THE FACES - A BEGINNER'S GUIDE

I've thought that The Faces have been overlooked by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for years, I'm glad that they are finally getting in. They've kind of been overshadowed by singer Rod Stewart's solo career: he's been in the Hall of Fame for over a decade.  With all due respect to Rod's solo career (his early LPs, recorded while he was in The Faces, were incredible), I prefer The Faces.

It's too bad that Rod hasn't participated in their recent reunion shows: guitarist Ronnie Wood (already a Hall of Famer as a member of The Rolling Stones), drummer Kenny Jones (who is a former member of The Who, but wasn't inducted with them) and keyboardist Ian McLagan have been doing concerts with Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols on bass, and Mick Hucknall of Simply Red singing. (Original bassist/singer Ronnie Lane passed away in 1997.)

The Faces are being inducted along with their precursors, The Small Faces, which featured Jones, McLagan and Lane along with the late singer/guitarist Steve Marriott. Honestly, I'm not that familiar with The Small Faces, if anyone would like to contribute something about them to my blog, please let me know in the comments. My understanding is that their best album is 1968's Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. But I love The Faces, and here's my primer:

The Compilation: The Best Of Faces: Good Boys... When They're Asleep. It's got their one big hit, "Stay With Me," but some other great performances: their cover of Bob Dylan's "Wicked Messenger," "Sweet Lady Mary," "Had Me A Real Good Time," and "Ooh La La" (sung by Ronnie Lane).

The Classic Album: 1971's A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... To A Dead Horse.  It's just a blast.  It has some of Rod's best vocal performances ever (including the aforementioned "Stay With Me") and yet Ronnie Lane's "Last Orders Please" is still a highlight.

The Box Set: Five Guys Walk Into A Bar... is a hell of a lot of fun. It has almost everything you'd want, including lots of great covers (part of the magic of Rod and Ronnie Wood is that they know when to write a song, and when to do someone else's).  John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," The Temptations'  "(I Know) I'm Losing You" as well as the band's take on solo tunes by Rod ("Maggie May") and Ronnie Wood ("I Can Feel The Fire").

THE "DISCO SUCKS" MOVEMENT

The other day, I happened upon an article on a radio trade site, where a fairly well-known radio consultant talked about being a part of a "rock" station that orchestrated a big "disco sucks" night at Chicago's Comiskey Park in the summer of 1979.  It was a stunt that turned into a sort of cultural moment, drawing more people to a White Sox game than anyone could have reasonably expected. The White Sox were having a bad season, and weren't selling huge amounts of tickets, but this game sold out.

Here's the context: a DJ who got fired from a local station that went from rock to disco was hired by a different rock station, 'The Loop." He was leading the fight against the perceived threat of disco. Was disco really a threat?  Or was it the people who listened to disco?

The idea for this stunt was that you could get into the game for a dollar if you brought disco records that would be destroyed during the radio station's event, to be held between the two games of a double header.  The record burning got out of control, people rushed onto the field, and the second game was cancelled. It was a well-publicized event, and was seen as the beginning of the end of the disco era.

I can appreciate people being sick of an all-encompassing trend, as disco certainly was at that point in time.  And I can appreciate the "tribe-building" of uniting fans by rallying them against something else.  And I can admire being able to conceive of and actually pull off a cultural event.  But....

In the article I cited above, the radio consultant says "It was all very military in strategy, as disco was looked upon as the enemy, and Loop was the army that would liberate Chicago from this menace. Rock listeners viewed this with the same fervor as Europeans looked at the liberation of their countries by the American GIs in WW2. Some viewed this as a 'book burning,' but c'mon! It was radio theater at its best. It was all tongue-in-cheek. "

I'll first point out the obvious: annoying music is annoying.  I'm pretty passionate about music, but come on, you can't really compare the "oppressiveness" of having to hear music you don't enjoy to having your country invaded by Nazi Germany. That's an irritating overreaction, but I guess some people in the media are prone to overstatement and paint in broad strokes. That's a pretty broad stroke though., I'd be curious to ask  England's post-war babies - like the members of classic rockers like The Beatles or Black Sabbath - what they think about that analogy.

