ROD STEWART – The Definitive Rod Stewart (2008 Warner)
Compilations, eh? You get one, and it’s great, but…it doesn’t have all the songs that you like, does it? In this case, I was craving some Rod (now now!) and I really wanted to hear one from my youth: “Infatuation”! I was craving that hook! “Oh no, not again! It hurts so good, I don’t understand!” Jeff Beck: lead guitar! I searched my library and I was missing that track. What to do about it?
Rod Stewart has numerous compilations to choose from, going back to 1973’s Sing It Again Rod. (That one’s interesting for the inclusion of “Pinball Wizard” from the London Sympony version of Tommy.) You could go any number of ways. 1989’s Downtown Train had “Infatuation” on it, as well as “People Get Ready”.
I could have sought out the original album it was on, Camouflage, but I don’t recall liking the album much. I decided instead to augment my collection with another 2 CD compilation: 2008’s Definitive. It’s extremely similar to the 2001 set, The Story So Far, but with a slightly better track list. This time we get “Passion”, “Infatuation”, “My Heart Can’t Tell You No”, and “Stay With Me” (The Faces) among the rest of the 70s, 80s, and 90s hits. We lose “Don’t Come Around Here” which is a good thing. Unfortunately we also lose the Stones cover “Ruby Tuesday” and “All For Love” with Sting and Bryan Adams. There’s no such thing as a perfect compilation. You’re always going to have to get a couple, and even then, you’re still missing the amazing Robbie Robertson cover, “Broken Arrow”.
This set goes all the way up to MTV Unplugged. Rod made great music after that, but a lot of the albums were his American Songbooks of standards, that not everybody needs. The cool thing is, there’s also a bonus track from 1998. “Two Shades of Blue” is an outtake from his excellent rock album, When We Were the New Boys (the one with the Oasis cover “Cigarettes and Alcohol”). This ballad might not have been necessary on that record, but it’s actually quite good if a bit generic. Interestingly it features a sample from a Russian opera, so it’s not exactly ordinary either. The actual cool thing is that it is a Rod sole-written original, not a cover or something written for him. Rod’s a great songwriter when he wants to do it!
This album won’t tick all of your Rod Stewart boxes, but it’ll cover most.
The original title for this chapter was “My Sister, Age, and How Things Change”. It was originally Chapter 8.
RECORD STORE TALES #1045: The Lost Chapters: Doctor Kathryn
My sister had some distinct musical phases. Early on, she decided that she was going to like most of the music that I liked. At first that meant Quiet Riot, Kiss, and Motley Crue. Motley Crue was her favourite, but not for the right reasons. They were her favourite because a) Nikki and Tommy were really tall, and b) they both had spikey hair.
There was further evidence that my sister was bordering on wimp territory. One was that she didn’t like W.A.S.P. In fact she hated W.A.S.P. I’m not sure if it was Blackie Lawless’ voice, or if it was the fact that he drank “blood” from a “human skull”. Either way, I liked W.A.S.P. a lot, and if she didn’t like them too, this demonstrated an unhealthy streak of independence.
Then, the proverbial shit hit the fan. (We didn’t have air conditioning back then, just fans.) One day in 1985, she decided that she liked The Pointer Sisters. And Cyndi Lauper. And Corey Hart. She always liked Bryan Adams, but I forgave her this. Bryan wore jeans and T-shirts, so he was still firmly in rock territory, even if he wasn’t heavy metal. (I didn’t find out for a while yet that Bryan did in fact have some metallic roots. He wrote several songs with Kiss, including the heaviest material on the Creatures Of The Night album.) The music that Kathryn liked was incorrectly labelled by us as “New Wave”. We didn’t know that New Wave was a term usually used for bands like Blondie, Devo, or the Talking Heads. We just assumed all crappy pop music with synthesizers was New Wave. And New Wave was bad. Very very bad.
Back then, life was simple. Life was black and white. Whatever MuchMusic’s “Power Hour” played was good. Everything else was bad. The only exceptions to that that rule were Kim Mitchell and Bryan Adams. I’m not sure why Kim was an exception, except that he and long hair, and that I liked him, and so did the next door neighbour. If you wanted to boil it down further, stuff with guitars was good. Stuff with keyboards was bad. And the stuff Kathryn listened to didn’t have any guitars, just lots of keyboards, fake synth drums and people with really silly clothes and hair.
