Rod Stewart's album SMILER is currently getting a lot of flack: Rolling Stone has placed Rod's 1974 longplayer on its list of the most disappointing albums of all time.
The trade magazine was aware in advance of the explosive nature of this list that its assessment could well trigger a huge shitstorm in fan circles and initially asked for understanding. ‘Before various fan armies make plans to set fire to our offices. Or unleash SWAT teams on our homes. We absolutely love some of these albums. An album can be seen as disappointing the moment it comes out. And be re-evaluated forever later,’ the magazine tried to calm the waters a little beforehand.
In the specific case of the SMILER album, RS explains: ‘When you factor in Rod's work with the Faces at the same time, you could assume that every new Rod release you bought in the record shop would reach the level of previous releases,’ the magazine wrote.
‘That expectation ended forever with the release of SMILER in 1974. With the sole exceptions of a tender cover of Bob Dylan's ‘Girl From the North Country’ and a rollicking rendition of ‘Sweet Little Rock and Roller’, nothing on Smiler works,’ rages Rolling Stone.
And further: ‘The low point is a cover version of the Elton John super-deep cut “Let Me Be Your Car”, which is just as stupid as it sounds. Not to mention his decision to rework Carole King's ‘(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman’ into ‘(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Man’’.
SMILER came 26th in the ranking of the 50 most disappointing albums, a list that also includes such greats as Paul McCartney & Wings, U2, Fleetwood Mac, George Harrison, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. Rolling Stone voted John Lennon's SOME TIME IN NW YORK CITY, which was released in 1972 as the follow-up to IMAGINE, as the most disappointing album of all time at number 1.
The complete Rolling Stone list can be found here:
And now it's your turn? What is your opinion of the SMILER album? Do you agree with Rolling Stone? Or do you have a completely different opinion? Send us an e-mail to storytellerrodstewart@outlook.com or use the comment function below. We look forward to hearing from you.
Kommentar schreiben