But writing off the "book burning" vibe of the whole thing, and saying it was "radio theater" is a bit disingenuous to me. I don't think that people showing up *only* because they didn't like the music. You can deny it, but there was a hell of a lot of racism and homophobia fueling the anti-disco sentiment, no one working in media during that era could have been blind to that.  To harness intolerance to promote a radio (or TV "news") outlet... who would do that (cough)?

Let me put it another way: if there had been a huge event where non-white people, or gay people, were destroying records by say, Supertramp and Styx (probably staples of "rock" radio in 1979), how would *that* have gone over?

I don't have a lot of disco records.  But I love the Chic and Bee Gees music of that era. Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" is one of the sexiest records ever. And, more to the point, it holds up at least as well as whatever Foreigner or Doobie Brothers records "rock" radio stations were championing at the time. But a big part of rock and roll is rebellion and upsetting your parents. I think "I Feel Love" had more of that spirit than most Foreigner songs. I'm not trying to rip on anyone here too much.

A lot of rock fans decided they hated Rod Stewart because his "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" was seen as a "sell-out" to disco, but other artists had much cooler disco influenced songs, like The Rolling Stones ("Miss You"), Queen ("Another One Bites The Dust") and Paul McCartney ("Coming Up").

A funny thing to point out about the disco era is this: Chic, arguably the most influential disco group (as a band and as producers, they had their hands in many disco hits of the day), started out as a rock band... but they couldn't get a record deal. As the story goes, the labels didn't feel they could sell a band with all African American members to a rock audience. So Chic changed their style.  In a weird way, if that story is true, the same racism behind the "disco sucks" thing is what led to the creation of a good amount of disco music. It is a funny thing that a form of music that came almost totally from African-American influences, has so few black artists on its playlist. That's true even to this day. Other than Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and maybe War, there are very few people heard on rock radio who aren't white.  To me, if you're playing Journey and The Eagles but not James Brown or Otis Redding, you're not really rocking.

A final thought: I wonder how some of the artists played on "rock" radio felt about the record burning thing.  Bruce Springsteen's reaction to the inherent and not-subtle racism of the "disco sucks" nonsense?  He wrote "Protection" for Donna Summer.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: LEGENDS!

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wedneday morning at about 9 am ET-ish, I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ where I am a contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. (The show is co-hosted by comedian Keith Price). Tomorrow I'll be talking about new music from some real legends.

First off is Elvis Costello's new album, National Ransom, which I just wrote a post about. The album sort of combines what he did on his last album, the very rootsy Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, and the prior album, the more garage rocking Momofuku. It actually combines musicians from both albums. I really respect the way Elvis is always pushing himself. With all of his success, he still seems to really try hard.

You can't really say the same for Rod Stewart, who has just released the fifth volume of his American Songbook series. I guess you can't blame the guy for going back to that: his album of soft rock covers (Still The Same) and his R&B covers album (Soulbook) didn't really do well, but the Songbook series sold millions. And he's pretty good at doing it. I have heard a few songs from the new album - same deal as all the prior installments of the series - they're fine.  But you don't get the impression that he's even sweating.  And Rod's best music (his early solo stuff, The Jeff Beck Group, The Faces) has lots of sweat. I've heard Rod say that he wants to do something with The Black Keys.  Hell yeah!  Oh, by the way, The Faces are touring with dude from Simply Red singing.  Just sayin'.


Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry has a new album, Olympia. I have to admit, I never really "got" Roxy or Ferry, but I don't have a problem with them. There's a new song on his album, "Heartache By Numbers," that I was hoping I'd like - it is a collaboration with Scissor Sisters, but I didn't really like it. I do like the song "Me Oh My," which I think features David Gilmour.

Speaking of Gilmour, he has a new collaborative album with trace music group The Orb. People may think that that is an odd combination, but I don't.  Plenty of Floyd's music sounds like a precursor to trance. Listen to the beginning of  "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." That said, I don't really "get" it, but I thought it would be interesting to talk about, especially if Larry or some of the listeners can explain it to me.