There were a few exceptions. I had never known a Van Halen without keyboards, so I accepted them. They were clearly a heavy metal band. The Power Hour played them all the time, David Lee Roth had wicked hair, and everybody was talking about that guitar player. Even if I didn’t know the difference between a guitar and a bass, and thought that Michael Anthony was in fact Eddie Van Halen, I decided that Van Halen were cool. You were allowed to like them. Eventually I sneaked ZZ Top into the list of music that was allowed as well, because one of the neighbours said they were like Van Halen.
So if the music Kathryn liked was bad, and the music I liked was good, you can imagine the arguments. They were glorious and often ended in physical injury and/or destruction of property, and not just by me.
Her awful taste in music even held back my own progress. She liked Bon Jovi first, therefore I had to dislike Bon Jovi—until they released that damned “Wanted: Dead Or Alive” song. The song was so good, so undeniable, I had to let Bon Jovi into my life. I still think it’s a fantastic song, well written, well played, with some beautiful 12 string guitar. (Another reason Bon Jovi didn’t make the grade at first was due to their keyboards. This does not explain why Europe did make the grade. There were many inconsistencies.)
Kathryn’s rebellion worsened. Her taste in music declined. I won’t even begin to list some of the awful music she listened to, but I will say that she bottomed out in 1990 with New Kids On The Block, MC Hammer, and Vanilla Ice. Obviously, this was a person who had no clear idea about integrity within music. However, like a junkie who hits rock bottom, she eventually started to rise up again, with a little encouragement from Her Loving Brother.
The turning point was when Vanilla Ice cancelled his Kitchener tour date in early 1991. His reason stated was that he was too big a star to play a town like Kitchener. There was an instant hatred for the man all over town. Kathryn sold her Vanilla Ice tape immediately.
There were some other clear signs of improvement. A newfound obsession with Cheap Trick was good. Sure, they weren’t metal, but they were definitely rock! Hell, they even worshipped Kiss within their song lyrics. I happily encouraged this love of Cheap Trick, and even bought her Cheap Trick tapes. I think most of her Cheap Trick collection was courtesy of moi.
Rod Stewart came next. I feel that perhaps Rod snuck in the door due to his enormous hair, but I didn’t care. Rod still had a rock pedigree. I encouraged her love of Rod. I asked her questions about him and his music. It was like carefully manipulating a mentally ill person back to health, and I was succeeding in a marginal way. I felt that she’d never come all the way back to metal, even though she owned tapes by Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Poison. Yet I was satisfied with the progress we were making.
Now, 15 years later, I own Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, Bryan Adams, The Payola$…all music that she introduced me to. She got the last laugh. I’ll never admit that she was always the smarter one (I can’t, since she never understood any movies we watched) but I’ll admit that she got the better of me on this one. We even attended concerts together. It started with Blue Rodeo, then we saw Jann Arden and Amanda Marshall. While I still won’t own any albums by Arden or Marshall, they both put on excellent shows. Blue Rodeo blew us both away and now they’re one of my favourites. I’ve never seen any band more often than Blue Rodeo, and I’ll argue that they’re Canada’s best band, with Rush as a close second.
Even my parents get points. They sure hated “Big Balls” by AC/DC, but now I own more Johnny Cash and Gordon Lightfoot than they do.
Now, I certainly can’t allow Kathryn to come off as the winner in this chapter. So here’s a punch in the arm for you. There, now we’re even.
ROD STEWART – “Leave Virginia Alone” (1995 Warner CD single)
Rod Stewart’s album A Spanner in the Works came out during my first year at the Record Store. I have a lot of fond memories of hearing certain songs. “Leave Virginia Alone” was one of them. Tom Petty penned this acoustic mid-tempo hit. Petty wrote it during the 1994 Wallflowers sessions, though his version was not released until after his passing. Though it has a certain unmistakable Petty quality, Stewart makes it his own song simultaneously. Like an electron caught between two positive charges, “Leave Virginia Alone” is both quintessentially Rod and Tom at once. My preference is to Rod’s rendition.
The B-side is an exclusive non-album song called “Shock To The System”. To my knowledge it’s never been released anywhere else, making this brief single worth owning for fans. It’s a guitar based rocker with funky bass and a nice fat horn section backing Rod. Good song. Sounds like vintage 70s Rod, with 90s production. A bit like “Hot Legs”. Probably considered not commercial enough for a 90s Rod album.
