Rod Stewart - Lead Vocalist (1993)

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Rod Stewart - Lead Vocalist (1993)

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Lead Vocalist is a compilation album released by Rod Stewart on 22 February 1993. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in the UK (WX 503) and Germany (WEA 9362 45258-1/2), but was never released in the US. Three songs from this album either had previously or would be released as singles: "Tom Traubert's Blues", "Shotgun Wedding", and "Ruby Tuesday".

~ wiki

Fans of Roderick David Stewart will know that he, or perhaps to save his blushes his advisors, like to milk every penny from his loyal fans by regularly releasing odd compilation albums with one or two new tracks on them to encourage fans to purchase.
Lead Vocalist is one of the strangest compilation albums of this ilk.
The first seven tracks on the album are classic, no introduction required, tracks from his early repertoire with a bias towards his outings as a front man for Jeff Beck Group and Faces as the album title would suggest. While perhaps not a classic even Hot Legs from Foot Loose & Fancy Free is an uptempo number with a great guitar sound.
The other 5 tracks are a different kettle of fish and are from "The Lost Album" of 1992 entitled "Once in a Blue Moon" (now available but pricey) and they just don't fit with the preceding 7 tracks suffering as they do from over production in comparison to his early work. That's not to say they aren't without any merit but Rod could have done a lot better with most of this material by paring it back to a more authentic R&B sound.
Stevie Nicks' has never been a favourite of mine so I shall offer no comment on Rod's interpretation of Stand Back except to say that the sudden emergence of a synthesised string orchestra immediately after the closing refrain of Hot Legs just doesn't fit.
Rod definitely missed a great opportunity with Ruby Tuesday. In the liner notes he acknowledges that he set out to make it very different from the Stones' original and has certainly succeeded but unfortunately has also lost all of the swagger and menace of Jagger's version. He has very successfully covered Jagger/Richards material on other occasions and this could have so good.
For me there is just too much production going on in Rod's rendition of Shotgun Wedding which ends up being a bit jokey as a result (perhaps it was meant to be) but I really like the last two tracks.
First I Look at the Purse is uptempo with a good guitar sound and Tom Traubert's Blues shows Rod hadn't lost any of his vocal range or control at this point (1992). While not everyone's cup of tea Rod's vocals on this track are outstanding. A great live version of Tom Traubert's Blues also appears on Unplugged & Seated which was released the same year as this compilation (1993).
This is a compilation for completists only but if you are one and haven't already got it I'd opt for Once In A Blue Moon instead.
For casual fans, steer clear. By far the best Rod compilation is Storyteller (The Complete Anthology 1964-1990) which has all of the first 7 classic tracks (bar Cindy Incidentally) and a lot, lot more.

By J. Gooch, amazon

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Rod Stewart - Lead Vocalist (1993)

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Rod Stewart - Lead Vocalist (1993)

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Rod Stewart - Lead Vocalist (1993)

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