Here is the review you have all been waiting for by Pat Brett who writes the very popular ‘Thoughts of a Rod fan’ blog in the brilliant SMILER Retro members section.
Time
So here it is. Two years in the making â sessions started in late Spring 2011 â but now finally released we have a proper Rod Stewart album and not a Clive Davis committee-driven album. It will still be marketed with gusto and the record company will have had their say (Capitol dictated the album title & told Rod to change at least one lyric), but Rod wrote (most of) it and produced it. It has been a long time coming. Possibly too long to say it has been worth the wait, but it is very welcome nonetheless.
If you think reading this review will help you decide whether to buy this album, Iâll save you some time: Buy it! Itâs not perfect, but it is a great Rod Stewart album.
Not everyone will be happy. Those who wrote Rod off after the Mercury era wonât change their minds in 2013. Their disappointment is too engrained to dissipate now. Neither will many of those who turned on him in 1978. I think that most of those who were on his side up until the turn of the
millenium will be satisfied. But not even all of them.
There are flaws with the album, but not enough, in my opinion, to detract from what is a very good effort indeed. We each have our benchmarks against
which to judge Time. For me it was simply this: does Time stack up against Tonight Iâm Yours, Out of Order and A Spanner in the works. On balance,based on early impressions, it does. And then some.
In some respects it will be understandable for people to approach this album with caution. Itâs like Gasoline Alley we are toldâŚthen we hear Beautiful Morning. Rod has never written an entire album before is the messageâŚ. But we know he has â Body Wishes and Foolish Behaviour, neither
of which features in most lists of âRodâs best albumsâ. But these are all just marketing ploys for the masses. That they are not true does not mean we are being sold a pup.
The tracks on Time recall the many periods of Rodâs career. The title track has Faces written all over it, âSexual Religionâ is âDYTISâ for the new Millennium; âShe Makes Me Happyâ, âBeautiful Morningâ and âCanât stop me nowâ are the hi-tempo power pop-rock cousins of many of Rodâs eighties hits; âLive the Lifeâ and âBrighton Beachâ are Mercury-2013-style. As well
as looking over the shoulder at the past, Rod is also looking forward.
Rod has talked about doing blues and country albums. Elements of both genres have found their way onto Time â both originals and covers. âMake Love to me tonightâ is kinda country and bonus track âLove has no prideâ is a
standard recorded by the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Linda Rondstad. Blues song âShake your moneymakerâ was recorded early in the process and for a while looked like being a key track on the album, although it has now been relegated to US-only bonus track status. The lyrical repetition on âPicture In A Frameâ lends that track to a blues label also. âCold Waterâ has toes in both blues and country camps. These songs may well be setting us up for future blues and country themed long players. Certainly the latter, as Rod has indicated on more than one occasion that he is contracted with Universal to do a country album next.
What this album has in greater abundance than possibly any other album I own is joy and happiness. There is also honesty, contentment, satisfaction,pride, some nostalgia and sentimentality. But mostly joy and happiness.Itâs an album to bring the half full glass to three quarter full. It is an album to accompany a sunny morning or even to chase away a cloudy afternoon. The overall mood and vibe of the album reflects Rodâs own state of mind as he has articulated in his book and in recent interviews. He is
happy and knows he has been lucky in life. And it comes through on this album like no other collection in his catalogue.
There is a simplicity about many of the songs that is refreshing in a complicated and cynical world. You could argue that a ten year old could write most of the lyrics to âBeautiful Morningâ and, with the obvious exception of the reference to bedroom shenanigans, youâd be right. But not everything in life should be complicated, convoluted and opaque. There is beauty in the simple things. A cheerful, breezy, infectious tune like âBeautiful Morningâ is just simply a mood changer or, if youâre already happy, a legal and free mood enhancer. Best of all, it is not even close to being the best track on the album.
[Digression: Is it just me or do the backing vocals hint of Deacon Bluesâ âReal Gone Kidâ? Itâs also nice to hear the seagulls from âEvery Beat of my heartâ are no longer homesick and are living it up outside San Fancisco. Mr
Savigar must have kept that sample on his computer all these years].
The accolade for best song goes, ironically as it is the least positive song on this happy album, to âItâs Overâ. This is, for me, one of the most emotionally charged songs Rod has written in his entire career. The strength of feeling expressed hits home every time. The wonderful melody,superb bridge (best strings since âMy Heart canât tell you noâ?) and faint background vocal all support the lyric beautifully. In earlier times, this song would have been a massive hit single. These days, we can hope that it
just helps to sell the album. Unusually, the track has no repeated-lyric chorus, but the melodic hook makes up for it, and the lack of repetition in the song helps keep the interest throughout. âItâs Overâ is a true Rod Stewart classic and the key song on the album, nothwithstanding the
importance of âBrighton Beachâ in playing the catalyst for this project.[It is hard to reconcile pictures of co-writer John5 in his full stage make-up with his contribution to the composition of a ballad like Itâs over
â but equally cool to see him front of stage at the Troubadour, possibly being the guy shouting âYEAH! As Rod gets into âItâs Overâ].