Vocalist extraordinaire Jim Crean is back with two new solo albums. Not only is there a 16 track covers album called Gotcha Covered, but also The London Fog, a new original CD. As usual, Crean boasts a killer hitlist of special guests, including Carmine & Vinny Appice, Mike Tramp, Rudy Sarzo, Chris Holmes, Steph Honde and plenty more. Buckle up — it’s a heavy duty trip.
The London Fog goes wide open from the start, with the two new songs Crean released on last year’s Greatest Hits: the excellent “Scream Taker” (tribute to Ronnie James Dio) and the riffy “Conflicted”. “Scream Taker” features Dio alumni Vinny Appice and Rudy Sarzo. These tracks follow the traditional blueprints of classic 80s metal, particularly “Conflicted”. (The dexterous bassist that I initially mistook for Billy Sheehan is actually A.D. Zimmer.)
Want more riffs? Then get “Broken”! There’s a great chorus here: Melody and power, with some tasty licks from Steph Honde. “Aphrodisiac” takes things to a more nocturnal place, but more menacing. Still, there’s always room for some dirty rock, and that would be “Lady Beware”. If Dokken’s classic lineup released another song today, it would probably sound a lot like “Lady Beware”. This is the kind of rock we all miss, and have a hard time finding today.
Jim Crean is equally at home on rockers and ballads. “Let It Go” (with Honde on piano and keyboards) has an epic quality for a ballad. It might be a bit Scorpions, Whitesnake (circa 1987) or Guns N’ Roses…the comparisons are up to the listener. The keyboard solo is a cool touch. Then heavy sounds circulate on “Loaded” (more Zimmer on bass), but yet Crean maintains a knack for melody.
A familiar voice welcomes you on “Candle”, a Mike Tramp (Freaks of Nature) cover featuring Tramp in a duet. The song is new to these ears, and I like how the parts shift and change moods. A riff for the ages follows, on an original track called “1981”. Again I’m reminded of Dokken, the classic era. It’s hard to recapture a time period with such clarity, but Jim Crean has a talent for writing that way. Some of his originals could very well be from another time. (Drummer Colleen Mastrocovo gives “1981” a serious kick.)
Another obscure cover: Robin Zander’s 1993 solo track “Time Will Let You Know”, a classy ballad from an underrated album. Jim doesn’t try to sound like Robin Zander, but does it justice. Then it’s Rod Stewart’s dance classic “Passion”. Very few singers have the right rasp to do Rod Stewart justice, but Jim Crean is one of them. That’s the always slick Tony Franklin on bass. And get this! Franklin’s Blue Murder bandmate Carmine Appice, the same guy who played on the the original “Passion”, also plays on this cover. He approaches both versions very differently. Rod’s version is slick dance rock, and this is more like metal that you can dance to. Same song; familiar but a completely different arrangement. If John Sykes ever played with Rod Stewart, maybe this is what they could have sounded like.
“Passion” could have closed the album and you’d be completely satisfied, but there’s more. A funky “Fool” sounds like Aerosmith, and who’s that on guitar? Ray Tabano, the original Aerosmith guitarist before Brad Whitford joined the band! This song is more Aerosmith than anything that band has recorded since 1993! Then it’s another lesser-known cover and duet: Angel’s “Don’t Take Your Love” featuring original Angel singer Frank DiMino. Great melodic rock songs are always welcome, and this one is truly great.
Finally comes the metallic closer “Tears” featuring Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.). The contrast between the heavy riffs and Jim’s melodic vocals is what makes this style work so well for him. The riff has a W.A.S.P. vibe, but Crean takes it in a totally different direction.
Another fine album from Jim Crean and friends. Fans of hard rock “the way they used to make it” will thoroughly enjoy.
4.5/5 stars
Check back for a look at Gotcha Covered, coming soon.
ROD STEWART – The Story So Far: The Very Best Of (2001 WEA)
Sir Roderick Stewart might be best known for his covers, though he certainly wrote his fair share of corkers. He’s the kind of artist that made certain covers his own, to the point that some think they’re his originals. “Downtown Train” (Tom Waits) is a good example. So is “The First Cut is the Deepest” (Cat Stevens). Rod’s versions are iconic. Something about his blue-eyed raspy soul.
