THE Faces, a band known mostly for the men who came out of it, are one of the many bands which can be seen as a major influence on The Black Crowes. Kings of swaggering bar room bawd rock and roll, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood found themselves together in the Jeff Beck Group in the late 1960's. Fed up with Beck's uncanny ability to piss off everyone around him and attempt to control every aspect of a band that had become too talented for him to control, Woodie and Rod left to join the Faces. On the way out, though, they stopped briefly to record one of the greatest albums in rock history, "An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down - The Rod Stewart Album". "An Old Raincoat..." which was later reissued under the more simple title, "The Rod Stewart Album" begins with the single finest cover in this writer's personal opinion. One thing I have been accused of is knowing too much about The Rolling Stones, but when you sit down and listen to Rod and Ronnie's version of Street Fighting Man, you need to know the Stones to get the whole picture. The song begins with a railroad acoustic version of the Stones 1968 studio version of Street Fighting Man (you got that?), Woodie plays the licks that tell the tales of a thousand upon thousand feet stomping in protest in the late 1960's. Rod comes in with the lyrics, but with a twist, back to the influence of the original song! Keith Richard's has admitted that Street Fighting Man was a remake - to a degree - of the classic tune, Dancing In The Streets, and if you compare the two songs for only a moment, you will understand. Stewart sings the lyrics of Street Fighting Man to the tune of Dancing In The Street. the effect is fantastic. The band rocks through the song with a bravado that would make an bar maid jump into the nearest man's arms. When the finish the song, you find that that they are only half way to the end. Woodie and Stewart switch gears into an acoustic version of the 1969 live Stones version of Street Fighting Man (you got that?), this time Rod sings Jagger's original tune to the song and rips through one verse after which Woodie takes control in a ludicrous bass solo. This is when it gets really cool! The band jams out from Street Fighting Man into We Love You, a lesser known Stones song that was released originally as a single in 1967. The next song shows Stewart at his heartfelt best. Man Of Constant Sorrow is one of those songs that you would have expected Bob Dylan to sing, but its Rod the Mod, before he was a Mod. The song is a classic acoustic ballad showing Stewart open his heart for you to hear. It is followed up with the Blues based bar rock tune Blind Prayer. Again, Stewart shows exactly what a singer can be caple of when he puts his heart behind the lyrics. When Rod sings about something sad, the whole room feels a sad cloud with the silverest of linings come over them, and like the two previous songs, Handbags And Gladrags does just that. Sincerity was Rod's calling card in his Faces days, and the first half of the album ends with that note at the forefront. Rod, knows, and Ronnie brings out the nest in him. Side 2 of the album begins with the title track, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down, another bar room stomp that tells a simple story about a raincoat and keeping dry. The song is a reminder of times and songs that seemed simpler and made more of an impression without the hand of a meddling producer trying to make his mark or reach a certain group. Like the rest of the album, this is nothing more than a spectacular song, and if the listener can't dig it, Ronnie and Rod couldn't give a shit. It's their music, and if you are lucky enough to be able to enjoy it, then you have been reached, and if not, you have been left outside with a raincoat that let you down. The tempo speeds up a bit only to slow down in less than a minute on the next song, I Wouldn't Ever Change A Thing. Rod tells another story from the heart and holds back for a moment before he has a conversation with someone (who?- look it up, I'm not an archivist!). The song rotates back and forth with Stewart's monologue and dialogue. This really is a classic tune and it really is one of those songs that is just plain fun to hear. Not fun in a Bee Gee's awful cheese variety of fun, but fun in a late Beatles, Abbey Road kind of fun. Cindy's Lament and Dirty Old close out the album in classic Stewart and Wood style. The final song is the most fitting end to an album that ran the gamut of feelings someone can experience in the local pub. The album cruises you into the night and leaves you waiting for more, yearning for another Rod Stewart album, or better yet… A Faces record! |