One of Sir Rod Stewart's best albums is celebrating its 50th birthday these days. Storyteller congratulates: Happy Birthday SMILER!
Smiler is the fifth studio album in Rod Stewart's long career and arguably one of his best. It was released on 4 October 1974, a few days before the record label Mercury Records announced the release date with the release of the first single Farewell. Smiler contains a total of twelve songs; in addition to Farewell, the track Mine For Me, written by Paul and Linda McCartney, was also released as a single (November 1974).
Smiler reached number one in the UK and number 13 in the US charts. In the UK, the album entered the charts for the first time two weeks after its release and managed to stay at number one for a fortnight and in the top ten for a further six weeks. The album is still one of the most popular fan albums of all time. And this is no coincidence, as Smiler was also very well received in the media. Rolling Stone wrote in an initial review in December 1974:
‘Smiler contains what you'd expect by now: several energetic new examples of the Stewart/Wood worldview, a couple of steamy renditions of classic R&B standards, a sentimental soundalike of Rod's smash Maggie May, at least two boring instrumental interludes that average less than a minute, plus at least one good old Dylan song and maybe a ballad or two. That must be Rod's idea of a well-rounded pop album ... Yet the material that stands out on this largely forgettable new album is the forlorn, old-fashioned, thumping and tinny English rock & roll that Stewart and his mates got their start on.’
And the fans were also enthusiastic about Rod's album, and this enthusiasm has continued to this day. Also, and perhaps precisely because Smiler was Stewart's last really robust album before he plunged into the sailing era ten months later with Atlantic Crossing.
‘One of his first, then still dirty albums. You can still feel that he loved his music,’ wrote one fan. ‘For me, one of Stewart's best LPs of all time. Great songs, ballads, as well as rockers he is 1a’, added Frank from Germany. And Chris from England recommends: ‘After a few listens, Smiler will make you smile. Listen to it a few times and then it fits - for me Smiler is even better than his two previous albums’.
Kommentar schreiben