Here's a real legend: Loretta Lynn. She should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no question. Yes, she's obviously country, but listen to "Rated X," "Don't Come Home From Drinkin' With Lovin' On Your Mind" and "Fist City." The woman is badass. There's a new tribute album to her, Coal Miner's Daughter. It's OK: like lots of tribute albums, it's about the list of artists, it demonstrates how influencial she is.  Loretta does a new version of "Coal Miner's Daughter" with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow. It shows that she appeals to both sides of the aisle, as it were. The White Stripes are on the album, as is Steve Earle and Allison Moorer, Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Lucinda Williams and Kid Rock. My opinion: they should have gotten Elizbeth Cook, who reminds me more of Loretta than anyone else I've ever heard.

Quincy Jones has a new album, Soul Bossa Nostra. I guess the deal with his albums is, he produces everything. Dude has experience producing great music, he's worked with Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Michael Jackson. Some of the stuff I have heard on this album is awful.  He works with Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson on a cover of "It's My Party." I wish I liked that, but I don't.  There's an "update" of the Sanford & Son theme, featuring T.I. and B.o.B. and some other people, but it's just a generic sounding hip-hop track that samples that classic theme. One song I do like is "Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me" which features Mary J. Blige and Q-Tip (although Tip is hardly even on it!).

I wrote about Tom Jones a while back. On his last album, he did a really great cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Hitter." It wasn't Vegasy or over the top.  He takes that a bit further on his new album , Praise and Blame, produced by Ethan Johns for Lost Highway Records. It reminds me of what Rick Rubin has done with Neil Diamond... it makes you look at him a bit differently.  Tom does a good cover of the Dylan classic "What Good Am I?" and a pretty rocking take on John Lee Hooker's "Burning Hell."

Speaking of the blues, Buddy Guy has a new album, Living Proof, and we'll talk about that too.

ROLLLING STONE'S 500 GREATEST SONGS

A couple of years ago, in the pre-No Expiration era, Rolling Stone magazine put out a special issue with the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." For some reason, they've just updated it slightly in a special collector's issue. And for some reason, you can't see the list on RS's confusingly redesigned website, but you can see it here.

I decided to use this as a launching pad for a great iPod mix, since I'm often finding myself to be ok with Rolling Stone's choices (minus their prejudice towards Jann Wenner's friends, and prejudice against progressive rock and metal). 

So, the first thirty songs… I couldn’t touch and left them intact on my mix. Some of them aren’t songs that I need to hear many more times, but I would feel downright sacrilegious replacing any of them. But I didn't mind ditching some sacred cows of classic rock radio.
I started making my own revisions at #31, where I replaced Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” with “The Rain Song.” I’m so tired of “Stairway.” I don’t know if “Rain Song” is really my favorite Zeppelin song – there are way too many awesome songs to choose one. But I love the line, “Upon us all, a little rain must fall.” That has always stuck with me.

I love The Rolling Stones but I am way more into some of thier album tracks, as opposed to the hits (that said, I left a lot of the hits alone): At #101, I replaced The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” with the live, super badass version of “Midnight Rambler.” The former probably has a better message, as the latter is about a murderer, but I can’t help it, I never loved “You Can’t…” I replaced “Honkey Tonk Women” with “Stray Cat Blues.” “Wild Horses” was replaced “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” from the same album, 1971’s Sticky Fingers. And I replaced The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” with “All Down The Line.”

At #193, I replaced Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” with “Saturday Night Special." And at #407, I replaced “Sweet Home Alabama” with “The Ballad Of Curtis Loew.” So my Skynyrd songs are anti-gun and one honoring an African American blues musican. Yeah, I'm from a blue state.  But I love Skynyrd.

I’ve often argued that Elton John is more a slave to his greatest hits than any other major artist – he has so many amazing songs that most people aren’t even familiar with. So, I replaced #137 “Your Song” (a great song) with “I Need You To Turn To,” off of the same album, his self titled second album from 1970. Also, I replaced Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” a song about loneliness, veiled in a song about space travel, with “I Want Love” from 2001’s Songs From The West Coast, a much more honest and mature song.

