Japanese Code

Rod Stewart made a ballyhooed returned to songwriting in 2013 when he released Time, a collection of songs inspired by his 2012 memoir Rod: The Autobiography. Stewart's reinvigorated muse wasn't a fleeting thing. Blood Red Roses is the second sequel to Time (the fine Another Country appeared in 2015) and, like its progenitor, it's billed as a "personal" project. "Personal" is usually code for introspection, but that's an adjective that simply doesn't describe Blood Red Roses, even if it is undeniably a record that's personal, reflecting precisely where Rod Stewart is in 2018, right down to how he dedicates a song to a city he's worked in for several years…

Mirror Mirror sets the tone from track one with a supposedly reworked version of previous hit "I'm Not in Love" that cannot be distinguished from the original. While new tracks peal off some pleasant moments, songs flashing the group's trademark lyrical wit generally tend toward musical vaporware, while those revealing an occasional glimmer of instrumental creativity go nowhere fast on the songwriting.