September 1969 US Debut Album on Mercury Records
Titled "The Rod Stewart Album"
See Below for February 1970 UK LP with Different Title and Artwork (Same Tracks)
"…I Wouldn't Change A Thing…"
"Take me back...down
the Gasoline Alley where I came from..." I've been meaning to heap
praise on this Chronicles 3CD Digipak of Scots Shortbread for years now - so here
are the tartan scarves, champagne buckets and caviar pillow stains. Techo bits first...
USA/UK released November
2002 (reissued January 2005) – "Reason To Believe: The Complete Mercury
Studio Recordings" by ROD STEWART on Mercury/Universal/Chronicles 440 063
422-2 (Barcode 044006342221) is a 3CD set and breaks down as follows:
Disc 1 (79:19 minutes):
1. Street Fighting Man [Side
1]
2. Man Of Constant Sorrow
3. Blind Prayer
4. Handbags And Gladrags
5. An Old Raincoat Won't
Ever Let You Down [Side 2]
6. I Wouldn't Ever Change A
Thing
7. Cindy's Lament
8. Dirty Old Town
Tracks 1 to 8 are his debut
LP "An Old Raincoat Won’t Let You Down" – released February 1970 on
Vertigo VO 4 in the UK. Mercury SR-61237 was released September 1969 in the USA
where the album was lumbered with the hugely unimaginative title of "The
Rod Stewart Album" itself matching the dreadfully plain and boring artwork (different
to the beautiful UK version on Vertigo but with the same tracks). As this is
effectively an American 3CD release – the booklet doesn't picture the lovely photograph gatefold of the UK artwork – only
the US one – more’s the pity.
"Reason To Believe..." 3CD Remasters
The 24-page booklet is
housed in a three-way foldout card digipak with each flap featuring live photos
(pictures beneath the see-through plastic trays also). AMY LINDEN provides the
liner notes and there's discography info on each track and overall recording
credits. But the big news is the SUHA GUR remasters which are fantastic – full
of presence and life and that raunchy feel Stewart got at the time.
Looking for audio-glory, for many the first port of
call on this 3CD set will be the more popular and well-known "Every Picture Tells A
Story" and "Never A Dull Moment" sets. Both are 5-star Rod Stewart classics with
nuggets like the gorgeous "Mandolin Wind" and the raucous "Los Paraguayos". But
it's the first two British LPs issued on Vertigo at the tail ends of 1970 - "An Old Raincoat Won't Let You Down" and "Gasoline Alley" - that I keep returning to when I play this massive
CD haul.
Lyrically and musically –
there is so much richness here. Armed with a God-given set of tonsils and a way
with observation and melody - song after song smacks you over the head with
greatness and smart choices. And all of it with that fantastic band of his. In short, his sessions were dripping with that loose but cool British
Rock 'n' Roll swagger that seemed to come so easily to all of them. Let's get to
the beginning...
February 1970 UK Sleeve for his Debut Album
"An Old Raincoat Won't Let You Down"
Different (Better) Artwork To The Earlier US Debut "The Rod Stewart Album"
The crew for the debut
included Ron Wood (soon to be in the Faces and later The Rolling Stones) and Martin Pugh of Steamhammer on
Guitars, Ian McLagan on Keyboards, Martin Quittenton of Steamhammer on Acoustic Guitar, Ron
Wood also on Bass with Mick Waller of Steampacket on Drums.
Stewart opens Side 1's musical account with a Rolling Stones rebel call - "Street Fighting Man" –
tremendous panache in his version filled with right speaker lead electric
guitar dirtiness – his rasping vocals thrilling ("...Summer is here and the time is
right for fighting in the streets.") Ginger Baker's Airforce would make a 1970 Polydor 45-single out of a
live version of the folky "Man Of Constant Sorrow" – the kind of acoustic
lament Stewart seems to thrive on.
His own "Blind Prayer"
talks of mum and dad lost to a fire way up on the 14th floor as
dirty guitars and drums rattle and stab. Manfred Mann's Mike D'abo provides a haunting "Handbags
And Gladrags" – arranging and playing piano on his own composition too. H&G is a
fabulous moment on the LP – a gorgeous real-world lament of rags to riches. Ron Wood
sticks it with grungy Bass on the UK title track "An Old Raincoat Won't
Let You Down" (another Rodders original) – a well-made slice of English garb to
keep you from the drizzling rain.
We get the superb keyboard
contribution of a pre 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer' Keith Emerson on "I Wouldn't Ever Change A Thing" –
probably my fave-rave for the whole album and another RS original. A hissy but
powerful organ lingers at the beginning of "Cindy's Lament" only to
settle into a rocking riff where Cindy doesn't seem to notice our boy nearly as
much as he would prefer. Love the way the piano comes in too – the remaster
rattling the room. Rod ends his debut album with a gorgeous Scottish air from Ewan
MacColl - "Dirty Old Town" – kissing his girl by the factory wall. His next platter was of
course "Gasoline Alley" – the title track is enough to make me melt
like butter.
The 3CD set "Reason To
Believe: The Complete Mercury Studio Recordings" is that rare instance of
quality and quantity combined in a peerless compilation and of all of it
wrapped up in that top-quality remastered sound.
"...Combed my hair in a
thousand ways…but I come out looking the same…" - Rod sang on 1971's "Every
Picture Tells A Story". Forget all the expensive alternatives - this is
the musical mirror you want to look in to…
