the studio,
and gives great emphasis to Rod Stewart’s vocals.
Then we get ‘Maggie May’, an all-time classic.
The autobiographical song about a young Rodney Stewart losing his
virginity was given its first showcase on the British TV program Top Of
The Pops. Rod Stewart, backed by his trusty Faces and various monkey
suited roadies, and D.J. John Peel (a non-musician) attempting to look
like he could play the wonderful Ray Jackman mandolin solo with all the
others mugged up behind him, had a whale of a time kicking balloons into
the crowd; none of them bothering to hide the fact that they were only
miming to the track. The conservative British Broadcasting Company was
not amused, but they won the hearts of a nation.
‘Mandolin Wind’ is played to perfection with Ray
Jackman of Lindisfarne again staring with his mandolin playing.
‘(I Know) I’m Losing You’ is probably the
heaviest rocker that Rodney or the Faces ever played and used to bring
their stage show to a riotous conclusion. Micky Waller, who plays drums
on all the tracks on ‘Every Picture’, would surely have made a
better drummer with the Faces than the rather rigid Kenny Jones; he
propels ‘(I Know) I’m Losing You’ along with tremendous power.
Tim Hardin’s ‘Reason To Believe’ brings the
album to a beautiful conclusion.
If you want to hear Rod Stewart singing at his best,
this is it. That was before he disbanded the Faces and got out his
leotards to ask you ‘Don’t Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ and all the other
rubbish he flooded us with later in the seventies. But anything is
forgivable to an artist that can come out with a slice of perfection
like ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’. 1971 was a good year indeed.
Shadowed
Country (ISBN 974-91823-0-8) is the latest offering from the champion of
Isaan, Pira Canning Sudham. This latest book is more of an ‘expanded’
anthology, which author Pira says is the result of 50 years experience,
writing and re-writing.
Mott’s CD review: Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
5
spiky
