This is Rod's first solo offering, recorded while he was still with the Jeff Beck group. Rod's inexperience shows, as this is a somewhat unprofessional sounding album. In a way this is good, it is the opposite of the over-produced, bloated albums Rod would make in the future. Still, this is a very harsh, rough sounding album. Even the slower, more sensative songs are rough. Still, "An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down" is a well written, fast-paced autobiographical tune, and "Man of Constant Sorrow" is a good slower tune. "Handbags and Gladrags" is a well sung, heart-felt song, but songs like "Cindy's Lament" and "Blind Prayer" are faceless, bland songs that, while they may have a more catchy beat, are too rough sounding to have any appeal to me. That is what plagues this album overall as well. Rating: 4.5

A decent overall album. This is vintage Rod Stewart, simple arrangements (not too many instruments), yet it has its own distinct, rough, folk style. "My Way of Giving" is a good soul song, and "Country Comforts", an Elton John song, is beautiful. "Gasoline Alley" is simple yet catchy, and the Dylan cover "Only A Hobo" is well done. Most of the other songs are good as well, though fast songs like "It's All Over Now" and "You're My Girl" are repetitive and get tiring very quickly. Still, this is Rod before he was really famous, so this is the stuff he made because he liked it, not because the public would. I like it as well, one of the best of his early stuff. Rating: 6.5

This is an okay album, certainly not my favorite. While it is acclaimed by critics to be Rod's best, I disagree. It certainly has a lot of his folk roots, some good fast songs, and a few nice slow ones. And, of course, it has "Maggie May". But this album is very rough and unrefined, and all of the songs have the same feel to them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because that "feel" is a good one. Still, it does not have the same kind of diversity as many of his later albums. It does feature some great song writing, though, in songs like "Mandolin Wind" and "Every Picture Tells A Story". "Seems Like a Long Time" is a simple, piano based song that has nice lyrics. This album is a perfect example of Rod in his young, pre-famous days. Rating: 6.5

This is a stellar album. It has the same folksy feel as EPTAS, but it is more refined and the song selection is better. I love the Dylan cover "Mama You've Been On My Mind", and "Italian Girls", written by the Faces tandem of Rod and Ron Wood, is an excellent rock song. The album has a song written in the spirit of "Maggie May", "You Wear It Well", which in my opinion is every bit as good as the former. Every song on here is a winner, although "Angel" is not one of my favorites. This album has a mix of slow and fast songs, though it weighs a bit heavily on the slower ones. Also, it is offly short at only eight songs. Rating: 8.5

This is a decent album, but Rod tried to once again duplicate EPTAS, and it doesn't work as well here. Where as NADM was a kind of copy of EPTAS, it was also a better album. Smiler is a step in the wrong direction - this style of album was running thin for Rod. Still, this one had quite a few good songs on it. "Farewell" is great (another "Maggie May" type song), and the lyrics are some of his best. I like Sam Cooke's "You Send Me", and the Dylan cover "Girl from the North Country" is excellent as well. Even so, the album just doesn't have the same appeal as the last few. Most of the songs are covers, and some of them are a bit questionable. The rock songs are a bit sloppy as well, exemplified by "Sailor" and "Hard Road" which are more noise than they are music. Rating: 5

This album symbolizes Rod's move to the United States, after he left the UK due to high taxes. The album is a departure from all of Rod's previous albums. More electric guitars, less instruments, less folk influence, more pop-style songs. No, not Mariah Carey pop, but rather Rock 'N' Roll pop. This is the first album where Rod has some real rock songs. Previously he had fast songs with a rock beat, but this is the first album to feature several more popular-styled rock songs, like "Three Time Loser", "All In The Name of Rock 'N' Roll", and "Stone Cold Sober", all great songs, particularly the latter. This album also has a beautiful ballad, "It's Not The Spotlight", and the nice love song "Still Love You". I think this is a great album, though I find songs like "This Old Heart of Mine" somewhat boring. In this album Rod has abandoned all folk influence (which is not a good thing - I prefer at least some of the folk feel), and he will not recover it until the 90's. Rating: 8

