Rod Stewart The Studio Albums

There is a Rod Stewart collection for every type of fan. Despite its lazy title, the 19-track Seventies Collection contains some of Stewart's finest country-tinged, pre-overproduced moments, including "Man of Constant Sorrow," "Mandolin Wind," "You Wear It Well," "Maggie Mae," and "Handbags & Gladrags." There are better, more comprehensive anthologies of the era out there like Reason to Believe: The Complete Mercury Studio Recordings, but for someone just looking for a little road trip fix, you would be hard-pressed to beat this little morsel. Listeners who came into the Stewart fold in reverse through his Great American Songbook albums won't know what hit them.

A two-disc anthology of Rod Stewart's early Mercury recordings, which, in conjunction with the albums he recorded with the Faces, are inarguably his finest (nothing from the Faces records is included). Most of the highlights of his terrific first four albums are here – "Maggie May," "You Wear It Well," "Handbags and Gladrags," "Gasoline Alley" – as well as selections from the lukewarm Smiler, a live album recorded with the Faces, and a couple of rare B-sides.

Sir Rod Stewart’s rekindled love of songwriting grows even stronger on his brand-new studio album, The Tears of Hercules. This is Stewart’s fourth new album of original songs since 2013 – and his 31st album to date - and for this latest collection, Stewart wrote nine of the 12 songs, including the first single, “One More Time.” In addition to the new tracks, The Tears of Hercules includes covers of Marc Jordan, Johnny Cash, and more. This is a project close to Rod Stewart’s heart, especially the song “Touchline,” which he dedicated to his father, who taught him and his brothers to love football, a tradition Sir Rod has passed down to his sons. Rod Stewart is one of the best-selling artists in the history of recorded music, with an estimated 250 million records and singles sold worldwide. His signature voice, style, and songwriting have transcended popular music genres, from rock, folk, soul, R&B, and even the Great American Songbook; making him one of the few stars to enjoy chart-topping albums throughout every decade of his career.

Mercury/Polygram began recycling their Rod Stewart recordings almost immediately after he left the label for Warner. Rebound's The Ballad Album and its companion, The Rock Album, are simply '90s versions of such compilations as Sing It Again Rod. And, like that record, it's enjoyable despite its haphazard collection simply because Stewart's Mercury records were so good. There are a couple of odd choices here – his take of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Man)" is strangely misguided – but for the most part, the collection is quite enjoyable, thanks to such masterpieces as "Reason to Believe," "Mandolin Wind," "Angel," "Girl from the North Country," "Handbags and Gladrags," "Country Comforts," and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time." The original albums are still preferable to budget-line compilations, but casual fans will certainly enjoy this disc without reservations.