Rod & Woody

Rod and Woody

Remaking my Faces travel CD and also putting together my Rod Stewart [Mercury Years] CDs for the car. As I have mentioned before, the two are inextricably linked, along with Ron Wood’s I’ve Got My Own Album to Do [1974] and the first two Jeff Beck Group records.

   I got the Faces ‘Box set” Five Guys Walk Into a Bar kind of by accident. Me and Brother Nate went to the closing of the short lived Virgin store up on Central and it caught my eye. I asked Nate and he was all over it “Man, you’ve GOT to have this.” At the time I had a Best Of which I liked most of [Borstal Boys – no thanks.]  but not the deeper catalog. In spite of an unnecessary 3^rd version of Miss Judy’s Farm instead of another great track like Fly In the Ointment and/or Nobody Knows and using the short version of Maybe I’m Amazed [although a live take makes up for it] it’s a really, really good set. Of course it’s 4 CDs for a band that only made 4 albums and a poorly done live record, so one could argue for just putting the 4 albums and then a wealth of BBC recordings and rehearsals and out takes. But compiler and keyboardist, the late Ian McLagan [“Mac”] said he sat down and started with Flying, which he followed with On the Beach, Too Bad… following the flow not unlike how I do my own CDs. Also included are some ‘covers’ of Rod and Woody’s  ‘solo’ tunes [more on that in a bit] like Maggie May, Take A Look At the Guy, [I Know] I’m Losing You and Cut Across Shorty, plus the standard rock, blues  and soul that all of the bands of the era cut.

Stewart’s solo albums themselves are full of covers – one part of being on 10 albums in 5 years. Like Joe Cocker, Rod is a wonderful interpreter of other people’s words and Rod’s voice is the only one of a very rare few that can pull off [If Loving You Is Wrong] I Don’t Want To Be Right or [I Know] I’m Losing You. Like David Ruffin, there is just soul in his voice – a soul that can tell you of the pain and sorrow of the breakup or the joy of being with someone who lights up your world or the weariness of the world traveler so far from home.  Rolling Stone once said his solo albums “were defined by two special qualities: warmth, which was redemptive, and modesty, which was liberating. If ever any rocker chose the role of everyman and lived up to it, it was Rod Stewart.” Rod also had the smarts to surround himself with top players for his own records [when he wasn’t using the Faces Ronnie Lane, Mac and Kenny Jones , sometimes credited, sometimes not]. Steamhammer Martin Quittenton and ex-JBG drummer Mickey Waller played huge roles on Every Picture Tells A Story, Never A Dull Moment and Smiler. And that’s not Nicky Hopkins on the piano, it’s the multi-talented Pete Sears [soon to join Jefferson Starship].

Then there is “Woody.” My beloved musical mentor J. Michael Leone of opined that Wood was the “absolute worst choice that the Rolling Stones could have made to replace Mick Taylor.” Which I get. Woody is not a ‘lead guitar’ player in the style of Taylor who could reel off incredibly beautiful licks at the drop of a hat [see Time Waits For No One]. But conversely, I don’t think Keith Richards and Taylor had that magical weaving that Keith loves – two guitars weaving in and around each other in a way that you can’t tell who is playing what. Having said that, there is no doubt that what Woody said in the Stones Shine A Light movie is right – “He [Keith] KNOWS I am [the better guitarist].”  One has only to put on a track like the Faces My Fault or Bad N Ruin to hear what Woody can do. Ironically, it’s one of Wood’s rare turns on the lead mike on the recently commercially featured Ooh La La.  I hope it drives some more folks to check out the Faces and discover some of the goodies waiting there.

Of course it couldn’t last. Eventually Rod killed the Faces, moved to L.A. [Atlantic Crossing] for nicer weather and lower taxes and freed Woody to join the Stones. The Stones auditioned a lot opf players – Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher [neither of whom would put up with Jagger or Keith for long – it’s much nicer being the boss than a side man], Eric Clapton [who famously told Woody when he arrived next “I’m a much better player than YOU” to Which Woody replied “No argument – but you’re gonna have to live with the guys too!” Woody was right, Clapton would have been dead in short order.] and almost settled on Muscle Shoals session man Wayne Perkins. But in the end, it was Woody notably for being British. He basically passed the audition as a sideman for the Stones 1975 tour [between Faces tours mind you].

“I wanted someone that was easy to get on with, you know, that wasn't too difficult and that was a good player and was used to playing onstage," Jagger said. "It's quite a lot to ask of someone to come and do a big American tour with a band like the Stones, you know? I mean, not that I think the Stones are any really big deal, but it tends to be a bit of a paralyzing experience for people.”

Rod never did capture the same spirit of the Faces entirely – Hot Legs kind of does – had a few good not great but better than Smiler records in the latter half of the 70s, did that disco song , had some more hits in the 80s but by the 2000s he was not much more than a nostalgia act cutting oldies and standards

Wood kicked the Stones in the ass and they did Some Girls [very good] and Emotional Rescue [has its moments] in short order. He acted as ‘lukewarm water’ between the fire and ice of the Glimmer Twins through the choppy waters of the 80s and was finally ‘made’ in 1990. [Up until then he was just a ‘hired gun.’] He also did sessions painted, partied and put out a solo album every decade.  But his job is basically riding shotgun to Keith and being a foil onstage for Mick Jagger.

But there’s still the music of that magical period. Tthe 4 Faces , 5 Rod Stewart and Wood’s own 2 records [I’ve Got My Own Album To Do and Now Look]  in a six year blast.  It can’t happen again – no record company would let anyone over expose themselves like that anymore and one supposes that one must crank it out while you can while you’re young.  But it’s all there on the vinyl or CD or streaming service. I would recommend listening on a real set of actual speakers placed around a room or a real set of 70s or 80’s era headphones like my ancient but trusty Realistic [i.e. Radio Shack] Nova 40s. This music is meant to move air and let the sound breathe, not be compressed and jammed down your ears through ‘ear buds.’  Let it breathe, let it bleed, go ride the music.