"Seems Like a Long Time..."

Original released on LP Mercury SRM 1-609 

(US 1971, May 28)

Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells a Story" is the greatest rock & roll recording of the last ten years. It is a mature tale of adolescence, full of revelatory detail (Rod combing his hair a thousand different ways in front of the mirror), and it contains the only reference to the Dreyfus case in the history of rock. It is also hilarious, and one of the friendliest pieces of music ever recorded. It is rock & roll of utterly unbelievable power, and for most of its five minutes and fifty-eight seconds that power is supplied by nothing more than drums, bass, acoustic guitar and Rod's voice. Mick Waller should have received the Nobel Prize - in physics, of course - for his demolition work at the end of the first verse; Martin Quittenton's acoustic guitar playing is well beyond any human award - for that matter, it is beyond human ken. John Lennon once said he wanted to make a record as good as "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On"; Rod Stewart did it. (Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone, 12/15/77)

Without greatly altering his approach, Rod Stewart perfected his blend of hard rock, folk, and blues on his masterpiece, "Every Picture Tells a Story". Marginally a harder-rocking album than "Gasoline Alley" - the Faces blister on the Temptations cover "(I Know I'm) Losing You," and the acoustic title track goes into hyper-drive with Mick Waller's primitive drumming - the great triumph of "Every Picture Tells a Story" lies in its content. Every song on the album, whether it's a cover or original, is a gem, combining to form a romantic, earthy portrait of a young man joyously celebrating his young life. Of course, "Maggie May" - the ornate, ringing ode about a seduction from an older woman - is the centerpiece, but each song, whether it's the devilishly witty title track or the unbearably poignant "Mandolin Wind," has the same appeal. And the covers, including definitive readings of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is Such a Long Time" and Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe," as well as a rollicking "That's All Right," are equally terrific, bringing new dimension to the songs. It's a beautiful album, one that has the timeless qualities of the best folk, yet one that rocks harder than most pop music - few rock albums are quite this powerful or this rich. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

Quite simply one of the greatest albums ever recorded by any British rock singer. At last this remastered edition (*) does it justice. The vocals from Rod remain his best and the harmonising of the great Maggie Bell on the title track add a little extra to abreast song. It's easy to forget just what an awesome 2nd side of the album these tracks were - 2 self written classics - "Maggie May" and "Mandolin Wind" (you choose which you prefer) followed by a mighty "I know I'm losing you" and closing with the exquisite "Reason to Believe". Possibly one of the few albums that you can pick any track on its own or the whole cd to listen to and not be disappointed it has aged so well and this remastering shows off the musicians to perfection. Stuck this on and memories of many happy times flooded back, suddenly your a teenager falling out a window to Maggie May...... The magic of truly great music!... (in Amazon)

(*) Collectors DeLuxe Vinyl Replica CD, with High Definition Remastering 96 Khz/24-Bit, including the original album cover art (13,5 cm X 13,5 cm), Inner Paper Sleeves and Black Polycarbonate High Definition CD.

JEFF BECK GROUP: "Beck-Ola"

Original released on LP Epic BN 26478

(US, June 1969)

When it was originally released in June 1969, "Beck-Ola", the Jeff Beck Group's second album, featured a famous sleeve note on its back cover: «Today, with all the hard competition in the music business, it's almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't. However, this LP was made with the accent on heavy music. So sit back and listen and try and decide if you can find a small place in your heads for it.» Beck was reacting to the success of peers and competitors like Cream and Led Zeppelin here, bands that had been all over the charts with a hard rock sound soon to be dubbed heavy metal, and indeed, his sound employs much the same brand of "heavy music" as theirs, with deliberate rhythms anchoring the beat, over which the guitar solos fiercely and the lead singer emotes. But he was also preparing listeners for the weakness of the material on an album that sounds somewhat thrown together. Two songs are rehauls of Elvis Presley standards ("All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock") and one is an instrumental interlude contributed by pianist Nicky Hopkins, promoted from sideman to group member, with the rest being band-written songs that basically serve as platforms for Beck's improvisations. But that doesn't detract from the album's overall quality, due both to the guitar work and the distinctive vocals of Rod Stewart, and "Beck-Ola" easily could have been the album to establish the Jeff Beck Group as the equal of the other heavy bands of the day. Unfortunately, a series of misfortunes occurred. Beck canceled out of a scheduled appearance at Woodstock; he was in a car accident that sidelined him for over a year, and Stewart and bass player Ron Wood decamped to join Faces, breaking up the group. Nevertheless, "Beck-Ola" stands as a prime example of late-'60s British blues-rock and one of Beck's best records. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)