The year 1975 marked several changes in Rod Stewart\u2019s life that would ultimately shape the next years of his stellar career.\u00a0 Having just signed a new deal with Warner Bros., Rod became one of many British rockers who finally had enough of paying outlandish taxes at home and headed for greener pastures stateside, where he settled in L.A.\u00a0 It was also the year that the Faces were no more, as Ronnie Wood had by then already toured with and was now a full-time Rolling Stone.\u00a0 Rod, of course, was happy because since his debut LP (An Old Raincoat Won\u2019t Ever Let You Down<\/i>) was released, his solo career had gone from strength to strength and was not his primary source of income anyway.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
For a lot of folks, it was the release of Stewart\u2019s sixth solo album that was the beginning of the end of Rod\u2019s credibility and reputation as one of the great singer-songwriters of his generation.\u00a0 I actually think these thoughts to be premature at the time because he would go on to release at least one more great album (A Night On The Town<\/i>) and throughout the \u201880s he did manage to write and record some fairly solid material.\u00a0 So despite the horrid glam-influenced cover, Atlantic Crossing <\/i>remains a solid rock album that contains some fine rock songs and as always, some beautiful ballads.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Produced by Tom Dowd and featuring the likes of The Memphis Horns and members of Booker T & The MG\u2019s, this album still sounds crisp and funky in all the right places, and Stewart\u2019s vocals are simply brilliant throughout the record.\u00a0 All these songs are superbly crafted, and Rod made an inspired choice by having a \u201cfast side\u201d for the rockers and a \u201cslow side\u201d for the ballads, which I love.\u00a0 He obviously loved it, too, and repeated the pattern on his next two albums.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The fast side is first as the record kicks off with a Stewart original, the fiery \u201cThree Time Loser,\u201d which sets the tone for the party atmosphere of side one.\u00a0 \u201cAlright For An Hour\u201d is another of Rod\u2019s songs and it sounds a lot like the reggae-rock tracks that permeated Ronnie Wood\u2019s brilliant LP of the previous year, Now Look<\/i>.\u00a0 One of my favorite songs that Rod has ever written \u201cAll In The Name Of Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll\u201d adds some punch to the first half of the album and also sports a great infectious riff.\u00a0 Next up is a wonderful cover of the soul classic \u201cDrift Away\u201d that Rod clearly loved singing and boy, does it show; he really was in the zone back then.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cStone Cold Sober\u201d (penned by Stewart and Steve Cropper) closes out the fast side of the record with style and remains one of Rod\u2019s most fun album tracks; Cropper also lays down some great slide-guitar licks for good measure.\u00a0 As great as the first half is, though, it was the slow second half that gave Rod some more massive hit singles and helped this record sell millions all over the world.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Starting with the sublime \u201cI Don\u2019t Want To Talk About It\u201d was a good choice because as good as it is, what follows is equally inspiring.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s Not The Spotlight\u201d is one of Stewart\u2019s forgotten gems that still happens to be one of his finest ballads ever.\u00a0 The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Barry Goldberg and it perfectly articulates Rod\u2019s life at the time as he was immensely famous and thus became a darling of the tabloids.\u00a0 A wonderful cover of The Isley Brother\u2019s \u201cThis Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)\u201d is far superior to the later version that Stewart scored a hit with in the late \u201880s as a duet with Ronald Isley.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Stewart\u2019s own \u201cStill Love You\u201d is a sweet moment that gives way to the ultimate swan-song \u201cSailing.\u201d\u00a0 Often maligned but never defeated, it has remained a staple of Stewart\u2019s encores ever since its release, and although I\u2019ve probably heard it a little too often over the years, it closes out this album superbly well.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Atlantic Crossing <\/i>became a mammoth hit album for Stewart and in doing so became his second release to top both the US and UK charts, firmly cementing his place as a global superstar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6031],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-42260","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\/42260","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\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42260"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}