Customer Reviews

Foot Loose & Fancy Free

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rod Stewart's "Foot Loose and Fancy Free" has so much variety, a newcomer would be excused for thinking it's a greatest hits package. There are two big radio hits here, but the rest of the CD consists of solid songs that are usually overlooked by classic rock archivists. There's 'Hot Legs' (which was a concert highlight and which features some great Keith Richards-like guitar riffing)followed by the funky 'You're Insane' (easily as good as any of the disco rock the Stones served up in the late 1970s). There's also the great ballad "You're in My Heart" and good but unlikely covers of both "If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want to Be Right" and "You Keep Me Hanging On." Of course, "I Was Only Joking" is one of the finest things Rod recorded in the late 1970s. The sheer variety of material, along with the high caliber of musicianship among Rod's sessionmen, make this a very entertaining CD that holds up to repeated listenings.

Rod Stewart is usually overlooked by critics and rock-and-roll historians because he was an extremely successful and commercial force in mainstream rock music in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Almost anything he recorded before 1990 is ripe for rediscovery and reappraisal, and this CD is an excellent place to start your Rod Stewart collection.

I fell in love with this record the first time I heard it. This cd has many hits, but I enjoy the other tracks just as much. His rendition of (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to be Right is a classic. This is a must have for any Rod Stewart fan!

You think John Mayer is groundbreaking? You think Sarah MacClachan can rend your heart strings?You think Evanessence' lyrics are haunting? It is difficult to imagine now, but there once was a time when Rod Stewart made soulful, daring, cutting edge music with a heart and passion that are timeless. I love "The Crossing" and "Every Picture tells A Story" but this album is right up there. What other artist uses a mandolin for crying out loud and gets away with it? I love "I Was Only Joking", I adore "Heart and Soul" but my all time favorite Stewart gem is "You Got A Nerve" a song that gets into your blood and lingers there forever. Are you a Stewart fan- buy this album! Or are you a person who's wondered why the fuss over Stewart? Buy this album and see WHY he is the legend that he is. A voice that caresses the emotions like this one comes along once in a generation.

Rod Stewart released his eighth solo album entitled Foot Loose and Fancy Free in November of 1977.
The album came hot off the heels of his huge blockbuster, 1976's A Night on the Town. When Rod toured for A Night On the Town, Rod put himself together a dynamic new band for the album which consisted of Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger (all of whom would be in Rod's band for next decade) and Billy Peek, bass player Phil Chen, keyboard player John Jarris and legendary rock drummer Carmine Appice. Rod was so impressed with his new solo band that he and his band plus legendary producer Tom Dowd (Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers), engineer Andy Johns (work with The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and others) plus help from guitarists Steve Cropper and Fred Tackett and keyboard players Nicky Hopkins and David Foster went in the studio to record what was Rod's best solo album since Never a Dull Moment.
The album begins with the classic rocker "Hot Legs" (which was released as a single and was a huge hit) and is still a great rocker today. Next is another stellar rocker "You're Insane" which just plain old rocks out. We slow down for the hit ballad "You're In My Heart" which was an ode to Rod's love of English football (soccer to us Americans) and a great ballad and a huge US hit. Then we end the first side with another rocker out of "Born Loose" which has the legendary John Mayall on some scorching harmonica and sounds like an outtake from Rod's old band The Faces.
Side two starts with Rod's take on The Supremes' hit "You Keep Me Hanging On" which was done in the arrangement that Rod's drummer Carmine Appice did it a decade earlier when Carmine was in his band Vanilla Fudge and a great rocking version. Another ballad is next with "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" and a nice ballad. Then we have another slow ballad on the album with the beautiful "You've Got a Nerve". We close this album with the epic "I Was Only Joking" which was a great mid-tempo number about a person who (for all of his wild ways) is a true romantic and good person. The guitar solos on this track are phenomenal.
Foot Loose and Fancy Free became Rod's biggest solo album since Every Picture Tells a Story as it reached #2 on the Billboard album charts and sold well over the two million copies mark upon release. If one needs to own one Warner Bros era Rod album, Foot Loose is it!
Recommended!

Scorching rockers ("Born Loose", "Hot Legs" & "You're Insane"), poignant ballads ("You're in my Heart", "I Was Only Joking", & "You've Got a Nerve"), & 2 classic renditions of well-known songs ("You Keep Me Hanging On" & If Loving You is Wrong") - make this record a totally complete package. "Born Loose" is probably the best hard rock song Rod ever recorded - the most effective tempo change I've ever heard in a rock song. His cover of a cover song (he chose to do Vanilla Fudge's arrangement of a Supremes hit - Vanilla Fudge's celebrated drummer [Carmine Appice] was in his band at the time) resulted in the ABSOLUTE best version ever of "You Keep Me Hanging On". And all through the album, his then newfound vocal control & range added a refreshing sense of delicacy and nuance to the more tender subject matter, and added more kick & punch to the rockier material.

