Those of us who take more than a passing interest in the development of popular music acknowledge there are certain albums, ‘Blonde on Blonde‘, ‘Sgt. Pepper‘, ‘Tommy‘ that to varying degrees opened new avenues of creativity – and if they were fundamental in progressing rock during the 60s, then Bowie and The Ramones gave the kaleidoscope another twist in the decade that followed.
While recognising the huge cultural significance of such seminal works, it is not to say every great album has to extend the boundaries of artistic expression, some superlative pieces being a winning mix of sublime songwriting, inspired performances, outstanding singing – throw charm, humour and poignancy into the mix and you pretty much have Rod Stewart’s ‘EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY.’
The third entry onto a roster that already included the impressive debut ‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down‘ (1969), the yet more accomplished ‘Gasoline Alley‘ (1970), ‘Every Picture Tells A Story‘ (1971) reaches an even higher plateau with its mix of brilliant Stewart originals and exquisite covers.
It may not have the era-defining overtones of say ‘Pet Sounds,’ Blue‘ or ‘Born to Run‘ although in spite of some occasional imperfections stands as a work of true and lasting resonance – and a quintessential 70s album if ever there was one.
For Stewart the album and its best-selling single, the memorable ‘Maggie May,’ brought success that was sudden and massive – the 26-year-old North Londoner of Scottish origin, six years into a career that began with fronting a variety of London-based R&B ensembles, before landing a role as vocalist for the Jeff Beck Group.
The combination of his distinctive, rasping vocals and guitar flamboyance of the band leader created a template for the horde of blues/rock acts that followed in their wake.
On leaving the outfit after an 18-month, two album stint, Stewart along with Ron Wood (at that time playing bass for Beck), teamed up with what remained of the seminal, but now defunct, Small Faces following the departure of singer/guitarist Steve Marriott to form Humble Pie.
With Wood reverting to guitar, they joined forces in May 1969 with Kenny Jones (drums), Ronnie Lane (bass) and Ian McLagan (keyboards) to form the Faces – a raucous, ramshackle aggregation whose live shows were full of lustre, but to date had made two intermittently lacklustre albums.
For sessions that originally overlapped with those for the second Faces album (‘Long Player‘ February 1971), Stewart assembled the core crew who had been present on his first two solo outings, namely, Wood (guitar/bass/pedal steel), McLagan (keyboards), Pete Sears (piano), Micky Waller (drums, Martin Quittenton (acoustic guitar) and Andy Pyle (bass).
Together they generate such musical verve to be reminiscent of The Band, their spirited and exuberant playing making them contenders for the title of World’s Greatest Unsung rock group.
In keeping with his previous release Stewart came up with three stunning songs of his own (one written with Wood, another with Quittenton) and conjured another masterful Dylan interpretation – but this time out Rod also manages the greatest Motown cover in rock history and turns in the definitive version of a song he alone turned into a standard.
For the most part the music reflected his folk tendencies (‘I’ve always been a folkie at heart‘ he admitted at the time), apparent in the preeminence of acoustic guitar, pedal steel and mandolin. Yet on occasion Wood decorates the scene with electric guitar and combined with some of the most cataclysmic drumming ever heard there are moments when the music rocks uproariously – Stewart such a supreme singer that whatever the mood or style he makes it all completely convincing.
The opening title-track is one of the most rip-roaring starts to an album there has ever been. The twangy acoustic guitar chords and thunderous drums (the melody, composed by Wood, comes close to the arrangement of ‘Cut Across Shorty‘ from the previous album), provide the platform for Stewart to deliver an engaging – 21st Century sensibilities notwithstanding – often humorous travelogue, based on the time young Rod spent busking around Europe.
From beginning to end the piece is a riot of amusing lyrics and cavalier playing, Wood and Sears chipping in from time to time with electric guitar and piano.
After regaling us with his escapades in Paris, Rome and the Far East, Rod admits the experiences have brought him down a peg or two, giving the story a twist with a nice touch of self-deprecating humour, background vocalist Maggie Bell helping him make the point over a lone acoustic guitar:
‘I firmly believed that I didn’t need anyone but me/I sincerely thought I was so complete/Look how wrong you can be.’
