This record is cause for celebration because it signifies Rod
\nStewart’s reclamation from Sappy Ballad Land. It was a conscious
\neffort to return to his
\nEvery Picture Tells A Story<\/i> era — and is largely
\nsuccessful.<\/p>\n
After several years of treading water with one ballad after
\nanother being released from largely uneventful albums (beginning
\nwith Stewart’s righteous cover of Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You
\nLately” and continuing through 1996’s insipid “If We Fall In Love
\nAgain”), Stewart has seemed mired in songs which, if not for his
\nvocal contributions, would never have been recorded. (We won’t even
\ntalk about his ghastly collaboration with Sting and Bryan Adams —
\nthey should have all known better.)<\/p>\n
Anyway, this new disc opens with a rock and roller “Cigarettes
\nAnd Alcohol,” written by Noel Gallagher (of Oasis fame). This song
\ncould have been part of any Faces album.<\/p>\n
From there it goes into a great cover of Ronnie Lane and Ron
\nWood’s “Ooh La La,” which was released as the disc’s first single.
\nThe song contains a classic Rod line: “I wish that I knew what I
\nknow now \/ When I was younger \/ I wish that I knew what I know now
\n\/ When I was stronger.” And when John Shanks chimes in with that
\nelectric mandolin — it’s like a time machine takes you back to
\nStewart’s “Maggie May” era — and it’s a pleasant trip.<\/p>\n
The songs – with the exception of the title tune which Stewart
\nwrote – are largely the product of hot, new, young U.K.
\nsongwriters. Their energy and abandon serve Stewart well, but with
\nthe strength of the title tune I’d like to see Stewart write
\nmore.<\/p>\n
Given his success of late with ballads, it should come as no
\nsurprise that there are several included on this set – and to the
\nsong they are high quality and Stewart brings his years of
\nexperience in love and love lost to the fore in highlighting these
\ngems.<\/p>\n
Starting with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, Stewart
\ntakes the song “Secret Heart,” written by Ron Sexsmith, on a
\njourney to song heaven:<\/p>\n
“Secret heart \/ What are you made of? \/ What are you so afraid
\nof? \/ Could it be three simple words? \/ Or the fear of being
\noverheard? \/ What’s wrong? \/ Let her into your secret heart.”<\/p>\n
As the song builds it picks up slide guitar and organ and some
\nalmost nonexistent backing vocals, but remains a simple song about
\nbeing afraid to express love for the fear of the consequences.
\n“This very secret you’re trying to conceal \/ Is the very same one
\nyou’re dying to reveal \/ Go tell her how you feel.”<\/p>\n
He turns in great performances on Graham Parker’s “Hotel
\nChambermaid” and Nick Lowe’s “Shelly My Love,” before capping the
\ndisc with the title track. “When We Were The New Boys,” a great
\nmid-tempo song, is Stewart’s finest writing in years:<\/p>\n
“With laughing eyes I do recall \/ Every face that crammed this
\nhall \/ In this room our hats were hung \/ And words were written and
\nsongs were sung \/ And we held our glasses high \/ And we dared to
\nreach for the sky \/ And we never would grow old \/ When we were the
\nnew boys.”<\/p>\n
Still, it is the album closer “What Do You Want Me To Do?” by
\nMike Scott that points toward Stewart’s maturity. The song, which
\nopens with a great harmonica bit, is about a man who’s come to a
\npoint in his life where he realizes life is not what he expected it
\nto be.<\/p>\n
Puzzling over this, he says: “I’ve been deceived and
\nmisunderstood \/ But in my heart there was only good\/I stood alone
\nmost of my time \/ But now I’ve got you by my side \/ What do you
\nwant me to do? What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do
\nLord?”<\/p>\n
I can’t speak for God, but I’d like Stewart to keep on making
\nmusic like that found on this disc — and while he’s at it could
\nhe, perhaps, rescue his pals Elton John and Eric Clapton from Sappy
\nBallad Land also? There’s great music to be made out there by aging
\nrock and rollers.
\nWhen We Were The New Boys<\/i> proves that it just takes a little
\ninspiration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":24883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6031],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36088","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rod-stewart","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36088"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36088"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}