Customer Reviews

Every Picture Tells a Story

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In retrospect, Rod Stewart's early career appears to have been a miracle. His later career was a huge disappointment, not because his music was so terrible (it wasn't, really), but because fans like me couldn't believe that an artist who seemed to have developed a seamless blend of folk, rock, soul and country that at once sounded highly traditional and completely innovative would turn his back on his muse. But the muse is in full control on this album, as she was on "Gasoline Alley" "The Rod Stewart Album" and "Never a Dull Moment."

Listening to this album in totality after many years (I confess I heard it not as a stand alone, but as part of the highly enjoyable "Complete Mercury Years" set, which is worth getting if you're ready to go the whole hog, and intelligently programs the albums rather than trying to re-sort the songs), what stands out to me is that the hit songs were somewhat arbitrarily chosen. "Maggie May" and "Mandolin Wind" are great songs, with the characteristic viewpoint of Rod's self-penned songs in those days, the betrayed innocent looking back on the bittersweet episodes of his past. He was a troubador for those emotions. But he probably could've gotten just as big a hit out of his gorgeous version of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow is a Long Time," or his fierce, slide guitar anchored cover of Elvis' "That's All Right," (which has a strange but lovely coda of "Amazing Grace"). It's that consistent.

My favorite era of pop music was the late 60s and early 70s, when it seems to me rock music was at its most creative and yet its most deeply-rooted to the American culture. Whether it was Rod Stewart or The Band, or early Little Feat, or that period of the Rolling Stones and the Kinks, or Eric Clapton, or George Harrison, or Van Morrison, or Taj Mahal, or Fairport Convention, or even Dylan himself with albums like John Wesley Harding or Nashville Skyline, the music of this time had a strength, confidence, beauty, and vision that it has never achieved so consistently since. This was more than music--it was literature. It was not about teenage rebellion. It was not solely about sexual frustration or idealized love. It was about life. And for a few years, "life" dominated the charts!

Rod Stewart was #1 with "D'ya Think I'm Sexy?" aboutthe time Orson Welles assured us that Paul Masson would "sell nowine before its time." It was hard comparing them until you realize the artistic peaks, achieved young, from which both had fallen. For Welles it was "Citizen Kane," and for Stewart this album, which to now overshadows over every note he's recorded since. Few rock albums are as cohesive in music and message. Folk guitars and violins inch up to slapping drums and spare, pinpoint electric solos. Stewart's folksy, soulful vocals paint a a story of a young man's first life experiences. He loves the wrong woman ("Maggie May," which refreshes itself among the other songs), then the right one (the title cut). He's impatient with adversity ("Seems Like A Long Time," the splendid "Mandolin Wind") but learns persistence from his experience (Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe"). The one break from the album flow is welcome; one of Stewart's finest moments. He has covered Motown well ("This Old Heart of Mine") and callously ("Standin' In The Shadows of Love," and "You Keep Me Hangin' On"). But his rendition with Faces of "(I Know) I'm Losing You" intensifies the original's paranoia and sorrow. It recalls the soul heroes (Cooke, Redding, Ruffin) Stewart admired when he was the new boy, while drummer Kenny Jones delivers a charging, tumbling drum solo that's one of his finest on disc. "Losing You" showed the hard-rock/folk/soul blueprint Stewart would use to construct his albums since this 1971 release, with intermittent success and at times howling failure. No matter; like Welles' masterpiece, Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells A Story" is one of rock's most influential, essential works.

Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story is generally rated as one of the greatest records in the history of rock. In his book, The Top 100 Rock 'N' Roll Albums of All Time, Paul Gambaccini listed the album at number one. I'd disagree with Mr. Gambaccini that it is the best of all time, but it is among the elite. From beginning to end, every song is superb and he takes the sound from Gasoline Alley to another level. The title track is opens the album with a bang. The song is filled with descriptive and vivid lyrics and Mr. Stewart sings it with passion and fury. "Seems Like A Long Time" slows things down and has some very poignant lyrics. He does a roaring take on "That's All Right (Mama)" clearly inspired by Elvis Presley's version of the song. It sounds like it could have been recorded in some barn in the south. The song segues into a sampling of "Amazin' Grace" in which Mr. Stewart's gravelly voice gives it a degree of solemnity. "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" is another Bob Dylan cover that has a cool keyboard sound. "Mandolin Wind" starts off slowly and then builds to a fiery crescendo. The Faces join the party on a funky cover of The Temptation's "(I Know) I'm Losing You". "Reason To Believe" is a cover of a Tim Hardin song, but Mr. Stewart makes it all his own. "Maggie May" is the song that has become the album's definitive song and a radio classic. As a double A side with "Reason To Believe", it became his first number one single and as the album hit number one at the same time, he became the first artist to simultaneously hold the number one single and album in both the US & the UK. Though he would continue to record excellent music and have albums that sold more copies, Rod Stewart never release a more influential or important album.