Stewart is also known for his successes in multiple decades. He was big in the 60s, with Jeff Beck. He was huge in the 70s with the Faces as a solo artist. He successfully rode out the disco era with a huge hit (an original, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, co-written by Carmine Appice). He became a massive pop star in the 80s, and even kept the momentum going through the start of the 90s with MTV Unplugged. Finally he became an adult contemporary sensation in the 2000s with his Great American Songbook albums, before finally returning to writing original music. Rod just has an ear for a good song, and an ability to wrap his inimitable voice around it. The Story So Far: The Very Best Of Rod Stewart captures a huge chuck of music from the late 60s to 2001. It’s separated into two discs, for two moods: the upbeat A Night Out and the softer A Night In.
Is The Story So Far all you need? No, but it touches the bases. It’s easier to think of songs that aren’t included. You’ll still want to get “Handbags and Gladrags”, “Infatuation”, “Broken Arrow”, and many more. This CD set will help you hone in on what you want, and you’ll still get plenty of goodies. From “Stay With Me” and “In A Broken Dream” all the way through “Some Guys Have All the Luck”, and into the unplugged “Reason to Believe”, it’s loaded with quality. In fact there’s only one dud, which is “Don’t Come Around Here” with Helicopter Girl (who?) from 2001’s dreadful Human. The programmed beats reek of an age past when everybody turned to computers to stay trendy.
There are even a couple hard to find tracks. “Ruby Tuesday”, from Rod Stewart, lead vocalist was not originally released in North America. “All For Love” is a Bryan Adams song featuring Rod and Sting from the Three Musketeers soundtrack. “In A Broken Dream” is an oldie by Aussie band Python Lee Jackson, featuring Rod at the mic. These are good songs worth owning.
One misfire on a compilation of 34 songs ain’t bad, and Rod’s ballads are as good as the rockers so both discs are equal in strength. Get your “Hot Legs” on the dance floor with some “Young Turks”. You’ll have a great time, “Ooh La La”, so “Tonight I’m Yours”. “Tonight’s The Night”, so go get some Rod Stewart!
Jen and I were picking up her mom at the downtown train station. I spotted this guy with a box strapped to his backpack. Pretty smart, I thought! An original and unique solution to travel.
I really had this coming. In Part 314 (The Musical Crimes of Mrs. LeBrain) I exposed the somewhat embarrassing contents of Jen’s CD wallet. I knew retribution would come. Enjoy this penultimate episode of Record Store Tales, and its final guest shot, courtesy of Mrs. LeBrain. (Warning: LOTS of pictures!)
By MRS. LeBRAIN
RECORD STORE TALES Part 319: The Musical Crimes of LeBrain
#10 HIM – And Love Said No. That deep dark gothic prince Ville Valo makes lonely girls swoon, but he is also hanging out on LeBrain’s shelf.
#9 Soundtrack – SMALL SOLDIERS. I don’t know how this made it into the LeBrain home. I understand his need for everything Geddy Lee has ever created, but “Mixed by DJ Z-Trip“?? Is that really worth it? (Not to mention that you have to rock out to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to get there.)
#8 ROD STEWART – “If We Fall In Love Tonight” CD single. Going through my adventure here, I came across this single, designed to get the listener to first base. YOU’RE MARRIED. THAT SHIT DOESN’T NEED TO STAY.
#7 Soundtrack – THE KARATE KID, Part III. “Wax on, wax off.” The case and book for this CD do not meet the demanding criteria that LeBrain enforces on his collection, but neither does the track list. (I don’t know who most of these people are, but I have heard of the Pointer Sisters.)
#6WOODSTOCK 99 – Various. Look at the first six tracks from crap bands, and try not to laugh (a challenging task). The second CD is just as bad.
#5 Soundtrack – SON IN LAW. The Pauly Shore franchise was known for making really bad movies. The soundtracks are not much better and this shouldn’t be taking up valuable shelf space.
#4 ELMOPALOOZA – Various. If LeBrain were a daddy, this CD might make sense (Steven Tyler has a song about trash). But LeBrain is childless, and Tickle-Me-Elmo is pretty pointless here!
#3 ZZ TOP: A Tribute From Friends – Various. Three words:
MIKE OWNS NICKELBACK!
#2 AVRIL LAVIGNE – The Lavigne Collection (see below). In Part 314, LeBrain threw me under the bus for wanting to marry Joey Mac from New Kids on the Block, 25 years ago. Payback time! Just because he wanted to be her “Sk8tr Boi” doesn’t mean he needed to buy her entire repertoire.
