Rod Stewart turns 69 on January 10th and I thought it would be fun to take another look at his break through album, Every Picture Tells a Story. For those who know Stewart as that old guy who's now singing standard ballads, believe it or not, he was once a wild and crazy rock star.
Originally a member of the Jeff Beck Group, the hard rocking band featured guitar hero Jeff Beck and longtime Rolling Stone Ronnie Woods. Like most bands from England of the time, they were steeped heavy in the blues as they covered such classics as Willie Dixon's "I Ain't Superstitious" and "You Shook Me." After the band split in 1969, Rod and Ronnie joined Faces who's touring escapades are legendary. The group only had one hit, "Stay With Me" but enjoyed a nice run until 1973. While in the group, Stewart embarked on a solo career and released The Rod Stewart Album which was followed by Gasoline Alley. However, his third solo album, Every Picture Tells a Story, made him a star.…show more content… While Stewart only wrote three of the nine songs on the album, he chose his covers carefully. "Seems Like a Longtime" has a gospel feel with drums accompanying piano and backing vocals by Madeline Bell. Rod pulls off an unforgettable performance of "Amazing Grace" before he jumps head first into the Elvis hit "That's Alright Mama." He tips his hat to Dylan with "Tomorrow Is a Long Time." Recorded live in the studio, the track features acoustic guitars, mandolin and is pretty close to Bob's original