Rod Stewart’s “Maggie Mae” (#131) is a great song about cougars, but another one that’s been driven into the ground. It was the b-side to “Reason To Believe” (written by Tim Hardin), and Rod has said that if the radio DJ hadn’t flipped the single, he’d have ended up going back to digging graves. That’s probably not true, but maybe he would be reuniting with The Faces this year! So, I’m replacing “Maggie Mae” with “Reason To Believe.”

I know that Ray Charles' Modern Sounds In Country and Western was groundbreaking. And I love Ray singing country. But the album is way too overproduced with strings and corny backing vocals. I know that was the way Ray wanted it. But I don’t want to hear “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” so I replaced it with “Come Rain Or Come Shine.” (I did leave "Georgia On My Mind" alone.)

I got really crazy when I replaced Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” with his “Precious Time” from 1999. Sorry everyone! I’m just so tired of that song , and I don’t feel bad saying it, because I think Van is too. “Precious Time” speaks to me more. Also, I replaced Van Morrison’s “Moondance” with “And It Stoned Me.”

People will want to clobber me for replacing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” with “The Show Must Go On.” “Rhapsody” is a great creation, and of course I love the scene from Wayne’s World. But I just don’t need to hear it anymore. I’m not a Queen fanatic, but “The Show Must Go On” hits me hard every time. I imagine Freddie Mercury knew he didn’t have much time left when he was writing this, and it certainly comes off that way when he’s singing it. I was going to replace Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with The Roots’ “Rock You,” but instead I used “The Seed (2.0) from the same album. Sorry, I like The Roots more than Queen.

I replaced The Strokes’ “Last Nite,” with the song they stole the riff from, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “American Girl.”  And Pavement’s song was replaced by Rush’s “The Spirit Of The Radio.” It’s only right. (I do rip on Pavement a lot, but they have like five good songs.  I can't remember any Strokes songs though).

More replacements:

• Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” with “Love To Love You Baby,” it’s plain sexier.
• “Losing My Religion” from Out Of Time with “Try Not To Breathe” from my favorite R.E.M. album, Automatic For The People.
• Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” which I could never stand with “A Case Of You.”
• Aerosmith’s “Dream On” with “Make It” from the same album, their 1973 self-titled debut. Aerosmith are almost as bound to their greatest hits as Elton.
• Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” with “Beyond Here Lies Nothing,” although I like the sentiment of the former better, the latter is a better song.
• Beck’s “Loser” with the funkier “Beercan” from the same album, Mellow Gold.
• Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me” has a nicer message than “Use Me,” but I switched it anyway. Sue me!
• I replaced the studio version of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” with a live version recorded at The Concert For New York City, which took place a few weeks after 9/11.
• The Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” with “I’m A Man.”
• Bobby Darin’s “Mack The Knife” with Louis Armstrong’s version. That may pre-date the rock and roll era, but it’s my mix.
• I don’t have The Dixie Cups’ “Chapel Of Love,” so I replaced it with The Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl.”
• I replaced Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” with “As,” which he told me was the best lyric he’s ever written.
• I replaced Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” with “Harvest.”
• I replaced Daft Punk’s “One More Time” (which I do like) with The Chemical Brothers’ more rocking “Block Rockin’ Beats.”
• The Rascals’ “Good Lovin’” with “People Got To Be Free.”
• Earth Wind & Fire’s “That’s The Way Of The World” with “September.”
• Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky” with a newer version by The Blind Boys Of Alabama.
• I never was that into Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” so I was going to go with The Fugees’ version, but I decided on Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” instead.
• I replaced The Allman Brothers Band’s live “Whipping Post” (clocking in at over 20 minutes) with “Statesboro Blues” from the same album, At Fillmore East. Even though Gregg Allman wrote “Whipping Post” and “Statesboro Blues” is a Blind Willie McTell number. But my wife will be using this mix too, and a twenty something minute blues jam ain't gonna fly. 
• I replaced The Bees Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love?” with “To Love Somebody” because I like it better.
• Only one Metallica song, and it’s “Enter Sandman” ? At #408? I replaced it with “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” the first Metallica song I ever heard on “Metal Shop.”
• I just can’t stand The Carpenters, sorry. I replaced their song with Aimee Mann’s “Save Me” from the 1999 film Magnolia.
• I replaced Nirvana’s “In Bloom” with “School” from Bleach.
• I replaced Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” with “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems.”
• I replaced Crosby Stills & Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” which I never really liked, with Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s “Carry On.” (both songs were written by Stephen Stills.)
• I replaced Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” with the live version of “Captain Jack.”
• #431 was The Smiths’ “William, It Was Really Nothing,” which I like, but I replaced it by moving up “How Soon Is Now?” from #477, and then replaced that with “Panic.”
• I replaced Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” with “Highway Star.”
• I replaced Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “Midnight Train To Georgia” with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
• I replaced Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” with “Blue Moon Of Kentucky”
• I replaced Guns N Roses’ “Paradise City” with “It’s So Easy.”
• I replaced George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” with one of my favorite songs ever, “All Things Must Pass.”
• I used the remix of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” the one with Nelly Furtado.
• I replaced Jay-Z and UGK’s “Big Pimpin’” with Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I. and Lil’ Wayne’s “Swagga Like Us.”
• I replaced Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” with Yes’ “Starship Trooper.” (sorry honey)
• Yeah, I love “I Love Rock N Roll” (#491) too, but I replaced that with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ version of “Crimson and Clover.”
• I replaced MGMT’s “Time To Pretend” (#493) with “Kids.”
• At #496, I replaced Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty” with Warren Zevon’s “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,” which he wrote about Jackson, and which Jackson later covered.
•  Finally, at #499, I replaced Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” with “In My Garage.”