And #1! HIT ZONE 4– Various. LeBrain’s messiest musical moments have been in his “Various” section, but this one takes the cake. My husband owns tracks by NSync, the Backstreet Boys and Boyz II Men? And to top it off this boy band festival, here’s Hanson! Regardless, I think the most disturbing thing about this CD is cover. Look at the scratches and scrapes on the case. This tells me the CD has been well enjoyed.
CONCLUSION:
LeBrain, with all the mess on YOUR shelves, you really can’t make fun of me. But no matter what crap you listen to, you’re still mine.
Happy Friday, everyone. WTF Search Terms is a series in which I reveal actual search terms that somehow led real people to mikeladano.com. This time I asked my buddyChristo pick 10 of his favourites from the pile, which he did — along with his own commentary. Enjoy!
WTF Search Terms XV: Fan Favorites – Thussy Edition
Lebrain has wanted me to collaborate with him for a while, and I am no writer, so we decided to do a WTF Search Terms. He sent me a big list of weird search terms, and all I can say is a lot of people looking for porn found Lebrain’s blog. Also, no one can spell anymore. So, keep reading below to find out my top ten WTF Search Terms!
10. google videos jethu tull too juong old to rock and roll and too juomg to died
Someone was looking for some very specific porn, and ran into Lebrain.
8. toronto shemales tumblr
“If the girl did something to you but you didn’t do it back then you didn’t really do anything.”
7. videos da bada white snack
I had to include this one, because it apparently got 9 hits! Why?
6. oshawa women that like to fuck
Local easy girls, for when hookers are too expensive.
5. marilyn manson without ribs
Even I know that rumour isn’t true.
4. (Three-in-one!) a. queensryche queensryche eyes of the strangers japan bonus b. queensryche queensryche eye of the strangers japan import c. queensrycheeye of the strangers japan bonus youtube
One of our best customers at the original store was Dancing Steve. I’ll get to why he’s named Dancing Steve in a minute, but I first met Steve when I started at the store. Steve would come in or call looking for various cassettes (never CDs), and put them on hold until he had $150 or $200 worth, and buy them all in one shot. That’s just how Steve rolled. Normally we would never stockpile so much inventory for a customer for so long, but Steve spent so much money and was so pleasant that it was a special arrangement just for him.
Steve would call looking for songs. I can remember putting a Gina Vannelli tape on hold for Steve, and I also remember him looking for Rod Stewart’s then-recent song “This”. I found that song on Rod’s latest, the excellent A Spanner in the Works. It was always so nice dealing with him, he was so friendly, and even if we didn’t see him for two months at a time, he was uber-reliable.
I knew Steve was a hockey fan as he would often wear a Kitchener Rangers hat or jacket. What I did not know was that Steve was legendary among Rangers fans! Steve often wrote (and I think he occasionally still does) long letters to the editor of the local newspaper, cheering on our Rangers and offering his strategic advice.
T-Rev and I found ourselves at a Rangers game one weekend. I don’t remember the circumstances. We may have got the tickets for free, but neither of us were particularly fans of the game back then. The Rangers scored, the crowd cheered! Then, T-Rev noticed some commotion in the seats of one corner of the auditorium. To our left and down was a man in a Rangers jacket and hat, dancing. It wasn’t a sophisticated dance, it was a bit of an awkward shuffle, in that big warm Rangers jacket. The crowd loved it, cheering him on! It was none other than Steve, our Steve. I found out his actual nickname in town was Dancing Steve, because he had seasons tickets and rarely missed a game. Steve would get up and dance any time something good happened: a goal, a power play, whatever!
To this day, I feel cool that a local legend like Dancing Steve was one of our earliest, most loyal customers. In fact we didn’t lose Steve until 1997, when we discontinued carrying cassettes. Steve didn’t make the transition over to CD. He was crushed when T-Rev had to tell him we weren’t going to be selling tapes anymore.
I have been to a couple Rangers game since, but not seen Steve. I know he still goes though, as I’ve heard tell that Dancing Steve dances on at the Aud. I would like to dedicate this chapter to Steve, an example of a jolly good fellow if there ever was one!
ROD STEWART – The Definitive Rod Stewart (2008 Warner)
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