Comments on: ROD STEWART - “Sailing”

By: Chris Brown

Chris Brown — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:26:26 +0000

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip?

Two Men, A Drum Machine And Trumpet?

By: wwolfe

wwolfe — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:17:02 +0000

In answer to your question as to why rock produced anthems in a way and to a degree unlike any other genre, I think it’s because it was treated as a quasi-religion in a way and to a degree that was unlike any other genre. Having grown up during the 1970s, my sense is that this approach to rock probably peaked during the first half of that decade.

By: Snif

Snif — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:24:01 +0000

Fun Boy Three and Bananarama

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:54:01 +0000

Indeed, combining posts 84 and 86, I can remember watching an interview with Marc Almond, where he talked about experiencing his sexual awakening choreographed to the movements of ‘Low’.

By: crag

crag — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Of course one of Rod’s contemporaries that we will be discussing very shortly released two albums in ‘77 that were state of the art in terms of one side being uptempo and the other being “chill out”…

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:08:17 +0000

Chris @ 83 : Back in the day it was equivalent of a ” chill ” CD . And you’d party to other side. I believe there are still
CD’s like this today.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:29:46 +0000

The first Mary Jane Girls album has a slow and an uptempo side - clearly designed to be listened to by couples, who would improvise their actions around the music.

By: Chris Brown

Chris Brown — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:26:15 +0000

@82 - Well, you’re not allowed to use a iPod at takeoff. Which is probably quite a good reason to have that album on it IMO!
I don’t really grasp the idea of putting fast songs on one side and slow ones in the other - doesn’t it just make the record sound more boring than it is? Mind you, the most recent act to do that were Counting Crows so that problem would hardly arise…

The Pipes And Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:55:26 +0000

I love this song and ” Atlantic Crossing “.

At the time of it’s release on vinyl it had all the slow songs ( ballads ) on one side and all the fast songs ( mostly rock ) on the other. I always saw that as a representation of USA - UK.

If you are ever taking a plane somewhere, make sure this is on your ipod at take off.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:20:26 +0000

Oh!

Chas and Dave and Tottenham Hotspur!
Status Quo and Manchester United!
Fat Boys and the Beach Boys?

By: SteveM

SteveM — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:06:31 +0000

Rod has obviously been atoning for Maggie May all these years with his lusting after girls young enough to be his daughter.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:51:19 +0000

Not all of us, Lee.

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:28:30 +0000

I can’t believe you all like ‘Tonight’s The Night’ - “Loosen up that pretty French gown” “Spread your wings and let me come inside” and all that is like bad soft porn. You want to rush in to the song and tell the poor virgin girl to get the hell out of there.

Teddy Pendergrass could probably get away with it but Rod just sounds like a nasty old lech.

By: crag

crag — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:01:37 +0000

By “young lady” i meant “girl in her 20’s” not “school girl”…

By: Erithian

Erithian — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:53:06 +0000

MC/Tom (#67-68) – did I actually say that the shark-jump came with the number one in question? I think it was round about the time he rhymed “Buenos Aires” with “what the fare is”!

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:44:57 +0000

No, I just think of Gary Glitter.

By: crag

crag — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:23:52 +0000

I agree w/ you on the “grandad” front, pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør. When you’re 21 and see a guy in his late 50s cavorting w/ some nubile young lady you think its the very definition of wrong. When you see the same thing when you’re in your mid-30s you think “Yes! There is hope for the future after all!”

By: Matthew H

Matthew H — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:23:33 +0000

Well, Cave can voice it with a bit of wit and some winning sleaze - as well as knowing how it looks, it seems to me. Rod just thinks he’s “still got it”.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:17:24 +0000

This was the reasoning behind GRINDERMAN doing so well on critics’ lists I believe, though obviously the crits prefer Nick Cave’s play-acting the old goat to the real thing represented by Rod the Dirty Old Sod.

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:14:24 +0000

To up the disappointing controversy level on this thread, I am going to propose that there comes a time (for popular commnentators as for all humanity) when the justified cry “stop leering, grandad!” suddenly and unaccountably mutates into “hurrah that leering, fellow grandad, go not quiet into that bleak night etc” (adapt phrasing for gender and/or sexuality obv)

translation: i no longer find what once appalled me abt r.stewart quite so appalling

By: crag

crag — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:00:22 +0000

I’d agree that “Georgie” is a good record and is certainly the last time Rod sounded even vaguely committed to his material IMO but I still dont think it compares to his early 70’s work in quality and view it as a blip in the downward spiral. “Sailing” is definitely where the rot began to set in.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:40:28 +0000

Mention of ‘Tonight’s The Night’ brings back the unwelcome memory of ITV’s 1998 ‘An Audience with Rod Stewart’ and his performance of the song as a duet with Emma Bunton - stop leering, grandad!

Mention of ‘The Killing of Georgie’ brings back the ludicrous memory of a Rod documentary where he’s being being filmed on a yacht, wearing a captain’s cap, tipsy, and surrounded by a lot of equally silly people, reminiscing about how “brave” he’d been to release it.

It’s funny how with Elton John, I always think “Hurray! Good old Elton! What a twit!”, but with Rod Stewart I always just think “Oh, what a TWIT!” in an exasperated way.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:27:09 +0000

That’s enough Rod number ones talk - long-eared Ed.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:08:00 +0000

BUNNY BOILERS AHOY!!!

Actually the “shark jump” to which Erithian refers is, perversely but predictably, my favourite of Rod’s many number ones…

By: Erithian

Erithian — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:28:12 +0000

I disagree, I don’t think there was a notable drop in quality until a couple of years after this. 1976 saw “The Killing of Georgie”, the song he says he’s most proud of and rightly so, and “Tonight’s the Night” which might have fed on his rock-royalty persona but was a damn good song. Even the controversial number one in ’77 was a fine record IMHO. The shark-jump came a year or so later…