I had always been a fan of early Rod Stewart but by the late 1970s he had became a bit of an embarrassment as he developed a spandex wearing ladies man persona signing naff disco songs eg "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" or outright sexist material ie "Hot Legs". However, when he put his mind to it he was still capable of telling good stories eg "The Killing of Georgie" and some decent ballads eg "You're In My Heart" and "Tonight's The Night". He also still had an ear for good material to cover, which are represented here with "Sailing", "The First Cut Is The Deepest" and "I Don't Want To Talk About It".
This was the fourth compilation album of Rod Stewart material and contained the major hits after Rod switched labels from Mercury to Warner Bros in 1975, but strangely included "Maggie May" from 1971. Excluded for this collection was "This Old Heart of Mine", a slowed down cover of the Isley Brothers' hit that I really liked and which reached No 4 in 1976, but "Ole Ola", the Scotland World Cup song for Argentina 1978 was thankfully omitted !
This was titled Vol 1, and although there have been many more compilation albums released there hasn't been a volume 2 !
I can't remember when I purchased this album, but the label on the cover shows I paid £2.99 from WH Smith.
Nearly all of the songs contained here should be familiar to most people and this is a rare example in Fatbear's Lockdown LPs where I can remember all the songs ( although it is a greatest hits compilation ! ), so there shouldn't be any surprises in hearing them again.
This collection has two songs that were on the 1975 number one album "Atlantic Crossing". "Sailing" was a number one hit, and enjoyed a revival a year later when it became the theme song for a BBC series on HMS Ark Royal, but "I Don't Want To Talk About It" was only released two years later as a double A-side budget single with "The First Cut Is The Deepest", which cynics said was designed to prevent the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" becoming number one !
Both songs on the double A-side were covers, "I Don't Want To Talk About It" was written by Danny Whitten and originally released by Crazy Horse, later becoming a Top 5 success for Everything But The Girl in 1988, whilst "The First Cut Is The Deepest" was written by Cat Stevens and a fabulous version by P.P Arnold was a hit in 1967.
Rod's 1976 album A Night On The Town spawned three hits included here. The first to be released was "Tonight's The Night", which included a French spoken part from Britt Ekland, Rod's Swedish girlfriend at the time. The follow-up was "The Killing of Georgie Parts 1 and 2", a story of a gay friend being stabbed in New York. Both written by Rod whilst the third single was "The First Cut Is The Deepest" as mentioned above.
Three more of the songs in this collection were on the 1977 album Footloose And Fancy Free, namely two tender ballads written by Rod, "You're In My Heart" and I Was Only Joking" plus "Hot Legs" which rocks along quite nicely, but shame about the awful lyrics.
The 1978 album Blondes Have More Fun has only one song featured here, the dreadful disco attempt of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy""
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Hot Legs ( 1978- No 5 )
2. Maggie May ( 1971 - No 1 )
3. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy ( 1978 - No 1 )
4. You're In My Heart ( 1977 - No 3 )
5. Sailing ( 1975 - No 1 )
1. I Don't Want To Talk About It ( 1977 - No 1 )
2. Tonight's The Night ( Gonna Be Alright ) ( 1976 - No 5 )
3. The Killing Of Georgie ( Parts 1 and II ) ( 1976 - No 2 )
4. The First Cut Is The Deepest ( 1977 - No 1 )
5. I Was Only Joking ( 1978 - No 5 )
UK Chart Position : 1
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