As the song heads towards the last lap the music quickens and thickens again but before he begins a summing up full of witticisms, in the mix Wood can be heard calling out, as if unable to contain his excitement at what Rod will say in finishing the story – and if there are a few seconds that define what made his run of early solo albums so enthralling, they are surely it.
In comparison ‘Seems Like a Long Time‘ (written by Theodore Anderson) sounds a touch contrived, the piano based melody and a few obvious lyrical couplets make it sound a forerunner to several songs heard on the next couple of Elton John albums. Despite the shortcomings Rod, ably assisted by Madeline Bell, sustains our interest with an affecting vocal performance, Wood helping things along with a smart electric guitar break.
Given similar overhaul treatment to ‘It’s All Over Now‘ on ‘Gasoline Alley‘ the Elvis Presley classic ‘That’s All Right‘ is performed with an abundance of spirit, the jaunty folk-rock arrangement and enthusiastic vocal offset instances where the song has a tendency to meander.
Although not listed on the sleeve, it segues into a rendition of the traditional hymn ‘Amazing Grace‘ that Stewart performs accompanied by an acoustic guitar. This interlude, along with the brief medieval-sounding instrumental piece ‘Henry‘ (written and performed by Quittenton at the start of side two) appears a consequence of Stewart taking sole charge of production, this after sharing duties with Lou Reizner on his first two outings.
After two tracks bringing a reduction in quality since the rousing opener, ‘Tomorrow Is a Long Time‘ closes side one with a return to the highest standards.
Having already covered Dylan on ‘Gasoline Alley‘ (‘Only A Hobo‘) and with the Faces (‘Wicked Messenger‘), this third foray into Bob’s back catalogue is the finest yet. The gorgeous concoction of pedal steel, acoustic guitar and violin give Rod the framework to deliver a magnificent vocal, his engagement with the lyrics never heard to better effect than when his voice is double tracked on the opening lines of the third verse:
‘There’s beauty in the silver singin’ river/There’s beauty in the sunlight in the sky/But none of these, and nothing else/Can steal the beauty/That I remember in my true love’s eyes.’
Following ‘Henry‘ side two begins in earnest with ‘Maggie May‘ – the opening contribution to one of the most exhilarating sides of an album ever compiled.
Over a sumptuous melody composed by Quittenton (‘He has such lovely chords in his head,’ Stewart once remarked), which initially has acoustic guitar, organ and drums to the fore, Rod recounts a liaison with an older woman – described from the perspective of the teenage protagonist.
Stewart never fails to miss a trick in a superbly constructed lyric, the youth clearly out of his depth in a relationship he knows has to end. Wood adds further colouring with nicely appropriate electric guitar lines before the narrator begins considering his future options:
‘I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school/Or steal my daddie’s cue and making a living out of playing pool/Or find myself a rock & roll band that needs a helping hand.’
Aware from the start he has been made a fool of, after coming to this conclusion for a final time, onto the scene comes a chiming mandolin to increase the pathos, Rod even giving a nod to his hero Sam Cooke with a ‘hoo, hoo, hoo,’ over the closing bars – the mandolin continuing to ring out like cool wind against the morning sun.
An utter triumph on every level, be it composition, production or vocal performance, ‘Maggie May‘ is then eclipsed by the incomparable ‘Mandolin Wind.’
Creating a tale of a homesteader and his wife contending with harsh winter weather, in a song he wrote on his own Stewart fashions one touching, but never sentimental, line after another – the song reaching the height of its potency with verse three, Rod even affording himself a shy laugh between the penultimate and final line:
‘Oh I never was good with romantic words, so the next few lines come really hard/Don’t have much but what I’ve got is yours, except of course my steel guitar/Ha, ’cause I know you don’t play but I’ll teach you one day
because I love ya.’
Up until then Stewart has chronicled events over a folk melody performed on acoustic and the aforementioned pedal steel guitar, but at this point the mandolin (played once more by Ray Jackson of folk-rockers Lindisfarne, his name not slipping my mind, to those who know the album credits), makes a stunning reappearance, its arrival akin to a sudden burst of sunshine.
In the fourth and final verse, Rod, like all the great songwriters he can be said to rub shoulders with, leaves the outcome open to interpretation. The line ‘noticing your face was thin and pale‘ evokes a scenario where his wife is beaten down by their hardship or worse still dying – and when he adds ‘I found it hard to hide my tears,’ he could actually be speaking for all of us such is the heartbreak being expressed.
