Every Picture Tells a Story

When Rod was doing his bluesly garage rock there was nobody better. A great album.

In a period of about 5 short years, Rod Stewart was one of the greatest rockers the world had ever known. 2 albums with the Jeff Beck Group, four with the Faces, and 3 (or 4) solo acts. This was his third solo album and the one that made him hugely famous in the USA. He had one more great album as a solo artist in him after this. Though some think he started his downward trajectory from genuine rock vient to a parody of a rock giant with the next album. I remember, as a kid in the early 1990s, there was this guy named Rod Stewart with a gorgeous supermodel wife (Rachel Hunter) and forgettable songs that got air time on the radio. A few years later, as my taste in music went backwards into the 1970s and 1960s, I realized that same forgettable soft rocker has these wonderful rock songs based on folk sick as Maggie May and Reason to Believe. Looking further I found his work with the two aforementioned bands that upon first listen sounded like they were his songs but more raucous energy (particularly Faces). I found an article in Rolling Stone from 1980 that seemed to sun up what I had felt as well. In any case, if you ever wondered how on earth someone like Rod Stewart became famous back before the internet, you have to look at his early work when he was a true great. And this is the work that was a culmination of what Rod could be. Sadly a few years later he went to America and while he kept selling records he was never great again.

Happy 50th birthday to one of Rod’s & rock’s most seminal albums. “Every Picture Tells a Story” turns 50 this year in 2021. Happy Birthday! If you haven’t already done so, DOWNLOAD IT! It’s one of the truly great albums of rock & roll & is still (I think) Rod’s best.

❤️

One of those great classic albums, where there is not a bad track on the whole LP. Everyone knows Maggie May, but there is so much more.

Every song on this album is great. Basically the album that started it all.