With his
Sam Cooke
phrasing and rough-as-sandpaper voice,
Rod Stewart
has been both brilliant (
"Maggie May"
) and shameless (
"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
) during his four-decade career, and if he now seems well past his sell-by date, there's no denying that his distinctive voice is a pop culture wonder. This uneven best-of collection drawn from
Stewart
's often striking
Mercury Records
era (1969 to 1972) lacks key tracks like the epic
"Every Picture Tells a Story,"
although it does have
's wise cover of
Tim Hardin
's
"Reason to Believe,"
the wonderfully ragged
"Cut Across Shorty,"
and, of course,
"Maggie May."
This will do for casual fans, perhaps, but why not just go ahead and get his four
Mercury
albums in their entirety for even more fun? ~ Steve Leggett