As this exercise in songwriting of the highest order draws to a close, the introduction of drums just adds to the emotional tension.
If ‘Maggie May‘ and ‘Mandolin Wind‘ are examples of Rod writing rings around just about everybody else you can think of, then (I Know) ‘I’m Losing You‘ showcases his peerless skills as an interpreter – turning a Motown hit for The Temptations into a magical blues/soul/rock workout.
Over time this sparkling performance has caused conjecture with regard to who actually played on the track, some sources claiming it to be Wood, Jones, Lane and McLagan, in other words the Faces (if so, it stands as their greatest five minutes on record) others maintaining it was the usual ‘Rod studio squad.’
Therefore, the tumultuous drum break is down to either Jones or Waller (for what it’s worth, to these ears the heavy hitting sounds more like the latter, Jones known for his jabs rather than big punches). Either way it is a remarkable percussive burst and even those of us who abhor drum solos can warm to its precision and avoidance of overindulgence.
With (Find A) ‘Reason To Believe‘ Rod brings the curtain down with a marvelous reading of a moving Tim Hardin song, the piano/organ interplay giving the piece connections to The Band, the violin solo continuing the folk overtones to the very last.
Of all the subsequent versions of the song – of which some (Ron Sexsmith) are very good – none reaches the level of accomplishment attained by Rod, his compelling vocal leaving not a single nuance for anyone else.
On release, initial sales of ‘Every Picture Tells A Story‘ were no better than modest, but the critical reception was euphoric, noted American critic Robert Christgau in his famed A-D rating system awarding it an unheard-of A+ – territory where only Dylan, Hendrix and The Band had previously gone.
But when ‘Maggie May‘ began generating interest as a 45, the album took off to such an extent that by September 1971 the single and LP were concurrently topping their respective charts in both Britain and the US.
Recently ranked at 172 in a poll of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time – which seems absurdly low, the second side alone enough to ensure a top twenty berth at least – it became the Rod Stewart album all those that followed would be measured against.
The follow-up ‘Never A Dull Moment‘ (1972) was a worthy successor, although as the years passed and the players and producers changed, the music started to sound forced and heavy handed, the standard of his own compositions declining on a series of hugely popular, but unremarkable albums.
All of which just added to the charisma of the early records (those mainly of the 1969-74 era), Stewart remaining somewhat nonchalant regarding their appeal, happy to propagate such tongue-in-cheek claims as ‘Mandolin Wind‘ having no electric guitar part due to ‘we went to the pub and forgot‘ and ‘Micky Waller had everything you could wish for in a drummer – except a kit,’ making it all sound some form of genius by accident.
Which perhaps is what those first few Rod Stewart solo albums were. Not inclined to suffer for his art – not when he could make any halfway decent song sound plausible – unlike London contemporaries Pete Townshend and Ray Davies, creating a ‘Tommy‘ or ‘Village Green‘ was never in his remit, Rod simply enjoying himself far too much for any of that.
But what ‘Every Picture Tells A Story‘ shows is that when it came to conjuring a perfect turn of phrase every now and then or finding a song ideal for his attention, Rod Stewart was in a class of his own.
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY – ROD STEWART (Released May 1971):
Every Picture Tells A Story/Seems Like a Long Time/That’s All Right/Amazing Grace/Tomorrow Is a Long Time/Henry/Maggie May/Mandolin Wind/(I Know) I’m Losing You/(Find a) Reason to Believe;
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE’ – an acclaimed thriller available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
Thank you! A worthy write-up to such a seminal but overlooked album. My brain is now overflowing with remembered wonderful sounds…
Hello David – hope you are well;
Delighted to hear you enjoyed my review of ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’ – an album, clearly, close to both our hearts.
Rod’s run of early albums (1969-1974) are just so engaging – the perfect embodiment of four or five people sitting together playing great songs, performing them with wonderful spirit and effervescence. What also cannot be overlooked is Rod wrote some truly great songs for which he should be far more revered. At times his turn of phrase is quite brilliant.
He’s not a bad singer either !
Stay safe.
Regards
Neil