There were also a bunch of songs I had to flat out ditch. 

• I had to flat out ditch #49, The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” Like “Stairway To Heaven,” it’s another classic rock sacred cow. I like other Eagles songs better, but I don’t think any Eagles songs belong in the top 50, sorry. “Stairway” and “Hotel” were the only things I changed from the top 100.
• Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”
• ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”
• Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”
• I don’t mind The Lovin’ Spoonful, but I got rid of both of their songs, “Do You Believe In Magic” (#218) and “Summer In The City” (#401). I know they're in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they don't make my top 500, or my top 600.
• I can’t stand The Jefferson Airplane at all, so I dropped their songs “Somebody To Love” (#279) and “White Rabbit” (#483).
• 50 Cent’s “In Da Club.” (But don’t tell him.)
• Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”
• Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.”
• R. Kelly’s “Ignition (remix),” I always thought the dude was corny before we all found out how creepy he is.

I added a bunch of songs as well, those are for the next post.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: ELVIS COSTELLO AND ROD STEWART

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. We talk about - surprise! - music.

It's a tale of two artists, two friends of Elton. Elvis Costello and Rod Stewart. Mainly because they both have recent releases worth talking about. They both have incredible legacys to live up to, and each does it in a different way. Elvis seems unintimidated by his: he may address his older songs when he performs, but he certainly isn't confined by them, nor does he seem worried about replicating their success.  As a result, he has had a really interesting career. His last two albums, 2008's garage rock album Momofuku and 2009's bluegrass album Secret,
Profane and Sugarcane both show that he has many tricks up his sleeve, and
that he is still an incredibly intense artist, three decades in. And his passion for music is now on display more than ever thanks to his TV show Spectacle: Elvis Costello With... But he is fine with addressing his legacy via his "Costello Show" series of live recordings.

Rod Stewart meanwhile, seems content to kind of do whatever keeps him in the mainstream and on the charts, as long as it isn't too much work. Just my opinion, and I admit that it's a bit churlish to complain about a guy who has been the singer on some truly great rock and roll records: his own, The Faces and The Jeff Beck Group. But hey, it's my blog and my opinion.

Feel free to agree or disagree: call in during the show (1-866-305-6887), or tweet at Larry.

