Rod Stewart: Time
Details
Genre: RockPros:
Rod Stewart composes and records new music - what a reliefCons:
The ultimate drawback is its desperate need to feel safeRod the Mod returns with slate of original music, still riding the gentle waves of comforting AC rock
Rod the Mod returns with slate of original music, still riding the gentle waves of comforting AC rock
He’s not the savvy transgenerational blue-eyed soul rock star that once paraded through a wide array of diverse tunes like “Maggie May,” “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Young Turks,” but the 68-year old Rod Stewart isn’t letting bygones or a decade-long Great American Songbook series get in the way of his first major attempt at culling new music. He’s surrounded by a fleet of co-writers, mostly from Stewart’s own touring band. For the most part, Stewart – who produces the album on his own – relies heavily on the saccharine comforts of AC to hold the disc up.
“She Makes Me Happy” tries to evoke Mumford & Sons folk in a Riverdance introit. The song’s title is repeated notoriously as Stewart finds an endless pool of sweet-nothings to describe a love worthy of tossing out old habits: “I must change my way/No more late nights out.” It’s not what we really expected from Stewart, especially on such a serendipitous New Age opener. Stewart politely redeems himself with guitar-brimming midtempo gems like “Can’t Stop Me Now,” “Beautiful Morning” and the Rolling Stones-ish “Finest Woman.” Those offerings are very far and in between, as Stewart opt to ride the carpool lane of safe, tepid balladry. The romance of strings seems to clutter much of the easy-listening offerings (“It’s Over,” “Pure Love”) with a David Foster over-poshness, while Americana takes over the more laidback Southern-spiced cuts (“Make Love to Me Tonight,” “Corrina Corrina”). And then there’s “Sexual Religion,” which sounds like it’s been caught between the crosshairs of ‘90’s electronica and a Bible study on the Book of Solomon. But even that gives Stewart something bold to play with. At best, Time is a beautiful album to hear and a pleasant surprise for those anxiously searching for something fresh from the dry-rub gritty Brit singer. It doesn’t unveil anything everlasting or anything worthy of writing home about, but it’s a welcoming step in a more productive direction.
