With the breakup of The Beatles, no new material from The Who or Rolling Stones and a pair of Dylan albums that peaked and creaked in equal measure, on the surface 1970 looks a strange year for rock.
But, as ever, that is only part of the story. Elsewhere excellence is being attained by CSN&Y, Van Morrison, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, John and George as solo artists and while there is no doubting the artistic merit of ‘Deja Vu,’ ‘After the Gold Rush,’ ‘All Things Must Pass‘ or ‘Plastic Ono Band,’ no other album from that year, not even ‘Moondance‘ has the warmth and charm of ‘GASOLINE ALLEY‘ by Rod Stewart.
Following up his notable debut set ‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down‘ of the previous year, Stewart (25), had parallel careers of solo artist and that as lead singer of the Faces – a raucous, often slapdash aggregation formed from the remnants of the Small Faces after guitarist/lead singer Steve Marriott departed in late 1968 to form Humble Pie.
After a period considering their options, remaining Small Faces members Kenny Jones (drums), Ian McLagan (keyboards) and Ronnie Lane (bass) decided to continue, dropped the ‘Small‘ and in early 1969 recruited first Ron Wood (guitar) and then Stewart, both of whom had recently left the Jeff Beck Group.
Legend has it the Faces were constituted in a London pub, an apt launching point for a band who quickly gained a reputation for boozy camaraderie.
Between ‘An Old Raincoat‘ and sessions from which ‘Gasoline Alley‘ would emerge, the Faces had released ‘First Step‘ (March 1970) a hesitant album doing little to enhance what critical standing they had at the time.
They did, however, make a decent job of Dylan’s ‘Wicked Messenger‘ – the one track that would have fitted on Stewart’s debut offering – and which paved the way for a Dylan song to be lovingly covered on each of his next four solo albums.
To varying degrees each of the Faces turn up on ‘Gasoline Alley,’ although the most prominent players are Wood, Pete Sears (piano/bass), ex- Jeff Beck drummer Micky Waller, Dick Powell (violin) and Martin Quittenton, (guitar), with whom Stewart would write the worldwide hits ‘Maggie May,’ ‘You Wear It Well‘ and ‘Farewell‘ that were spread across his next three albums.
Wood, Sears, Waller, Powell and Quittenton would form the core group of musicians Stewart would use until decamping to the US for ‘Atlantic Crossing‘ in 1975 where the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section ran rings around them in terms of studio craft. But Stewart would never again find a crew so attuned to his intentions as those used in the 1969-74 era – their spirit and vitality making them the greatest unsung rock band of all time.
Their exuberance and dexterity is immediately evident in the glorious ‘Gasoline Alley‘ title track which opens proceedings. Written by the Stewart/Wood songwriting team, this partnership would contribute songs to the next three ‘Rod’ albums while going on to dominate Faces records. On top of a loose folk-rock melody, Stewart pens a witty, affecting lyric – the protagonist adrift in the world with nobody to blame but himself and needing to ‘swallow all my silly country pride‘ in order to return home.
Indeed, only the hardest of hearts would not be touched by the exuberance heard in the ringing guitars or poignancy of the lyrics. The title according to Stewart was a phrase he heard while chatting to an admirer (female obviously) backstage at a Jeff Beck Group gig in San Francisco – later saying the song was about ‘setting out boldly on a journey, then regretting it and longing to be home.’
On his eight song debut LP, the songs are split evenly between Stewart originals and covers (Rod doing more than anyone to turn Mike d’Abo’s ‘Handbags and Gladrags‘ into a standard), of which the four cover versions are the more memorable.
But of the nine tracks on ‘Gasoline Alley‘ for all there is to commend about the half a dozen songs written by others, it is his own material that truly stands out.
Appearing on side two are ‘Lady Day‘ and ‘Jo’s Lament,’ two brilliant autobiographical pieces (both written by Stewart alone), that reveal him a master wordsmith. Each depicts remorse for feelings of a lover hurt by the end of their affair (possibly the same one), his sentiments regretful and self-admonishing, but expressed with eloquence and simplicity.
Opening ‘Lady Day‘ with the admission ‘North winds have made my face a little older,’ he goes on to say that in meeting again all this time later would like to stay, ‘but you haven’t asked me/still I don’t really expect you to.’ In ‘Jo’s Lament‘ the detail is more specific and in light of early-80s tabloid headlines surrounding ‘Rod’s Love Child‘ (a daughter he had fathered in his late teens, but given up for adoption), the story came as no surprise to those familiar with the lyric:
‘You bore my child but I left you aside, I don’t expect you to forgive.’
