A brief entertainment news item caught my eye this morning:
Rod Stewart’s "Still the Same … Great Rock Classics of Our Time" is the No. 1 album in America this week, selling 184,000 copies for its debut. Stewart’s "Every Picture Tells a Story" was his first to top the charts, 35 years ago.
And the similarity ends there. "Every Picture Tells a Story" was the work of a vital artist – a singer who literally defined what it was to be a rock star /lead singer/front-man. Never the magnitude of Jagger or the majesty of Plant or the urgency of Daltry, Stewart nonetheless carved out a territory all his own.
"Still The Same…Great Rock Classics Of Our Time"
Having heard a few selections from this collection I have to assume that the CD was purchased by fans who had not had the same opportunity. After not one but 3 or 4 recent CDs where Rod managed to wheeze his way through the "great American Songbook" and put his stamp on classics by Cole Porter and Jerome Kern and other geniuses of the pre-rock era, Rod has now turned his attention back to music from his own generation. Earlier in his career he made some excellent choices for songs to cover. "Downtown Train" by Tom Waits and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" by Van Morrison among them. In both cases his versions were hits while the originals were merely brilliant.
On this CD his voice is thinner than ever with a rasp that longs to be accepted as warmth, but lacks sonic punch and emotional depth. One can not help feeling that none of these remakes was necessary.
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" is given a 21st century gloss with Strings and none of the vocal sneer that makes Fogerty’s original so vital. The second track, Elvin Bishop’s "Fooled Around and Fell in Love"is, in fact, a perfect song for Rod. "I must have been through a million girls" – yep – that’s our boy – but he winds up falling in love of course and the former teen-aged fans who adored "Do Ya think I’m Sexy" will be driving their kids and husbands nuts with this CD. I can hear it blaring from minivans at the soccer field now…
Some of these tracks are simply too painful to endure "I’ll Stand by You" – when sung by Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders is stunning, here it’s cringe-worthy. "Love Hurts" made famous by Nazareth but written by Boudeleaux Bryant and originally recorded by the Everly Brothers is also damn hard to take.
By the way, the head-scratching line "Love is like a Flame it burns you when it’s hot" was NOT in the original version. It was "Love is like a stove it burns you when it’s hot" Full Lyrics Here. Gotta admit that version makes more sense – I mean, when, exactly, is a flame NOT hot? Rod opts for the "flame" version and oh yes, he emotes.
I like cover versions. I love albums full of cover songs. BUT, I like those versions to give an added dimension to the song – so this CD is not for me. But there are hundreds of thousands of fans to whom the mere addition of Stewart’s weary crooning makes everything better. These are people who don’t buy a lot of new music, don’t go to record stores and with the state of Radio these days – won’t be hearing this record on the air – so how did it sell 184,000 copies in it’s first week? The same way they sold those collections of standards – Direct Response TV ads.
Now, if you want to hear a cool collection of covers check out Matthew Sweet and Susannah Hoffs recent "Under the Covers"
This is a fun CD. Matthew Sweet and Susannah Hoff (The Bangles) have worked to gether with Mike Meyers in all three Austin Powers movies as the band Ming Tea. Here they have recorded 15 great tracks from the 60’s and early 70’s in a relaxed and charming way. Songs by The Beatles, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Fairport Convention, The Left Banke, The Zombies, and more – all in a breezy "arent we having fun" style. Click on the image above to check out the various sound samples over at Amazon. You’ll be glad you did!
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