This album took alot of heat from critics when it first came out because it was so much more slickly produced than his previous efforts (particularly the Mercury stuff). Pretty sad that no one took note just how good "slick" can be when it's done right by a consummate craftsman - just like his next album ("Blondes Have More Fun") showed how crappy "slick" can be when it's done wrong by someone just phoning it in. Rod's criminally underrated "Smiler" album suffered the same fate at the hands of the "critically correct" pundits of the day. This is one of my 3 favorite Rod Stewart albums (alongside "Smiler" & "Gasoline Alley").

Yeah, the lyrics aren't the caliber of his early years, but they're not horrid either - think "Body Wishes", "Camouflage" (fill in your favorite Rod dreck). My only complaint is with "If Loving You is Wrong". It's a stirring vocal performance, but it's a song extolling the virtues of (or at least rationalizing) marital infidelity -- coming from the point of view of a guy who claims to love his family. Kind of sickening, I think.

Anyway, if you're at all into the raspy, gravelly, sounds-like-he-gargles-with-razor-blades wonder that calls himself Rod Stewart, this cd is a must-have. By the way, this most recent remaster is a substantial improvement over the previous one, which was already a pretty good sound job. The recent sonic "improvements" on his classic Mercury albums just pale in comparison. So stop reading these reviews and just buy this thing already!

This was my first Rod Stewart album and has always been my favorite. I always liked Rod's faster songs, and this album has 3 great ones in "Hot Legs", "Born Loose" and the hidden gem "You're Insane". Rod puts a certain flare in his attempt to do cover tunes... and "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "(If Lovin' You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right)" are classic. Even tho "You Keep Me Hangin' On" isn't truly Rod's song, it is absolutely still one of my all-time favorites of his. And like most of Rod's albums, he needs to throw a ballad or two in there - and "You're In My Heart" and "I Was Only Joking" are pretty good tracks. While 1971's "Every Picture Tells A Story" is a great album & probably considered his best... I still reach for this one first from 1977. Great album.

I can't tell you how often I've got laid while this (8 track tape at the time) played in my car. This is Rod Stewart's most cherished album ever. Although I've loved all his hits from the sixties "In a Broken Dream" to 1980's "Passion", this album represents the whole concept of late seventies life in america. Although "Hot Legs", "You're In My Heart", and "I Was Only Joking" were the hits from this album, I believe any track on this album would have been a hit single if it were released as such.

I love his take on the (closer to) Vanilla Fudge version of "You Keep Me Hanging On" with the beautiful organ opening, and his raspy voice on the already familiar "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right". But, his song "Born Loose" was my favorite danceable rocker that got alot of radio play in Detroit and definitely played at the dance clubs and the Friday night dance parties at our High School.

Yes, this album brings up many memories of when life was easier and dating many girls was the norm with me and some of my buddies. We definitely could relate to the song "I Was Only Joking". Rod really pegged the era of the late seventies with this fabulous album.

This CD is worth it for one song and thats Born Loose this song takes you back to the days of Rod and the Faces doing what they are good at and thats Rockin out. If you close your eyes you could picture the Faces playing this so its great to hear that Rod still had it in him. The other songs on this CD are all good and I think fairly consistant and like the rest of his 70's albums it has its fast and slow sides. I would recommend this cd highly if you like Rod as I think this is just as good as Atlantic Crossing.

My cousin and I drove around in her yellow Opal, in 1977, listening to this 8-track over and over. It may only have 8 songs, but they're 8 GREAT songs. It brings back a lot of memories and is a must for any Rod Stewart fan.

Blondes Have More Fun sold better but this is a much more thoughtful album. Rod fans pretty much agree (and we don't agree much anymore) that this one is one CD that the critics really missed. The three hit singles are part of the Rod legend (Your in My heart, Hot legs, I was Only Joking) and it was this 3 milliion seller that introduced Rod's music to a lot of his longtime fans. Born Loose is a blistering album track that proves Rod still rocked as hard as he did in the early part of the 70s. "You're Insane" is lyrically weak but has a great groove, and You Got a Nerve is a great Rod written ballad that doesn; t really sound like anything he's done before or since. I would recommend this CD to anyone who is even remotely interested in Rod Stewart.