(Top40 Charts/ Universal
Music Enterprises) - The first single disc compilation to include all of Rod Stewart's biggest hits and most significant recordings of the '70s, the 16-selection The Definitive Collection -
Rod Stewart 1969-1978 (Mercury/UMe), released August 31, 2009, brings together his best on both the Mercury and Warner Bros. labels for the first time. One of the era's greatest singers, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Stewart today remains a rock icon.
In 1969, post-Jeff Beck Group and while still in Faces, Stewart signed a solo deal with Mercury. His self-titled debut that year included "Handbags And Gladrags." The following year, the Top 40 "Gasoline Alley" was the title track of his second album, which also featured covers of Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now" and Elton John's "Country Comfort." But his breakthrough was fueled the next year: Every Picture Tells A Story was the first album to simultaneously reach No 1 in the U.S. and U.K. Its gold No 1 "Maggie May" b/w a cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe" also achieved that same double. Adding "Mandolin Wind," a soulful cover of the Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" and the title track, Every Picture Tells A Story became one of the most beloved albums of the day.
1972's Never A Dull Moment, with "You Wear It Well," "I'd Rather Go Blind," Jimi Hendrix's "Angel" and "Twistin' The Night Away," Stewart's tribute to Sam Cooke, reached No 2 U.S. Following 1974's Smiler, his fifth Mercury disc, Stewart exited for Warner Bros. and also moved to Los Angeles.
In 1976, he topped the charts for eight weeks with the gold ballad "Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)" from his second Warners album, A Night On The Town, which went to No 2 and platinum. 1977's Foot Loose & Fancy Free reached No 2 as well but was triple platinum, thanks to the gold No 4-charting "You're In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)." The next year's triple platinum No 1 Blondes Have More Fun...Or Do They? scored with the platinum No 1 disco anthem "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Though Stewart had his ups and downs for some time thereafter, most recently he's enjoyed an extraordinary renaissance with his Great American Songbook series. Yet the decade of the '70s surely marked the apex of his career, a decade captured on The Definitive Collection - Rod Stewart 1969-1978.
