Rod’s new album ‘As Time Goes By – The Great American Songbook Volume II’ has entered the official UK charts at No. 4, that’s four places higher than the first volume which entered and peaked at No. 8.
However, the real surprise of the week is the success of the new compilation album ‘Changing Faces – The Best Of Rod Stewart and The Faces 1969 – 1974’. The double album makes its debut’ at No. 13 making Rod the only artist on the Top 40 with two releases in the listings! Although the album is advertised as containing “all the hits” it is flawed by the omission of Rod’s No. 7 hit ‘Farewell’. It does, however, contain all the other hits from Rod’s post ‘Atlantic Crossing’ period both solo and with the Faces as well as the Python Lee Jackson hit ‘In A Broken Dream’. It also compiles key album tracks from both Rod’s solo Mercury albums and Faces albums some of which make their Top 20 debut’ and some that reach a new chart peak as a result of this new chart entry.
Meanwhile, Warner Brothers have started a new television advert campaign for the 2001 compilation ‘The Story So Far’. With Rod’s musical ‘Tonight’s The Night’ in full flow and a promotional campaign underway for the new album, it is possible that for the first time in his career, Rod could shortly find himself with three albums on the UK charts.
* The new American album chart is issued on Thursday. ‘As Time Goes By – The Great American Songbook Volume II’ is expected to debut’ as high as No. 2. The first volume has not left the Billboard Top 200 since its release and this week rises from No. 139 to No. 95 with a 41.5% gain over the previous weeks sales. It has so far registered 52 consecutive weeks on the chart and has sold 1.8 million copies in the USA.