The rock songs on this album are great, but two of them have a very similar sound, those being "Big Bayou" and "Wild Side of Life", which happen to be two of my faves on the album. They use a lot of fiddle and one or two guitars with a unique sound to them - kind of a down home, southern rock sound. "Balltrap" is a great fast song, with entertaining lyrics and addictive music. Also included is the controversial "Killing of Georgie", a song featuring Rod at his best storytelling lyrics. Unfortunately, this is the first album that indicates the direction Rod's albums will be going - more and more pop-like. "Tonight's The Night" and "Fool For You", while they are good songs, have an unhealthy amount of the pop-feel, with the latter having a disco-like beat. Rating: 7.5

This is a decent album, but I have trouble getting an overall feeling for it. It seems like a bunch of random songs thrown together - it doesn't have the unity his previous albums have. It has some great songs, like "You're in My Heart" and "If Loving You is Wrong," which have only guitars and piano in them, very bare-bones. "You Keep me Hangin on" and "You're Insane" are good as well, though the latter has the same kind of disco beat that "Fool For You" had. "Hot Legs" is the epitome of a Rod Stewart rock song. The song "Born Loose", however, is a rock song that just doesn't go anywhere. My favorite on the album, and one of Rod's best ever is "I Was Only Joking", an excellent song about Rod's past. While the album does have several good songs, overall it doesn't seem to gel. Rating: 7

Well, here we go, the nadir of Rod's career. This is the album that essentially ruined Rod's reputation as a rock star and is the reason too many people in this world think he is a joke. "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" is a horrid song, with lyrics that mean nothing and music any disco fan would die for. Moving past that, though, the rest of the album isn't half bad, though "Last Summer" retains some of the disco DYTIS left behind, incorporating a horrible combination of synthesizer and flute that makes my hair hurt every time I hear it. "Dirty Weekend" is a fun, all out rock song that is great to turn up loud and listen to. "Ain't Love a Bitch" has some "Maggie May" influence, but doesn't measure up to Rod's past songs. Still, songs like "Is That the Thanks I Get" and "Scarred and Scared" show off Rod's writing ability and are devoid of any disco influence. Rating: 4

I like this album. While it does have the unfortunate feel of much of Rod's music during this late-70's, early-80's time period, it captures much of the feel that Atlantic Crossing had five years back. "Foolish Behaviour" is a fun rock song and "Oh God I Wish I Was Home Tonight" is one of my all time favorites that harkens back to Rod's early-70's days. "Gimme Wings" is another good rocker, with nice lyrics. This album was written entirely by the man himself, so all of the songs have a definite Rod feel to them, though it wears thin in songs like "Somebody Special". "Say It Ain't True" is a beautiful album-ender in the spirit of "Sailing" (from Atlantic Crossing). Rating: 6

The good: Rod abandons any disco-like music for good, picks some great songs to cover, and writes some great lyrics. The bad: this album was made in the early-80's, and this album incorporates too many sounds of the time. The worst songs on the album are the ones most easily identifiable as 80's music, for instance the title track. Had this song been made six years earlier, it would have been a signature rock n roll Rod song, but instead synthesizers and an annoying rhythm guitar are used. "Young Turks" has some good lyrics, but the music has too much of that 80's sound. Fortunately, there are plenty of classic-caliber songs on here, from the autobiographical rock song "Only A Boy" which is reminiscent of "Oh God I Wish I Was Home Tonight", to the excellent Dylan cover "Just Like A Woman", to the inspiring anthem, "Never Give Up On A Dream". "Tear it Up" is a good old-time rocker, but "Tora Tora Tora" is a mildly irritating rock song that could use quite a bit more bass. Rating:5

This is another one written solely by Rod himself, and while a few of the songs demonstrate Rod's great song-writing potential, too many of them fall short. Additionally, the band that plays with Rod on this album is simply lacking - the sound of the music here is not very good and the solos are unimaginative. The icing on the cake are the synthesizers, which are horribly overused. A song like "Move Me" has some real potential for a good Rod rocker, but gets drowned out by the unfortunate synths. The same rings true for "Ready Now", which has some really good vocals, but again too much synthesizer. This is a fault that can be found on most any song on the album. Fortunately some songs have no synths at all, like the up-beat "Dancin Alone", a rocker worthy of Rod's 70's material. "Sweet Surrender" is a great ballad with an unusually tropical sound, and "Satisfied" has excellent lyrics, and ends the album nicely. The worst song is the entirely synthesizer-driven "Ghetto Blaster". Rating: 3.5

