By 1972, Rod Stewart had achieved what few frontmen up to that point had by becoming a hugely successful solo artists while still fronting a band, the Faces. His first two solo LPs were critically acclaimed but failed to set the world on fire. His third solo release, Every Picture Tells A Story, though, changed all that as it rocketed to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and even down under. So while the Faces were slowly coming apart at the seams during each tour, Rod carried on working and in July of ‘72 dropped his fourth studio album, the brilliant Never A Dull Moment.
All the Faces guys were again called in to play on most tracks, and Rod selected a few session men and special guests to join the party, too. The result was, of course, another success with Stewart scoring his second consecutive US chart topper. Stewart produced the album himself as he did with his previous effort, and it seems the main theme here was to just have as much fun as possible and make a more laidback disc than he had done before. There’s a great swagger to this record that was more in line with a Faces gig than a carefully crafted Stewart album, and for that very reason, this record is just as enjoyable as Every Picture Tells A Story, even if the songs may not be as instantly memorable.
The album gets off to a flyer with the Stones-esque opener “True Blue,” which is the first of three songs penned by Rod and Ronnie Wood for the album. The second Stewart/Wood composition (“Lost Paraguayos”) harbors another bluesy groove and finds Rod bidding farewell to an unfortunate lass. Their third contribution is a great boozy rocker that again revolves around having a good time in as many ways as possible with “Italian Girls.” The Stewart original that helped this record shift units by the ton though remains one of his finest moments and a great reminder of what a brilliant songwriter this guy used to be. “You Wear It Well” is a classic song and it proves that Stewart was always at his best when he wrote his own stuff.
As well as some choice originals, this record also contains some inspired covers that all work very well. Dylan’s “Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind” is a great tune for Rod, and his version here is far superior to the writer’s own. Hendrix’ “Angel” sounds fantastic as well, but both are almost upstaged by the blistering cover of Sam Cooke’s (Rod’s idol) “Twistin’ The Night Away” that closes out the record in style. “I’d Rather Go Blind” will always be owned by the great Etta James, but Rod again gives an inspired performance that does it justice. He really could do no wrong at this point of his career as he was able to interpret just about any style of song to make it work for himself and fit with his own material. That is definitely one of the main reasons that Stewart was able to create a string a classic albums throughout the ‘70s, and Never A Dull Moment is clearly one of them.
