Every Picture Tells A Story

Excellent cd great sound. No damage perfect

The older lady I bought them for was very pleased

One of the greatest albums of the rock era, Every picture Tells a Story was the album that established Rod Stewart as a superstar who has had one of the longest careers in rock music. The album was the culmination of his solo work that had begun with The Rod Stewart Album on Mercury in late 1969, and continued with Gasoline Alley in the summer of 1970. With these albums Rod created his own sound, a mixture of folk, rock' n' roll, blues and soul that sounded basically acoustic even when using electric guitars, bass and organ in the mix of acoustic instruments. No one else was doing anything like this and the only somewhat similar sound would be Bob Dylan in 1965 and with The Band and perhaps Fairport Convention. The result was a raw and unpolished sound that evolved in these albums as the perfect accompaniment to Rod's equally rough and sandpapery voice.That voice; none other like it. You always know when it's him and he pretty much always sounded that way. To those who did know him before this album, he was the voice of The Faces, and before that the voice on the harder and bluesy numbers on The Jeff Beck Group's first two albums; on those two a real shouter. And if you have any of the collections that contain some early rarities you know even then, he sounded like Rod Stewart. There have been other ragged voices, but none with the effect of Rod's. How he does it is a mystery. Sinatra would read the lyrics of a song as if they were a play and act them out. Rod Stewart seems to get deep inside the lyrics somehow so they flow through him and come out with a depth and sincerity beyond a mere vocalist's intonation. It's a mystery.Everything he had done before came miraculously together in this album, the band perfectly together, the material a perfect mix of folk, rock, country and soul and the singer giving his all in every song. It became a monster of a success, reaching number one and becoming one of the year's biggest albums. From the rocking opening of the title song through the delicate breeziness of Mandolin Wind to the intense soulfulness and fully rocking Faces backup of the Temptations' hit (I Know) I'm Losing You, every song is unique and memorable. It was one of those albums whose huge success was matched by its artistry.It's no surprise that an album like this contained a single that was one of the biggest hits of the decade and even of the whole era, and it's also no surprise that the single had its own rather miraculous story. Maggie May was almost dropped from the album since it had no chorus to hook a listener, had downer lyrics and was long on top of it all. But then someone noted the album would be awfully short without it and there was no time to record new material. Tim Hardin's Reason To Believe was chosen as the single and Maggie May was thrown on the "B"-side. Then the Legend began. The "A"-side got some airplay, then a disc jockey in Cleveland played Maggie May and there was a big response and others followed suit. By Fall it was one of the biggest hits of all time.Maggie May was one of those hits, like Downtown, like Satisfaction, like Hey Jude, that transcend even the term Monster Hit and become practically a phenomenon of its own. You couldn't go anywhere in the Fall of '71 and not hear Maggie May. Everybody was playing it: AM Top 40 radio, AM Adult-Contemporary radio and FM where the announcer didn't talk through Martin Quitenton's beautiful classical guitar introduction. Every friend seemed to have the album. And it had one other special thing going for it. More than most any other big hit song, Maggie May seemed to go with, accompany and even encapsulate the season of the year when it was a hit. It was luminous. The country fiddles, acoustic guitars, organ, Rod's voice and the exuberant mandolin playing of Ray Jackson all created the perfect Autumn song, a song that went so well with sunny October days, autumn colored leaves and chilly nights that it's never been equaled in this way. The song sounded like a Harvest Festival in full swing, despite the unhappy lyrics.The album sounds as fresh today as it ever did, and probably always will because it went with a sound that was already old in its way and avoided anything that was new and hip in 1971. True, it so magnified Rod's career and presence that it led to the breakup of The Faces, but that was bound to happen anyway. His long career would have many high points but I don't think he ever topped this.

Love the CD.

Fantastic album, great great great songs. This review is for the vinyl record only. Made in the Czech Republic, that's okay, but when they put it together, "Amazing Grace", which is actually the ending of "That's Alright (Mama)" and "Henry", which is the intro to "Maggie May" both play twice! That's because they included both as separate songs, and they are still part of the original song, too...confusing. However, the sound quality is very good, very thick vinyl, songs are great. I just consider this LP an "extended version" because I really don't mind listening to those two extra inclusions, and I'm not sure if there's another way to get this new.

a great memorable addition to my musical collection

Awesome tape, arrived in time. You would swear this is a brand new cassette. It looks and plays great. Kudos to this company.

Rod Stewart made quite a splash in the rock world with his first two solo albums. By the time this third set arrived he was poised to make it big in on the charts. And he did that on both fronts with this album and then some. As everyone knows,because of his public persona from the late 70's on Rod Stewart became something of an easy punchline in terms of once respected stars having sold out to the n'th degree. All the same,it's obvious this album is a product of the time before any of that started to happen. Produced in much the same manner and with the same basic personel as Gasoline Alley any rough edges in the arrangements there were cleaned up for this album that basically presented Rod in the same types of settings as he'd been before and,also matched to more carefully crafted originals. The title song opens the affair with a strident five minute plus folk/soul rocker that set's the stage for the proceedings. Once again Rod's talents as an interpretive vocalist are exercised here on wonderfully polished yet also tough grooving versions of "Seem's Like A Long Time" and Dylan's "Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time". A mix of instrumentation ranging from folksy acoustic guitars,bubbling and funky basslines as well as the use of mandolins all combine for a strong rhythm section that wraps itself like a blanket around Rod's voice. That effect also makes itself noticible when the tempo goes up on versions of "That's All Right",coupled with the closing chorus of "Amazing Grace" and,of course "Maggie May",the tune that put Rod Stewart on the map as a hitmaker. Interesting that would wind up happening on an album not exactly intent on producing hit singles necessarily. "Mandolin Wind" is another excellent song on this album,a folksier turn of style again only unlike before the grittiness present in his previous forrays into this style is replaced with a more polished sheen. On a cover of Norman Whitfields Temptations classic "(I Know) I'm Losing You" Rod not only works the tune to death but turns up the funk even further with some pointed funk/rock touches and closes the album with a breezy countrified rock rendition of Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe". Despite his later reputation everything people usually say about this album is absolutely true and then some. It represents Rod Stewart's early career promise and ambition very well and even if there are mild hints lyrically of the free spirited decedence to come it's presented in the most appealing possible of ways.