The Definitive Rod Stewart

iTunes Review

Over five decades, Rod Stewart has amassed an impressive repertoire that encompasses a variety of musical styles rooted in his own folk-blues based beginnings. This collection is a generous, if not comprehensive, introduction to the man’s work. His early hits, “Maggie May,” “Every Picture Tells a Story,” and work with the Faces (“Stay With Me”) are included but much is left unexplored from Stewart’s most formidable period in favor of his more commercially successful moments featuring his more relaxed style. “Tonight’s the Night,” the brilliant “I Was Only Joking,” the silly “Hot Legs” and “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?,” and the underrated rhythmic pummel of “Young Turks” lead right into Stewart’s unexpected cruise through the ‘80s. “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” Tom Waits’ “Downtown Train,” Danny Whitten’s “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” the Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart of Mine” and Stewart’s own “Forever Young” are among his strongest cuts of the era. By the time he got to MTV’s Unplugged…And Seated, revisiting Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe” and Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately,” Stewart was an elder statesmen recollecting his past.