January 25, 2021:
Rod Stewart was a Christmas acquisition.
I'd liked "Dixie Toot" on the radio. It has a joyful sloppiness which made me grin. So I asked for its album, Smiler, and also for the compilation Sing it Again, Rod to help me familiarize. That year I also received Led Zeppelin III, American Band, Volunteers and a pile of others which for me will always remain Christmas albums, thanks to a generous mother who hated the music but recognized my passion for it.
Sing it Again, Rod floored me. Firstly the sound, that sensuous mix of acoustic and electric, of rock and roll with a different kind of country, British country not American. Those songs have a groove but also a texture which I love to this day.
But also the romanticism. There's the obligatory Brit rock and roll posturing, for instance the underage lover of "Lost Paraguayos" which sounds like he's listened to "Stray Cat Blues" too many times. Yet over and above that there's "Mandolin Wind" and "You Wear it Well", polar opposites to macho posturing. "Mandolin Wind" is about loyalty and partnership and gratitude. There's an adult-ness in that, and a sweetness.
My song "Lover's Lullaby" goes to a similar place, I think. Or I hope. Gently rocking, largely acoustic but not exactly.
Stewart's Mercury albums were of their moment, but they were unique in that moment. For me they're touchstones. As is that moment itself, that fleeting Almost Famous era when rock and roll peaked and crested as both an artistic and social force.