During the early 1970s it was a rare occurrence for a major rock artist to leave a couple of years between each new album.
Due to their massive and devoted worldwide following Led Zeppelin managed it with ‘III‘ (1971) and ‘IV‘ (1973) with no obvious loss to their unstoppable momentum, The Who leaving a similar gap between ‘Who’s Next‘ and ‘Quadrophenia‘, Pete Townshend on a constant quest to supplant one opus with another.
Between the late summer of 1972 and autumn of 1974 notable artists such as David Bowie and Elton John each released three studio albums (one of which in the case of Elton was a double), while even the Rolling Stones, despite the indulgences of guitarist Keith Richards and various internal strife, still managed to put out an album a year.
But all through this period there had been no new collection from Rod Stewart – who ended a 27 month recording hiatus with ‘SMILER‘ in October 1974.
Around on the music scene since the mid-60s, like Bowie and John, North Londoner Stewart had been catapulted to super stardom in the early years of the current decade. On leaving the Jeff Beck Group in 1969 he had applied his raspy, distinctive vocal style to a solo career but also fallen in with the Faces, a gloriously ramshackle outfit formed from the remnants of 60s power pop maestros the Small Faces.
Having already recruited Ron Wood (another to recently extricate from the disintegrating Beck band), who switched from bass to lead guitar in this new ensemble, Stewart was hired as vocalist – therefore running dual careers as solo artist and Faces front man.
While their live shows quickly gained renown for a rumbustious, party like atmosphere (occasionally they managed to capture this revelry on record and it made them an exhilarating listen), as the mid-70s approached Stewart, to date, had made four albums of his own. Each was a captivating entity as the man at the middle of these masterpieces (two minor, two major), blended rock, folk, soul and blues into an enchanting whole.
The enormous commercial and critical success of ‘Every Picture Tells A Story‘ (1971) that included worldwide hit single ‘Maggie May‘ turned Stewart into a global superstar. His first two LPs ‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down’ (1969) and ‘Gasoline Alley‘ (1970) were well received, but returned modest sales, the massive breakthrough of the previous year consolidated in 1972 with the superb ‘Never A Dull Moment.’
With album sales comparative with those of any contemporary, from a smaller output in most cases, if by 1974 Townshend was the conscience of British rock, Stewart was the prince charming – sublime lyricist, great interpreter, first rate live performer, masterful singer.
During 1973 he had been heard on the Faces uneven ‘Ooh La La‘ set and a couple of desultory solo singles, but work on a fifth solo album was delayed due to a dispute between Mercury (for whom Stewart recorded) and Warner Bros (the label who the group were signed to).
When the matter was resolved he worked fast in completing the record, adding to several tracks that had been cut earlier in the year. Those involved in the recording, fellow Faces Wood (guitars/bass), Ian McLagan (keyboards) and Kenny Jones (drums), along with the other regular troupe of musicians found on Stewart solo LP’s, Micky Waller (drums), Pete Sears (piano), Dick Powell (violin), Martin Quittenton (acoustic guitar) are gathered together for an inner sleeve photograph outside a pub – where they are joined by various session players, technical contributors, Rod’s dad, brother and uncle, Woody’s mum and Waller’s bulldog Zak, whose barking is the first sound to be heard.
Not only are the usual personnel present and correct, from the track listing it is quickly apparent Rod has stuck to the formula that has so far brought him widespread acclaim.
Rowdy rock is represented in the Chuck Berry standard ‘Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller‘ which had long been a staple of the Faces live set, Dylan cover (Rod a grandmaster in this field), a Sam Cooke medley you just know will be lovingly attended to, two tracks written with Wood, another in conjunction with Quittenton, (their previous two wonders of age) – and this time around material contributed by superstar pals Paul McCartney and Elton John, as if to emphasise his headliner status.
So, all the components, plus a couple more, for another knockout Rod Stewart album are in place. Yet the best to be said for ‘Smiler‘ is that victory comes as a split decision – half it likeable, inspired in places, but the rest, even with his routinely excellent vocal performances to appreciate, too often sounds like it is all no sweat.
Rod may be the greatest at making it all seem easy, but here and there the record veers very close to complacency.
The barks of bulldog Zak are answered by the snappy electric guitar of Wood that sets ‘Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller‘ in motion. Sears contributes some suitably flashy piano as things roll along nicely, Rod and Ron having the time of their lives in four minutes of pub rock par excellence.
