Customer Reviews

Atlantic Crossing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Atlantic Crossing was Rod Stewart's first release on the Warner Brothers labeland he recorded most of it at the famous Muscle Schoals Studio in Alabama. The album has a gritty, R&B edge, but is balanced out nicely by some ballads. "Three Time Loser", "Alright For Another" & "Stone Cold Sober" has a delta blues sound to them, while his cover of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" has a Stax Records vibe. He does his original take on The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart Of Mine" here and he does a heartbreakingly beautiful rendition of Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse's "I Don't Want To Talk About It". "Sailing" was not a hit in America, but was absolutely humongous in the UK. It is his biggest hit by far over there. Atlantic Crossing was a nice bounce back after the disappointing Smiler and a great start to his warner Brothers career.

Stewart's first recording for Warner Brothers, this set is satisfying but no match to his finest Mercury output (most notably "Every Picture Tells A Story").

That said, for those who bought the original CD (which was extremely hissy and flat), this remastering is a *revelation*! 24-bit audio (not listed on the outside of the packaging) and a very obvious attention to detail make the upgrade a no-brainer (the other Stewart remasters are similarly striking).

Hear Rod's Muscle Shoals effort like you've never heard it before. Musically, it's above par. Sonically, it's never been better.

This is not quite as excellent as the Night on the Town 2-disc collector's edition as the bonus tracks are not as unique or interesting, but like Night, it comes in excellent packaging, and features enough decent bonus stuff to recommend "double dipping." Pretty much essential for Rod Stewart fans, and anyone whose every loved this album.

The title refers to Stewart's abandonment of England for the USA, and the music followed suit. Produced by Tom Dowd and backed by a number of Muscle Shoals musicians, Stewart moved to a more polished pop sound, yet maintained much of the energy found in his earlier recordings.

The song selection is well matched to Stewart's emotional, raspy voice, including several bluesy originals ("Three Time Loser" "Stone Cold Sober") and a host of well done covers ("Drift Away" "I Don't Want to Talk About It" "Sailing").

A surprisingly touching LP that still plays very well.

I am of the humble opinion that this might have been Rodney's last truly great album. He still was serious about making great music and you can clearly hear it. I remember being heartbroken over the fact that he abandoned the Faces and this solo album would have no Ron Wood or Mickey Waller playing on it. I also remember getting over it quickly once I heard this album originally back in '75.

The deluxe version here gives you more of a great thing. The tunes with the MG's are really terrific. That band could always play and backing Rod seemed to be a natural thing. No star trips here, just great music. The other demos/studio rehearsals are all outstanding in their own right too. I think the version of Sailing found on disc two surpasses the original released version easily in fact. Drift Away is another. There was serious musicianship on this album, and Rodney was clearly inspired by it.

Sometimes deluxe re-issues can be letdowns despite their promises. Not this one. This was done properly from start to finish. The re-mastering is stellar and the bonuses found on the second disc priceless.

Buy this. Don't think twice about doing so either.

I love this album its definitely stood the test of time well and it was better than any other Rod did ever after 1975 (is it really 30 years old?).

The title refers to Stewart's departure for the US and the cover depicts the transition and he is accompanied by top session musicians (including Steve Cropper, Barry Beckett and Lee Sklar) and veteran American producer Tom Dowd to create an overall slick sound.

The album is divided into two parts - slow side and fast side. The slow side is much stronger than the fast side overall, and all the hits and best-known tracks are on the slow half. Although there were no major hits in the US, 'Sailing' was number 1 in UK for 4 weeks in the summer of 1975. All 5 tracks on the slow side are excellent.

Stewart's version of Danny Whitten's 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' must be one his best performances ever. 'Its not the Spotlight' is convincing. Track 3 on the slow half is the original version of 'This Old Heart of Mine' which is far superior to the later version. 'Still Love You' grows on you, and last but not least the catchy 'Sailing'.

The fast side unfortunately suffers from one or two weak tracks and the vocals aren't as strong, apart from 'Drift Away' (which really belongs in the slow half). The rest are mostly uptempo rockers, of which 'Three Time Loser' and and 'Stone Cold Sober' catch fire.

I originally had it on vinyl. Interestingly in some editions of the original LP the slow half was side one, and 'Stone Cold Sober' was listed as the final album track. The digitally remastered edition is the best yet - the original CD recording quality was poor so its definitely worth the upgrade.

Even though its not quite as strong as some of Rod's earlier material (including 'Maggie May'), this is his best out of all his albums that came Warner Brothers. A great album, worth having even if you only like the slow tracks, and one that you can always come back to enjoy.