Around the time he was writing such superbly drawn pieces, James Taylor and Stephen Stills, to name two, were being acclaimed (rightly so) for their acoustic balladry, but neither were penning songs any better than these – and this from a man who claimed slamming his fingers repeatedly in a filing cabinet was preferable to sitting down and writing lyrics.
After kicking things off with the magnificent title track, there comes a strange move with regard to sequencing as up next is ‘It’s All Over Now‘. To all intents and purposes it should be the closer, given the snatches of ‘Gasoline Alley‘ Wood incorporates into his closing guitar riff and loud blast from a whistle as if signifying the end of a football match.
Performed by the Faces in just about every show they ever played, the song had been a 1965 hit for the Rolling Stones, but comparing the two versions may offer some insight into how the groups’ differed from each other.
In the Stones superb take there is an air of menace and antagonism which suggests time spent in their company would likely as not end in a street fight – yet in the glorious, ramshackle way Rod tackles it, hanging about with the Faces meant being legless in the pub at closing time.
Following on from ‘Wicked Messenger‘ on ‘First Step,’ Rod brings his folk leanings to bear on a delicious ‘Only A Hobo,’ establishing Dylan-covering credentials of the highest order – while ‘My Way of Giving‘ a crisp Small Faces album track (written by Marriott & Lane) from three years before, is reheated with some sterling keyboard work from McLagan and powerhouse performance at the drums by Waller.
Prior to being released on ‘Tumbleweed Connection,’ an agreeable Elton John album that would appear later in the year, Rod recorded the John-Bernie Taupin composition ‘Country Comfort.’
There is, in fact, little to choose between the two in terms of quality, Rod offering atmosphere, Elton a clearer production with wistful steel guitar to the fore. The obvious variance of course is in the vocal performance – this song another example of how Rod had few equals in terms of range and emotion.
The only other song from ‘Gasoline Alley‘ to make regular appearances in the Faces live repertoire was ‘Cut Across Shorty‘ – an uproarious reworking of the Eddie Cochran hit, Rod delivering the story with glee as behind him the guitars, drums and violin mesh with a wonderful sense of cross-purpose.
After ‘Lady Day‘ and ‘Jo’s Lament,’ Rod brings his soul influences to bear in closing things with ‘You’re My Girl‘ (I Don’t Want to Discuss It).
But this is not just a means to show he could make any song sound authentic no matter what the form, Stewart producing his most gritty vocal since departing from Beck on a track which hints at the superb arrangement he would bring to (I Know) ‘I’m Losing You‘ on his next outing.
On release in June 1970, ‘Gasoline Alley‘ was largely ignored by UK record buyers and critics, although things were noticeably different in the US where the album broke into the Top 30 and earned rapturous reviews.
Heavyweight New York rock critic Robert Christgau, who had spent most of the previous four years dismissing anyone who wasn’t The Beatles or Jimi Hendrix, described Stewart as ‘a considerable artist‘ and in his renowned A-D album rating system (where A was reserved primarily for Dylan or The Band) awarded Gasoline Alley an unprecedented A-.
In fact, more by design than chance given his known admiration of them, Rod and co-producer Lou Reizner evoke The Band throughout the record. Going for the same ‘musicians at close quarters‘ ambiance heard on ‘Music from Big Pink‘ and ‘The Band,’ they conjure that wonderful notion of four or five people in a room creating musical alchemy.
Being once again enthralled by ‘Gasoline Alley‘ was to note for the first time how often the word ‘country‘ – in a rural context – appears in the songs. But don’t think for one moment there is a conscious theme here, some ‘concept of expression‘ popular in a number of albums released around this time. From reading Rod’s autobiography comes a sense that if there was a grand plan attached to those early albums, it amounted to capturing the best possible performance before everyone headed off for a drink.
So, a couple of albums into his solo career and its two shots, two goals. What pictures could he paint, what stories could Rod tell if his third was to be even better?
Wonder whatever ever happened to that woman named Maggie?
GASOLINE ALLEY (Released 12 June 1970): Gasoline Alley/It’s All Over Now/Only A Hobo/My Way of Giving/Country Comfort/Cut Across Shorty/Lady Day/Jo’s Lament/You’re My Girl (I Don’t Want to Discuss It);
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.