RON WOOD TO TOUR THIS YEAR

I read that Ronnie Wood is considering a solo tour this year. Supposedly, he was hoping for a Rolling Stones tour, and since (he thinks) that that isn't happening, he wants to hit the road, and focus attention on his music rather than his personal life. He supposedly has been working on a solo album for a while, and now he wants to get it out there. I wonder if the Stones are really not touring, or just that they are going to tour without Ronnie.  I hope that they can work things out. Whatever he does, I hope he's OK.  And I hope that he doesn't do a Faces tour without Rod Stewart.

ROD STEWART: A HOPEFULLY HELPFUL GUIDE TO RECENT RELEASES

It seems like there's been a deluge of Rod Stewart releases over the past decade or so.  I'm here to help!  I've gone through a lot of the recent stuff to give you the low-down. I have mixed feelings about Rod. On one hand, he is one of the greatest singers in rock or pop music in the past fifty years, no question. On the other, he also seems like one of the laziest. He just doesn't seem to try hard anymore -- just my opinion.  I can't think of many artists with a farther gap between their classic stuff and their worst stuff. And it's not even like Bowie, where at least he is ambitious. Of course, Rod has a better voice, and probably like Sinatra and a lot of singers of that era, sometimes just stepping up to the mic and singing is enough.

I recently picked up The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971 - 1998, a 4 CD box set from Rhino that ostensibly gives an "alternate" history of what might have been in Rod's career, and also posts the theory that there isn't as much of a difference between the Rod of 1971 and the Rod of 1998. I gotta disagree with that. I have no doubt that Rod always wanted to be the biggest star in the world, and that's what he was aiming for -- not some kind of credibility that would please music critics. There are some real gems in this box set, spanning the entire '71-'98 period. A lot of it is stripped down versions of songs that made his albums, like his cover of The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart Of Mine" and The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody." And other stuff like his cover of Buddy Holly's "Maybe Baby" which was previously unreleased, as well as his version of Billy Boy Arnold's "I Wish You Would" (also covered by The Yardbirds). It also has a previously unreleased version of Bob Dylan's "Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar," from a previously unreleased 1992 album Once In A Blue Moon (which was shelved in favor of his MTV Unplugged... and Seated album. Incidentally, that album has just been released this week, exclusively at Rhino.com. My verdict is, I probably shouldn't have spent $60 on this because I'm not a big enough fan, but if you are, you'll like it. If you're just starting out with Rod, I would recommend instead the 1990 4-CD box set Storyteller, which has most of his biggest hits, plus some Jeff Beck Group and Faces material, and some lesser known stuff as well. If you don't want to dive in that deep, The Definitive Rod Stewart is a more recent 2 CD set. If you really want to hear Rod rocking, get The Faces career spanning 4 CD box set, Five Guys Walk Into A Bar. A shorter version is the single CD best-of Good Boys... When They're Asleep.

Rod's latest album, Soulbook, also released late last year, is the latest in a series of thematic covers albums. Of course, there is his Great American Songbook series, which yielded four volumes between 2002 and 2005 and saw him singing Sinatra-esque standards. It also saw him returning to multi-platinum sales, in an era where few of his peers could pull that off. I can't say that I'm very familiar with these albums, as I'm not a fan of the material. I did check out his 2006 album, Still The Same... Great Rock Classics Of Our Time. It probably should have been called "great SOFT rock classics.." because most of the songs were middle of the road mid-tempo songs. I'm not mad at that though: he's so great at singing that kind of thing. Even though he doesn't sound like he's breaking a sweat, he still does a great job on some of the tunes, like Bob Seger's title track and Van Morisson's "Crazy Love."