Sears switches to celeste for ‘Lochinvar‘ a brief instrumental interlude of the sort Stewart had taken to including on his albums, the rolling keyboard refrain giving way to the acoustic guitars that open ‘Farewell’ – another exquisite lyrical ballad from the Stewart-Quittenton partnership.
Their two previous compositions being ‘Maggie May‘ and ‘You Wear It Well‘ (a glorious hit single from ‘Never A Dull Moment‘), ‘Farewell’ is a magnificent way to complete the hat-trick. It would also be the last song they ever wrote together.
Set against a mesh of acoustic guitars, violin, lumpy drums and resonance of an atmospheric mandolin (Rod having previously utilised the instrument to great effect), Stewart cast himself as a young man on the point of leaving his home, family and girlfriend with the intention of finding success in the wider world:
‘Fare thee well my brother/Please don’t stand in my way/I’m going down to that dirty town/No matter what you say/You fooled me and you ruled me/And you played in every part/I gotta go, it’s no use me stayin’ home.’
While his sister is left with the assertion, ‘Please don’t let me see you cry/Gonna be a star someday/
No matter what they say‘ lover Melinda (a nod to Dylan perhaps and ‘Just Like Tom Thumb Blues‘) is assured, ‘Gonna dress you fine/And if you give me time/Make you proud like I said I would.’ Affecting as ‘Maggie May’ with the poignancy of ‘You Wear It Well’, it is another example of his prowess as a wordsmith, few lyricists able to conjure scenes so emotive out of such simple language.
Yet even after four vivid verses that chronicle his anxieties and aspirations, Rod’s knack for self-deprecating humour does not desert him. After the narrator declares his intention to ‘Write or phone from Paris or Rome’ he throws in ‘If you don’t get no mail you know I’m in jail’ as the guitars and mandolin ring out in taking things to a conclusion – ‘Farewell’ an excellent song by his or anyone else’s standards, but one overlooked by record buyers (it was a relative flop compared with his other singles of the time) and the artist himself, being rarely included on compilations or played in concert.
The final installment of a brilliant trilogy with one songwriting partner, he and Wood, his other main collaborator, follow this with ‘Sailor‘ a raucous tale of a fearful groom escaping from a shotgun marriage:
‘Tearing down the highway in the pouring rain/Escaping from my wedding day/I heard the bells ringing in the local church/The ceremony’s nearly under way.’
The blaring horns and female backing vocals do just enough to distinguish it from the Faces ‘Pool Hall Richard’ hit (written by the same duo), of the previous year, the second verse reflecting on just how close he came to tying the knot.
‘Such a deadly silence/Due to my defiance/The wedding ground to a halt/Said I changed my mind
Ain’t no use in your trying/So her brother punched me in the throat.’
While a couple of the lines come across as cynical, unusual for Rod at this stage of his career, the song just manages to keep the right side of bombast to pass muster. With its sweeping string arrangement it might also be said the ‘Bring It On Home to Me/You Send Me‘, two-in-one Cooke cover, goes over the top, but it does not detract from a joyous reading, Stewart paying worthy homage to his hero.
In essence so far so good, all pretty much shipshape and agreeable. But from here a rot sets in that Rod is never quite able to halt, the best of what ‘Smiler‘ has to offer already heard.
Side one closer ‘Let Me Be Your Car‘ an Elton John-Bernie Taupin song, derives its bluster from a wailing horn section and chunky piano playing of its co-author, John singing his harmonies with more conviction than Rod does the lead vocal. In the vein of ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting‘ the track spends almost five minutes saying little and not going very far, Elton wisely deciding not to use it on his excellent ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ set of the previous year.
Changing the gender emphasis, side two opens with the Gerry Goffin/Carole King classic (You Make Me Feel Like) ‘A Natural Man‘ – Rod in contrast to Aretha Franklin and King herself singing from a male perspective. He delivers an undeniably great vocal full of soul and verve, yet it all feels a touch contrived, the take not best served by a cluttered arrangement.
The Stewart/Wood penned ‘Dixie Toot’ is likeable enough, Rod coming up with some amusing couplets in a somewhat vague piece on the vagaries of life and death that makes references to ‘Dixieland‘, ‘New Orleans’ ‘Madri Gras’ and ‘Bourbon Street’ the street jazz feel reinforced by an accompanying trad band:
‘And when the man upstairs he calls me/He’ll say, “It’s your turn son to come”/Don’t play the blues down in old Toulouse for me.’
