Song of the Day 3/2: Rod Stewart, “Gasoline Alley”
It’s hard to remember now, after decades of listening to him sing shlock, that Rod Stewart was once an artist who mattered. He could rock as raucously as the Rolling Stones with the Faces, but his standout skill was his sensitive way with the ballads and the folk-based songs on his solo albums. “Gasoline Alley” kicked off his second solo LP with an elegy for his childhood home that sounds like an old Scottish folk tune, a feeling heightened by the acoustic guitar and mandolin that dominate the track.
That’s the second video below. The first one is something I found while looking for the album track — a grainy film of Stewart in 1971 singing it a cappella in a Hamburg, Germany, apartment courtyard, taking advantage of the natural acoustics and early-morning hour to show off his pipes. But what’s really great is what he does when he finishes, which is the essence of Rod as he was when he mattered.
“Gasoline Alley” is still on Stewart’s set list, only now he sings it in Las Vegas.
Love those stovepipe pants! Actually “Mandolin Wind” was quite a folky song as well. Too bad about those “Great American Standards” recordings!
Saw the old guy in concert a couple of times last year. Fortunately, not in Vegas! He still puts on a good show, although the backup band and singers have to take a lot of credit for that. The 78th. Fraser Highlanders pipe band opened for him in one of the shows; Cindy Lauper in the other.
British rock used to be influenced just as much by ancient Celtic music as the blues; it got less interesting once the blues pushed folk aside. Stewart’s early albums were wonderful in blending a rock rhythm section with traditional acoustic instruments mandolin, fiddle and guitar.
He was a particularly sensitive interpreter of folk artists. His “Only a Hobo” is the standard by which all other covers of it are measured. He owns Tim Harden’s “Reason to Believe.” He gives Dylan’s mournful “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” a jaunty fiddle accompaniment, anticipating his true love’s return rather than lamenting her absence.
I guess I’m saying that he didn’t turn to disco because of his musical sensibilities. It’s just that’s where the money was.