1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 188. Rod Stewart – Gasoline Alley (1970)

 

Rod Stewart’s music is difficult to classify, which is a good thing I guess. It starts from the basis of rock, but uses a lot of blues and country elements, and as I was pondering that this was a bit like The Rolling Stones, along comes a cover of It’s All Over Now to back me up on that – although that’s in reality a Womack and Womack song that the Stones also did, which I didn’t know.

Rod also likes to mix in folk bits – the man does like a bit of mandolin, which crops up on the title track Gasoline Alley as well as his big hits (that aren’t on here). Country Comfort is a good example of how he also mixes in a bit of Scottish folk as well (this is, in fact, an Elton John/Bernie Taupin tune); the resultant tracks are neither obviously one form or another, unlike some artists that use these genres (e.g. Dave Bleedin’ Crosby) it isn’t the case that this one is the blues track, this one is the country track etc. And I rather like that.

Cut Across Shorty, for example, has a bit of hoe-down fiddle going on, but is more of a rock track underneath. Lady Day has steel slide guitar but again isn’t played as a specifically country song. Jo’s Lament is a Stewart original that sounds like a Scottish folk song; although he was born in London, he holds onto the Scottish heritage of his parents and often returns to Scottish folk motifs (and football). You’re My Girl, meanwhile, is a funky closer to the album. I don’t think this is the apogee of his career – for my money that’s probably Atlantic Crossing, but it’s a good cross-section.