This is probably Rod's weakest effort. The worst thing about the album is that there really isn't much substance. Once I eliminate the songs I don't want to listen to, there isn't much left. Additionally, this is still during Rod's synthesizer stage, and most songs use it and programmed drums too much. The hilight of the album, though, is "Bad For You". While it does have synths, the arrangement is perfect, and it is simply a great, bluesy rock song. Jeff Beck makes a guest appearance on it, and it is the only song on the album produced by Rod on the album - coincidence or phenomenon? "Trouble", while musically lacking (the instruments are a synthesizer and a flute), contains some nice lyrics and is a touching song. "Infatuation" is entertaining and "Some Guys have All The Luck" is catchy. "Heart Is On The Line" is the only song that is recognizably Rod, but still lacks musically, which is the same downfall of the pathetic efforts of "Camouflage" and "Alright Now". Rating: 3

Finally, Rod makes an effort to return to the Rod Stewart we know. While synths are still used here, the music in this album is a far cry from the questionable past few. Rod wrote most of the material here, including the tear-jerking "Ten Days of Rain" and touching "In My Own Crazy Way". "Another Heartache" and "A Night Like This" are excellent rock songs and return Rod to using guitars and drums as his main instruments. Still, there are some not-so-bright moments, including "Who's Gonna Take Me Home" with nonsensical lyrics and a very-80's sound, and the popular "Love Touch", which has a very tropical feel (i.e. steel drums). The title track is one of Rod's best lyrical efforts ever. Overall this is a very nice album, easily Rod's best effort in years. The music is much more Rod Stewart, the lyrics are well done, and the album gels very nicely. Rating: 7

Finally, Rod returns to fine form on this album, possibly his best rock album ever. Many of the songs are penned by Rod, and most of them are flat-out rock songs. No more synths here, just guitars, drums, etc, though strings are used a bit excessively. "Lost In You" and "Dynamite" are great fast paced songs, "Wild Horse" is a nice rocker with interesting lyrics and "Lethal Dose of Love", while having a - unique - beginning, is a good turn-up-the-volume song with typical Rod-style lyrics. "Forever Young", the popular rock-ballad, has excellent lyrics, and "My Heart Can't Tell You No" is a beautiful, catchy song. "Almost Illegal" is the hilight of the album, a down-home rock song complete with fiddle that shows Rod at his rocking best. If you want a fast paced, guitar driven, rock album, this is the one to get. Rating: 9

After Out Of Order, this album is a bit of a disappointment. Sure, it contains plenty of top-rate songs, but the pop-feel of some of the past Rod Stewart songs has returned. The strings and synthesizers are a bit overused, and the album strays from the guitar driven rock-style songs on Out Of Order. Still, the album produces some great songs, such as "Broken Arrow", the excellent ballad "If Only", and the Out Of Order-style rocker "Moment of Glory". "When A Man's In Love" is a good, upbeat song but would be better if it weren't based around a synthesizer. The album is like taking Out of Order, adding some synths, slowing down some songs, and making it appeal more to adult contemporary. Sure, there are still the same good songs OOO had, but it just doesn't live up to the same expectations OOO set. In my mind this is where Rod started losing the younger audience, and why his music hasn't been as popular in the mid to late-90's . Rating: 6.5

If you took Vagabond Heart and combined it with Out of Order, you'd get this album. This album has much more of the feel of his earlier 70's albums, while still retaining the feel of his more recent adult contemporary-type efforts. The song "Lady Luck", one of the best of the album, is the closest he's gotten to sounding like his early-70's stuff since the early-70's. The album is essentially his early stuff, slowed down and modernized. The major problem with the album is an overblown production, with endless amounts of people listed in the album sleeve, it isn't hard to see why the album could use a bit more of a consistent sound. Still, songs like "Sweetheart Like You", "This", and "Soothe Me" are all excellent covers. In fact, most every song on the album, short of the dull "Downtown Lights", is an excellent song. Rod picked a great combination for the album. It even contains an OOO-type rocker, "Delicious", and the tribute song "Muddy Sam and Otis". Overall, the songs are slower than on previous albums. While this is a good album, his best effort in a while and his closest to his early stuff, an element seems to be lacking to put this one over the top. Rating: 8

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Since 8/2/98