âBrighton Beachâ might not be the best song on Time, but it is the most significant as it is the song that kick-started the project â a story that has been told and retold since Rod first aired it in his book. Along with
âLive the Lifeâ and âMake Love to Me Tonightâ it comes closest to supporting comments that linked this album to Gasoline Alley.
It seems that âLive the liveâ (or Live the life you love / Love the life you live) had been earmarked to be the title track until Capitol stuck their oar in. Given the overall positivity of the songs, it was probably a good choice. The song itself is another jaunty affair in the style of âLady Luckâ or âOh God I wish I was home tonightâ â hard to dislike, easy to hum along to. Pure Rod.
In a move reminiscent of 1988 and the use of âLost in Youâ as lead single with âDynamiteâ also released to radio as a two-pronged attempt to get Rod some rock airplay and recover ground lost with âLove Touchâ, Capitol /Stiefel also went for two uptempo songs to launch Time in the US. The first, âShe Makes Me Happyâ is, like âBeautiful Morningâ, just a simple upbeat song. I am not sure that either matches up to the likes of âRed Hot In Blackâ or âRebel Heartâ for lyrical uniqueness, but it is hard not to at least tap the feet and feel the release of an endorphin or two into the veins as this one gets going.
The second song chosen to lead out the album in the US was âThe Finest Womanâ. Objectively speaking, I understand why they chose the closest thing to rock on the album to create some space between Time and what Rod has been associated with since 2001, but subjectively I think this is probably the weakest song on the album. There is nothing musically or lyrically memorable to hook onto. Every album has a weakest link. This is Timeâs. In my opinion of course.
Whether intended or not, âSexual Religionâ is a cheeky two-fingered salute to the critics who still cite âDYTISâ as the final straw in terms of Rodâs rock credibility. Of course there has been a whole bale of final straws
since then but Rod keeps going. With a hook that is a cross between its seventies equivalent âDYTISâ, Out of Orderâs âCrazy About Herâ and even his theme song âSome guys have all the luckâ, this is a top class dance tune.
Jimmy Roberts wades in with a sax solo reminiscent of his best early nineties live efforts and itâs not hard to imagine fans waving their arms and singing along to the woah-ou-woah-ou-oohs throughout. The live version from the Troubadour beefs this song up a bit without losing its
danceability â an indicator that production-wise this album might be a bit more âpopâ on occasion that it needed to be. Some commentators are focussing on whether this song is appropriate material for a 68 year old to be singing. Personally, I hope that Iâm as lively at 68 on this topic as Rod seems to be.
At the opposite end of the scale, we get âPure Loveâ. A slow and more tender âForever Youngâ aimed at older children and sung by a father 25 years on. Rodâs voice sounds great on this album (kudos to Paul Warren for
whatever physical or psychological buttons he pushed in producing the lead vocal on many of the songs), but there are a few gentle reminders that he is now almost seventy. Age-related weakness is evident at times on âPure Loveâ, but they add rather than detract from the emotion. On the other hand, a couple of the signature yelps on âSexual Religionâ are a far cry from the power of those on songs like âJealousâ all those years ago and maybe were better left in the vault. Rodâs voice is not yet in the same
category as that of the late Johnny Cash during his end of career and life resurgence, but it has aged. This brings both challenges and opportunities for him performance-wise. Both are present on Time.
Rod once semi-planned a Sam Cooke covers album with Bobby Womack in the seventies. He has recorded an album worth of Bob Dylan songs. Tom Waits is next in line. If youâre looking for excitement, steer clear of Rodâs cover of âPicture in a Frameâ. If you want to hear yet more evidence for the case extolling Rod Stewart as one of the greatest singers and interpreters of all time, tune in. How Rod could go a decade of recording only covers and
not once produce a performance like this is criminal. Itâs clear right throughout Time, and definitely on this song, that Rod has, at least for this one album, hung up the phone and is present body and soul.
âCanât stop me nowâ was unveiled last December on Rodâs Christmas special on TV. It sounded good live with the full band behind him. Itâs one of those lyrics that only Rod can write and no-one can ever cover. The nostalgia and sentimentality is just dripping off it, but Rod has always
been able to get away with this type of anthem. Now hearing the studio version, I still like this song a lot. But I wish it rocked just a bit harder and I would prefer not to know that the band is not playing on it and that itâs mostly programmed, even the bagpipes.
In Short..The Real Rod is back with a better than album that we could really have hoped for. Buy it. Tell your friends and enemies about it. Post on every internet forum about it. Most of all, just enjoy and cherish this album.
To read the fantastic full review and other blogs by Pat Brett go to the SMILER retro members section
Exclusive In the studio photographs thanks to Kevin Savigar