Soulbook is a bit like Motown or soul night on American Idol. Fine, but nothing you'd really want to buy, and the versions don't add anything to the original versions. The backing band, produced by Steve Jordan, sounds very L.A. There are a few guests on the album: Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Mary J. Blige and Jennifer Hudson, but it's not a duets album. If's fine, but it's hard to see the point. On one hand, it would be phony for Rod to record these songs like it was 1960-whatever, but on the other hand, it's just a bit (or more than a bit) too smooth. If you want to hear new takes on Motown classics, I suggest the Standing In The Shadows Of Motown soundtrack, which features MeShell NdegeOcello, Ben Harper, Bootsy Collins and Joan Osborne re-interpreting the label's classics (backed by the surviving members of the original house band, The Funk Brothers).

What's next for Rod? It seems like a Faces reunion isn't going to happen - I doubt Rod wants to deal with Ronnie Wood 's antics. I've read that he might be interested in working with Jeff Beck again. Beck actually told Rolling Stone that he'd be interested, but only if it was a serious album, not "a weekend blues album" (which is probably how Jeff would rate a Rod blues album in 2010). I've also heard that Rod would love to collaborate with The Black Keys, which is probably the coolest thing that he could do at this point. He should listen to Buddy Guy's Dirt Floor and B.B. King 's One Kind Favor, and then get with the Keys and make an awesome album. For now, we have the recordings of when he actually was awesome.

RON DON'T GO: HAVE THE ROLLING STONES FIRED RON WOOD?

As you know, I don't write about rock star gossip, and it's been hard to avoid it in Ronnie Wood's case. The short version is he was in rehab (again), bailed, went to a bar, hooked up with a very young waitress, left his wife for her, and has seemingly been on a bender since then.

Without getting too into the details, England's Daily Mail is reporting that Mick Jagger may have had enough of Ronnie's nonsense and may fire him from The Rolling Stones. I think the Mail is a gossip publication, but they are reporting that Ronnie's wife Jo has always been like his caretaker, and without her he's out of control, and Mick doesn't want to deal with it (which is understandable). Realistically speaking, the Stones can't have many tours left in them, and probably just one. And I don't think Mick wants to stress through the tour wondering what is up with Ron. While I would never go and see the Stones if, say, Charlie Watts quit (as he was rumored to have done earlier this year), I could accept the Stones without Ronnie, although it would be a shame.

I wonder if this is why Rod Stewart has avoided reuniting with The Faces: at this point in his career, he probably doesn't want to deal with someone who doesn't work for him, especially if that person  is out of control.

I should stress, again, that The Daily Mail is (I believe) a very gossipy publication, but its no secret that Ron has been erratic lately, and if Mick wants to do a Stones tour in 2010, it's not hard to imagine that he'd be willing to cut Ronnie if he can't get his shit together. Ronnie missed out on some of the sessions for the last Stones album, A Bigger Bang, because of an earlier stint in rehab.

YOUR NEW SOURCE FOR ROLLING STONES INFO: RON WOOD'S TEENAGE GIRLFRIEND

I don't consider Britian's The Sun (their equivalent of The National Enquirer and/or Fox News, I'm told) to be a credible source of info. And I've been avoiding writing about Ron Wood's personal life, it's been well documented. But supposedly his new, very young, girlfriend, has been blabbing that The Rolling Stones will be touring in 2010. Well, I hope it's true. Although I'd love to see Ron tour with The Faces (but only if Rod Stewart is on vocals, otherwise it would be bogus). Speaking of bogus, The Stones without Charlie Watts would also not be cool. So hopefully if this is true, it means that Charlie is still in the band. And although The Stones have been asked at every tour announcement event since nineteen-sixty-whatever if this will be "the last tour," I'd have to think that this actually would be the last tour.

THE LATEST FACES RUMOR

Longtime No Expiration readers know that I don't like to bring the negativity, there's too much of that in the world. But this is a stupid idea: Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones are now talking about doing a Faces reunion in 2010, with or without Rod Stewart. The Faces without Rod Stewart is as weak as Aerosmith without Steven Tyler. I don't blame these guys for wanting to play together again, and of course they'd do Faces songs. But if Rod Stewart is still walking this earth, and they're calling it The Faces, it just comes off as totally bogus. Ronnie: would you do a Rolling Stones tour with a different singer? Billboard reports that they may actually use, of all people, former Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall. I wonder how Mick Hucknall would feel if Simply Red toured without him? Hucknall recently played with Ron, Ian and Kenny at a charity gig. That's cool for a charity gig, not a tour. I understand how annoying it must be for the guys, especially Ian and Kenny, to watch Rod do lame solo album after lame solo album and not reunite the band. But I don't think calling it The Faces is going to go over well.