Rock critics usually go head-over-heels in their love for
this album, which found Rod Stewart defining a moment for
himself which would last through his entire career. Hit after
hit followed, but he remained best known for "Maggie May",
the tale of his first sexual experience which was laid down with
surprising emotional sincerity--artistically speaking, it
demolishes later commercial tripe like "Hot Legs" and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and weathers dozens of repeat listenings.

And yet, "Maggie May" is not even the greatest song on the album.
The title track is a rock'n'roll masterpiece, an out-of-breath
stomp through white-boy soul territory that never fails to get
the blood pumping. "Mandolin Wind" is one of the finest
ballads in rock history and reason enough to buy the disc (or
any greatest hits which has it)--every time the acoustic guitar
quietly starts anew for each verse, each moment becomes more precious and tear-filled. Then there's the covers: a picture-
perfect take on "That's Alright", an epic hard-rock journey
through "I'm Losing You" and an emotive "Reason To Believe" all
sound apiece with the originals both musically and thematically.
If you only buy one Stewart album for your collection, this is
the one to get, although if you like it you'll no doubt want
to own "Gasoline Alley", "Never A Dull Moment" and "Best Of The
Faces" as well. As long as you ignore anything recorded after
1976, you may well be convinced that Rod The Mod was one of the
best singer-songwriters rock ever produced.

This was the phrase used by former bandmate Ron Wood in describing both this effort and "Gasoline Alley" in the recent "Behind the Music" episode featuring Rod Stewart. Given the excesses that plauged Stewart's later career, there's a certain sad irony to that statement. Nonetheless, there's much to admire and celebrate about "Every Picture Tells a Story." Like Dylan's "Highway 61", John Mellencamp's "The Lonesome Jubillee", and The Band's self titled second album, this was a convergence of outstanding material, daring instrumentation, and a sense of purpose among the musicians involved to produce the best music they possibly could. Stewart's ragged but right delivery is irresistable throughout, whether it's applied to his own material (the title track, the country-tinged "Mandolin Wind", and "Maggie May", one of the greatest singles ever) or any of the cover stuff (Dylan's "Tommorow is a Long Time, Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe", and the rollicking "That's All Right, Mama"). Dick Powell's violin, Wood's bass and guitar work, Micky Waller's Charlie Watts-like drumming, and the mandolin work of the mysterious mandolinist from the obscure British folk-rock band Lindisfarne ("His name escapes me at the moment," claims Stewart in the liner notes) combined to make a a wonderfully unique, folky sound that rocked. And that's the pity. Stewart's career had a number of highlights and metamorphuses - the shy blues shouter with the Jeff Beck Group, rockin' front man with the Faces, foppish solo artist - but at this stage of his career, Rod the Mod had both popular and critical acclaim. And he basically threw it all away after this.

Don't be swayed by your preconceived notions of who you think Rod Stewart is. Though Stewart nowadays is primarily known for dating supermodels and recording bland pop albums such as his endless series of American Songbook releases, in 1971 it was a very different story. Rod Stewart was one of the greatest rock and roll singers in the world. After a stint with the Jeff Beck Group in the late '60s, Stewart took over as lead singer of the Small Faces along with his pal Ron Wood on guitar. The group became the Faces, one of the great rock bands of the early '70s. Around the same time, Stewart started recording his own solo albums all of which were quite well received. They all basically follow the same formula. A mix of rockers and ballads based mostly around acoustic guitars with sparse electric guitars. The material being a mix of excellent originals written by Stewart and Wood and well-chosen, well-performed covers. They incorporated soul, rock, folk, blues and country into a truly unique blend that Stewart was completely in command of.

Every Picture Tells A Story was Rod Stewart's third solo release and arguably his best. He truly hit his stride as a singer and songwriter with this album. From the opening track, the title song, the album establishes a standard of quality and doesn't deviate from it throughout all of its eight songs. Everyone knows the album's biggest hit, the classic Maggie May, but every song here is excellent. The cover of That's All Right (famously performed by Elvis Presley) which evolves into Amazing Grace, Bob Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Mandolin Wind, and Tim Hardin's Reason To Believe are all classic.