I waited with anticipation when this was released in the '70's. All in all, I think the ballads held up better than the rockers over time. I think his vocals were too far in the background on the rockers. The ballads here are far better than the re-recordings done for the "If We Fall In Love Tonight" and "Storyteller" collections. It's definitely not his best effort, but it's still worth having, and the sound quality is much improved over the earlier versions of this title.

When taken as a whole, this probably is the best recording that Rod did for Warner. Personally, I think all of the albums have their moments, but this one stands out a bit more as a completely solid effort.
For starters, who can resist the catchy surrender of "Three Time Loser"; the classic rock & roll of "Stone Cold Sober", and Rod's soothing version of "Drift Away"(even if it is an incredibly overplayed song).
Then there's the slow half...
"I Don't Want To Talk About It" features one of the most convincing vocals ever.. Then when you listen to the next track, "It's Not The Spotlight", it's confirmed that almost no one can bring home the emotion of a sad song like Rod. For someone who supposedly never had his heart broken(until recent years), Rod certainly does a good job of convincing us otherwise..
The album closes with "Sailing", another heartfelt track, that expresses a certain amount of desperation..
There were no big U.S. hits here, but Rod's version of "I Don't Want To Talk About It" has become somewhat of a staple. In 1990, Rod had a hit with a newer version of "This Old Heart Of Mine", so it's kind of interesting to hear his different approach here..
With this album, Rod began to display a somewhat more explicit approach lyrically, most notably in "Three Time Loser", and it only gets worse from here.. Check out some of the lyrics in songs from "Foot Loose & Fancy Free" & "Blondes Have More Fun". While this maybe true, and some people maybe somewhat turned off by this, it's rock & roll, and there are no limits, and let's face it, it's fun. It's too bad newer music almost never comes close to being this much fun, and rocking this freely, and speaking of some of the offensive lyrics, I guess you could say Rod was the Eminem of the '70s...

This album represented a musical break with the past for Stewart. His first 5 CD's had very similar formats and styles (folk-rock and ballads with violins with a mix of hard-rock). His 4 CDs with the Faces during the same period also followed a similar format, except they were more sloopy, blusely, and sounded similar to the Stones.

For this CD, Stewart abandoned those formats for a hybrid of the two. It is not as good as his first 4 CDs or his 4 CDs with the Faces, but is worth buying. Steve Cropper, the pipe-smoking guitarist in the Blues Brothers movie, plays guitar on this CD!

Stewart would continue the musical style in this CD for two more albums (Night on the Town and Foot Loose), make one more decent album (Blondes Have More Fun) and would never be the same since, within a few years TOTALLY breaking from his past with songs like "Love Touch."

Now, he is kind of a hack, which is a shame because for about 10 years (1968-1978) his only rivals were the Stones and McCartney. McCartney has made a respectable comeback in time to reclaim his stature...we're still waiting for Stewart.

I love this album its definitely stood the test of time well and it was better than any other Rod did ever after 1975 (is it really 30 years old?).

The title refers to Stewart's departure for the US and the cover depicts the transition and he is accompanied by top session musicians (including Steve Cropper, Barry Beckett and Lee Sklar) and veteran American producer Tom Dowd to create an overall slick sound.

The album is divided into two parts - slow side and fast side. The slow side is much stronger than the fast side overall, and all the hits and best-known tracks are on the slow half. Although there were no major hits in the US, 'Sailing' was number 1 in UK for 4 weeks in the summer of 1975. All 5 tracks on the slow side are excellent.

Stewart's version of Danny Whitten's 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' must be one his best performances ever. 'Its not the Spotlight' is convincing. Track 3 on the slow half is the original version of 'This Old Heart of Mine' which is far superior to the later version. 'Still Love You' grows on you, and last but not least the catchy 'Sailing'.

The fast side unfortunately suffers from one or two weak tracks and the vocals aren't as strong, apart from 'Drift Away' (which really belongs in the slow half). The rest are mostly uptempo rockers, of which 'Three Time Loser' and and 'Stone Cold Sober' catch fire.

I originally had it on vinyl. Interestingly in some editions of the original LP the slow half was side one, and 'Stone Cold Sober' was listed as the final album track. The digitally remastered edition is the best yet - the original CD recording quality was poor so its definitely worth the upgrade.

Even though its not quite as strong as some of Rod's earlier material (including 'Maggie May'), this is his best out of all his albums that came Warner Brothers. A great album, worth having even if you only like the slow tracks, and one that you can always come back to enjoy.