For the first time, Rod’s first 56 studio solo recordings, considered by many to be the best work of his illustrious career, have been collected in one package.
The three-CD box set released November 19th 2002, brings together every selection on his five Mercury studio albums plus singles and rarities, from 1969-1974, each digitally remastered.
Along with classic rock hits such as “Maggie May,” “Reason To Believe,” “You Wear It Well,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “Every Picture Tells A Story,” ‘Reason To Believe’ features five selections previously unreleased in the U.S. From 1995’s import-only “Handbags & Gladrags” compilation, ‘Reason To Believe’ completes the picture with “You Put Something Better Inside Me,” “Crying Laughing Loving Lying,” “So Tired,” “Every Time We Say Goodbye” and “Missed You.” The package also includes a 24-page booklet containing photos, an essay and detailed recording information.
Disc One offers his 1969 solo debut, “The Rod Stewart Album” (“An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down” in the U.K.), including “Man Of Constant Sorrow,” and 1970’s “Gasoline Alley,” with its Stewart-Ron Wood title track. Added is the single version of the album’s cover of Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now.”
Disc Two presents in their entirety his breakthrough album, 1971’s “Every Picture Tells A Story,” and its successful follow-up, 1972’s “Never A Dull Moment.” The former was the first album in history to simultaneously reach #1 in the U.S. and U.K. Its “Maggie May” b/w a cover of Tim Hardin’s “Reason To Believe” also achieved the double. Along with its hit title track, the album also featured a cover of The Temptations’ “(I Know) I’m Losing You.” “Never A Dull Moment” reached #2 U.S. with “You Wear It Well,” Sam Cooke’s “Twistin’ The Night Away” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel.” Added to ‘Reason To Believe’ is the latter single’s b-side made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis, “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me).”
Disc Three opens with Stewart’s version of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” on the 1973 “best of” “Sing It Again Rod” and both sides of the single-only “Oh! No Not My Baby” b/w “Jodie.” The collection concludes with the complete “Smiler,” Rod’s 1974 swan song on Mercury which included Elton John playing piano and singing on Elton’s “Let Me Be Your Car.”
Stewart’s career would reach even greater commercial heights in the subsequent 25+ years and he would become an icon of the rock star fantasy. Yet if all he had to his credit were the blues-folk-soul-rock recordings on “Reason To Believe,” the vastly underrated songwriter and producer would still be hailed as one of our era’s great singers and eminently worthy of his membership in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.