This is an excellent album that anyone who loves rock and roll should own. Forget about what Rod Stewart is today, in the early '70s Stewart was a unique talent who produced some truly great material, both as a solo artist and with the Faces. Stewart's early solo albums are all worth hearing. The first four - The Rod Stewart Album (1969), Gasoline Alley (1970), Every Picture Tells A Story (1971) and Never A Dull Moment (1972) - being the best. For more great music from this era I would recommend the Faces box set, Five Guys Walk Into A Bar. You will not be disappointed.

1971 found Mr. Rodney Stewart in a ridiculously, creative, productive, and not to say lucrative mind. In 1970 he already released two solo albums, which were all but Faces albums in name only, `An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down' and `Gasoline Alley', and one album fully credited to the Faces `First Step'. But 1971 saw the Faces - and particularly their lead singer - shoot to stardom beyond their wildest dreams.

First there was their first top thirty album on both sides of the Atlantic with `Long Player'. Then the first single from Rod Stewart's new solo album 'Maggie May' went number one worldwide followed by the release of `Every Picture Tells A Story`, which followed the single to a worldwide number one. This was topped off with another Faces album that again followed the previous album to number one, `A Nod's As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse'. They crammed all this in while doing hundreds of magical concerts all over the world.

To record `Every Picture Tells a Story' Rod Stewart surrounded himself with his mates, wrote two new songs with Faces' mate Ronnie Wood, the title track and album opener, and one with Martin Quittenton, 'Maggie May'. The rest were all perfectly selected covers. Some songs make you want to leap up and hug someone and some will bring you to emotional tears; Rod Stewart lets all his Sam Cooke influences hang out.

The title track is brought to a dramatic finale with Maggie Bell of Stone-the- Crows fame in a grand style duet with Rodney. The chorus lines in 'Seems Like a Long Time' are given a great touch by Madeleine Bell and old `Steampacket' buddy Long John Baldrey as Rodney slows it all down.

The version of Arthur Crudup's 'That's Alright' gives a huge nod of affection to Elvis, and Bob Dylan has never been covered better than 'Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time'.

'Amazing Grace' lives up to its name with some of the best slide guitar that Ronnie Wood has ever laid down in the studio, and gives great emphasis to Rod Stewarts vocals.

Then we get 'Maggie May', an all-time classic. The autobiographical song about a young Rodney Stewart losing his virginity, was given its first showcase on the British T.V. program Top Of The Pops. Rod Stewart, backed by his trusty Faces and various monkey suited roadies, and D.J. John Peel (a non-musician) attempting to look like he could play the wonderful Ray Jackman mandolin solo with all the others mugged up behind him, had a whale of a time kicking balloons into the crowd; none of them bothering to hide the fact that they were only miming to the track. The conservative British Broadcasting Company were not amused, but they won the hearts of a nation.

'Mandolin Wind' is played to perfection with Ray Jackman of Lindisfarne, again staring with his mandolin playing.

'(I Know) I'm Losing You' is probably the heaviest rocker that Rodney or the Faces ever played and used to bring their stage show to a riotous conclusion. Micky Waller, who plays drums on all the tracks on 'Every Picture', would surely have made a better drummer with the Faces than the rather rigid Kenny Jones; he propels `(I Know) I'm Losing You' along with tremendous power.

Tim Hardin's 'Reason To Believe' brings the album to a beautiful conclusion.

If you want to hear Rod Stewart singing at his best, this is it. That was before he disbanded the Faces and got out his leotards to ask you `Don't Ya Think I'm Sexy?' and all the other rubbish he flooded us later in the seventies. But anything is forgivable to an artist that can come out with a slice of perfection like 'Every Picture Tells A Story'. 1971 was a good year indeed.

Pranced by Mott the Dog
Preened by Ella Crew

In 1971, Rod Stewart released "Every Picture Tells A Story" AND a Faces LP, AND toured solo AND toured with the Faces. He was only 20 months removed from the Jeff Beck Group, where he sang on two classic LPs. He was IT in he summer of '71.

So...what happened?

Well--read the other reviews. You'll see Rod was trendy, not a trend setter. As much as I loved what he did from 1968-1975, I simply can't bear to here any of his newer work, ESPECIALLY his attempts over the last five years to recapture his glory by rehashing his classics.

