A Night On The Town <\/i>was Rod Stewart\u2019s seventh solo LP, and all but one of them (the horrid Smiler <\/i>from \u201874) could rightfully be considered classics.\u00a0 It certainly was an impressive run, but like all good things it did have to end, and when it did, it was rather spectacular.\u00a0 But more on that later, because I don\u2019t want to detract from the fact that this album is on a par with Rod\u2019s best and it is definitely the last time that he cut a truly great album.\u00a0 Produced again by Tom Dowd, A Night On The Town <\/i>would become Rod\u2019s fifth consecutive number one album in the UK and it generated massive sales around the rest of the world.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Now based in L.A., Stewart employed an array of local session guys including Lee Sklar, Willie Weeks, Steve Cropper, and David Foster to bring these songs to life, and it\u2019s no wonder then that the record has a slightly more American West Coast feel to it than its predecessors.\u00a0 There were more hit singles, and following on from the format of both a \u201cslow\u201d and \u201cfast\u201d side on the previous Atlantic Crossing <\/i>LP, it was employed for this one, too.\u00a0 Again the ballads are on side one and the rockers appear on side two, and again I\u2019d have to say it\u2019s the ballads that win out, but only marginally.\u00a0 Rod was really a brilliant songwriter and his ballads on this album are superbly crafted and beautifully performed.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Opener \u201cTonight\u2019s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)\u201d is a stone-cold classic that finds the \u201870s sex-symbol in a highly seductive mood (\u201cSpread your wings and let me come inside\u201d). A wonderful cover of Cat Steven\u2019s \u201cThe First Cut Is The Deepest\u201d is stunning in every way and it\u2019s more proof that Stewart was just as comfortable reinterpreting other\u2019s songs as he was singing his own.\u00a0 Two more Stewart originals close out the first half of the record, and although \u201cFool For You\u201d is a sweet spot, it\u2019s the second that is the album\u2019s true highlight and to this date remains Rod Stewart\u2019s masterpiece.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In 1974, a close friend of Rod\u2019s was killed on a New York street at night in an unprovoked attack that was carried out due to the fact that Rod\u2019s mate was gay, although it is intimated within the song that it was actually in fact a robbery gone wrong. Rod wrote of his friend\u2019s life and death in \u201cThe Killing Of Georgie (Parts I and II)\u201d and it remains Rod\u2019s most profoundly effective moment on record.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The last track that Rod penned for the record kicks off side two with style as \u201cThe Balltrap\u201d offers up more insight into Stewart\u2019s sex, drugs, and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll lifestyle.\u00a0 \u201cPretty Flamingo\u201d is a laidback, guitar-driven cover of the old Manfred Mann hit from the previous decade and I think it was definitely an inspired choice for this record.\u00a0 \u201cBig Bayou\u201d is another cover of a great old song, and although there is nothing wrong with this version, my favorite is still Ronnie Wood\u2019s take that appeared on his Now Look <\/i>LP.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wild Side Of Life\u201d is self-explanatory and Rod gives it a very Stones-y arrangement that he had a habit of doing every now and then in those days.\u00a0 Although the second side is the \u201cfast\u201d one, the record closes out with a ballad called \u201cTrade Winds\u201d that is unquestionably a fine song, but it\u2019s just an odd fit when tacked onto the end of a set of rockers.\u00a0 Anyhow, Rod was in such rare form back then that he could do as he pleased and it in no way takes away from what a brilliant record this thing still is all of these years later.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Rod\u2019s recorded career started to show signs of trouble with his half-baked follow-up LP the next year, the so-so Foot Loose And Fancy Free<\/i>.\u00a0 By the time he dropped the disco inspired Blondes Have More Fun<\/i>, <\/i>there was no going back, and the rest of his studio albums since that one have always been very hit and miss and never again as brilliant or inspired as his string of \u201870s classics that ended with A Night On The Town<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6031],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-42261","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rod-stewart","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42261","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=42261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42261"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}