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.

4/5 stars