That said, "Every Picture Tells A Story," along with "Never A Dull Moment," his work with the Jeff Beck Group and the Faces, particularly on "A Nods As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse," are fantastic.

The overlooked link here is Ronnie Wood, who played on so many early Rod efforts, was the Keith Richard equivalent in the Faces, and even played bass and some second guitar on the Beck records. Wood was a master at getting a lot out of a little--he plays acoustic lead on rockers, dobro on "That's All Right,", ukes, even some banjo. The classical intro to "Maggie May," often clipped by DJs, is, well, classic. The Stones seem to have imasculated this great rock guitar player after "Some Girls"....the guts of this band--Mick Waller, Pete Sears, Ian McLagan--can be found all over the best of British rock from the era: Faces, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, and more.

I've heard "Maggie May," I dunno, maybe 15,000 times in my life, and it stays great. It may be a weight around Rod Stewart's neck by now, but it is a piece of perfection that will be around long after "Tonight's The Night," "Young Turks," and "Hot Legs" are forgotten.

While I love the cool guitar intro to "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (Ronnie Wood again), my favorite moment on this LP comes 3 minutes into the title track, when Rod and Maggie Bell jump a note to sing "She claimed that it just ain't natural," and then, 4-1/2 minutes in, when the bass drops, Ronnie kicks in the rhythm guitar, and Maggie and Rod become insistant: "Every Picture Tells A Story--Don't It?"

This is a great LP, made at a time when Rod knew how to work Rock, Soul, R&B, Country and British Folk together into his own unique blend. Forget virtually every note he played after "Atlantic Crossing," but don't write him off completely.

Because in the summer of '71, he was IT.

Greil Marcus once said, "Never has there been a more naturally-gifted rock singer than Rod Stewart and never has a singer betrayed his gift more completely". Whether you agree with that or not, even Marcus agrees that this album is one of the finest ones ever recorded. Rod had so much heart and humor back then and this album is packed with both. Songs like the title track actually make you glad to be alive and I know I'll never grow tired of them. Even if you hate what Rod Stewart became later on, you will love this record. Trust me. This is rock and roll at its most hearfelt and heartbreaking.

Although Rod Stewart had been on the British blues scene since 1965, most notably as vocalist with the Jeff Beck group from 1968-1970, he was still relatively unknown. It wasn't until the reformation of the Faces in 1970, when they were joined by Ronnie Wood, also from the Jeff Beck group, that Stewart finally found his niche. With the making of EPTAS, a classic album was born and with the release of 'Maggie May' as a single, Rod Stewart became a household name.

This album still sounds wonderful today as it did way back in 1971. In those days, Rod genuinely cared about his material, and injected fiery passion and raw emotion into his singing, with his unique vocals. There are no duff tracks or fillers on here. All tracks are of a remarkably high standard, and it isn't just Rod that makes this album so good to listen to, apart from arguably writing 3 of the best songs on it, but Ronnie Wood's contribution is almost as important. His playing whether on rhythm, lead or slide guitar complements Rod's hoarse tones perfectly.

All of the material has a blues influence, which was Rod's main musical background. But the album also draws from folk and even country roots, hence use of mandolin, violin and acoustic instruments. The best tracks are a matter of taste, but the opening title track, a superb hard driving acoustic rocker, and his poignant version of the closing track 'Reason To Believe', another acoustic number are reasons alone to buy this album. In between there is some really exquisite stuff like 'Mandolin Wind', featuring accomplished mandolin work by 'some guy who's name Rod forgot'. Then there is his excellent cover of Dylan's 'Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time'. With 'I'm Losing You', Rod gives this an extended rock and roll treatment rather different to the Temptations original. The famous single, 'Maggie May' is typical of the relaxed sound of The Faces, for although the album is listed as a Rod Stewart solo album, for most of the tracks it is Rod Stewart and the Faces, with drummer Mick Waller in place of Kenny Jones.

It's best to brush aside the hindsight that Rod Stewart, with all the money he was to make over the next few years, was gradually to turn into a self-parodying old fart, which by the beginning of the next decade had sadly become the case. Nobody could have foreseen it when this album was released, and he was not the first or last to go down that tawdry road. EPTAS represents a youthful Rod during his best period of musical output. He had one of the finest 'white soul' voices around then, and this CD is a testament to that, and is still a pleasure to listen to. It hasn't aged one bit.