While there is nothing to truly dislike about the track, it did represent a lowering in the standard of his own songs. If better was expected from Rod as a writer than ‘Dixie Toot’ finding songs superior to ‘Hard Road‘ (a pedestrian rocker by Harry Vanda and George Young, who had been members of Australian pop combo The Easybeats), had also become the norm.
Having previously unearthed lost gems such as ‘Handbags and Gladrags‘ and ‘Reason To Believe’ to make them his own (as Rod would go on to do with ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It‘ and ‘The First Cut Is the Deepest’), ‘Hard Road’ is the poorest choice of a cover he had so far made – Faces numbers such as ‘Too Bad‘ and ‘Borstal Boys’ covering roughly the same ground only with infinitely more panache.
After ninety seconds of Wood performing the melody of ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face‘ on acoustic guitar, Stewart moves into ‘Girl from the North Country‘, his affecting vocal continuing the run, to some extent, of great Dylan covers. But previous efforts such as ‘Only A Hobo’, ‘Tomorrow is a Long Time’ and ‘Mama You Been on My Mind‘ are much more effective due to being delivered as folk rock rather than string laden ballad.
Things are brought to a close with ‘Mine for Me‘, a previously unreleased Paul McCartney song. Evoking the cosy domesticity that had become a feature of Paul’s lyrics (‘In a couple of hours I’ll be drivin’ home to the one I love/So save your breath sweet painted lady it won’t be me), to fatten up this acoustic guitar ballad, Stewart brings into play a calypso band, which works better than it may sound in description. Twelve months before Paul had donated ‘Six O’clock‘ to Ringo in beginning the habit of giving pleasant love songs to friends, neither of them silly in the slightest.
Given the two year break since ‘Never A Dull Moment’ anticipation of a new Rod Stewart album soon turned to a slew of negative reviews, neither the New Musical Express or Rolling Stone finding much to enthuse over – and while ‘Smiler’ reached number one in the UK for one week (‘Every Picture’ and ‘Dull Moment’ five and three respectively), in the US it peaked well short of previous placings at 13.
1974 was turning into a strange year for Rod and the Faces. In January they had released ‘Overtures and Beginners’ a slipshod live set, Wood also hitting the solo album trail with ‘I’ve Got My Own Album To Do.’ Indeed, ‘Smiler‘ closed the first chapter in the recording career of Rod Stewart as the following year he adopted tax exile status and took up with actress girlfriend Brit Ekland. With the couple choosing to reside in Los Angeles it prompted more speculation in regard to his commitment to the group.
Songs for his next album were cut in the US with the top notch Muscle Shoals session players and in making a record for the first time without input from Wood, Quintteton and Waller, he insisted there would no longer be room on his LP’s for filler – the obvious answer to that being until ‘Smiler‘ there had been hardly any.
As the years passed, ‘Smiler‘ remained something of a blot on the picturesque landscape of his early years, notions that Rod could have written or selected better songs than appeared on the finished record confirmed in 1995 with release of the ‘Handbags & Gladrags‘ compilation. Included were five songs omitted from the final cut – covers of ‘You Put Something Better Inside Me‘ (a Stealers Wheel album track written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan) and Labi Siffre’s ‘Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying‘ found to be far more stirring than what were ultimately chosen.
The rendition of ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye‘ might be Rod, Woody, Mac and Micky Waller amusing themselves in the studio, but two Stewart-Wood pieces, ‘So Tired‘ and ‘Missed You‘ (containing similar melodies but each with a different set of lyrics), both have the makings of a memorable mid-tempo piece. In the style of ‘You Wear It Well’ – who could resist lines such as ‘She got tired of me/Staying out late everynight/I’d always fall up the stair‘ – inclusion of either at the expense of the below par ‘Smiler’ offerings, would also have improved things no end.
As 1974 drew to a close, the outstanding single ‘Dance Sing or Anything‘ appeared. Ominously, in a portent suggesting the end of the band was nigh (they would formally split in December 1975), it was credited to Rod Stewart and the Faces.
It was the best thing any of them had recorded all year.
ROD STEWART – SMILER (Released October 4 1974):
Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller/Lochinvar/Farewell/Sailor/Bring It On Home to Me-You Send Me/Let Me Be Your Car/(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Man/Dixie Toot/Hard Road/I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face/Girl from the North Country/Mine for Me;
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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.