HEY, I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ABOUT THE FACES IN A WHILE

Last night, three of the four surviving Faces (but not Rod Stewart) reunited for a benefit gig in England, according to Music News Net. Ron Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones, with Wood's former Rolling Stones bandmate Bill Wyman on bass, performed with a few different singers, including Mel C. from The Spice Girls, Kiki Dee (Elton John's duet partner on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart") and the dude from Simply Red. OK, but it's still pretty exciting anyway! Apparently Rod was in the U.S. promoting his new album Soulbook, where he covers soul music classics (I'm curious to hear it). Apparently Kenny Jones was saying that the reunion may be in the cards for 2010! The benefit was for the PRS For Music organization, by the way.

A FACES UPDATE

Ian McLagan has been doing some press around his solo tour for his new album Never Say Never (which came out today and which I hear is great) and says that he, Ron Wood and Kenney Jones are waiting to hear back from Rod Stewart about a Faces reunion. C'mon Rod, we know you're a zillionaire, but there's generations of kids who know you as a lame-ass adult contemporary geezer who was (supposedly) once cool. Come out and rock one more time.

THE FACES REUNION: IT'S OFF

Despite lots of hype about a Faces reunion tour and album, and the fact that Flea's name was being thrown around as the bass player, Billboard says that a rep for Rod Stewart says that there are no plans for a reunion in 2009, and a rep for Flea says he knows nothing about it. What a bummer. 

FLEA TO JOIN THE FACES

According to the NME, The Faces' reunion really is on, and they are going to be using Flea as their bass player. Of course, their original bass player was the late Ronnie Lane, who quit the band towards the end of their run, and was replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi. I don't know why they aren't going to use him, but Flea is a cool choice. It's weird though: he sort of comes from the anti-blues-rock, anti-rock star punk scene, so it's interesting that he would play in a blues rock band of huge rock stars (Rod Stewart and Ron Wood). Still, I'm looking forward to seeing The Faces, and having Flea only makes it a cooler situation. 

THE FACES: IT'S ON!

Well, it looks like The Faces reunion is closer to being a reality. Rolling Stone interviewed Ron Wood who said that the surviving members of the band - Ron, Rod Stewart, keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenny Jones - rehearsed last week and "sounded great." (They used Rod's bassist Conrad Korsch, not Tetsu Yamauchi, who originally replaced the late Ronnie Lane when he quit the band). Wood mentioned that a number of bass players offered to sit in, including Flea. No matter who is on bass, this promises to be an awesome tour, as long as Rod Stewart can still sing rock and roll (and remember how to be cool). 

THE FACES TO REUNITE?

Yes, I'm a reunion-watching junkie. I've been hoping for The Kinks to get back together. I was holding out hope that Bill Berry would rejoin R.E.M. (although they did fine without him).

Right now, it looks like there's a good chance that The Faces might get together, and that's pretty exciting. I think it's been close before - either Rod Stewart wants to do it and Ronnie Wood can't make it because of The Rolling Stones' schedule, or Rod doesn't feel like it. But now it might happen: supposedly, Rod, Ron, keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenny Jones had a rehearsal this week. That's a show I'd love to see.

ROD STEWART: VICTIM OF MARKET RESEARCH?

Rod Stewart has done very little cool music in the past 30 years. That said, you can't really knock his early career: his stuff with The Jeff Beck Group, The Faces, and his first eight albums were all pretty great.

Still there are fewer artists with a wider margin of space between thier cool stuff and thier uncool stuff. Just my opinion but who else is as disappointing?

On the other hand, he always seems to be enjoying the ride he's on, so who am I to complain about it? I wasn't really feeling his Great American Songbook series of albums, although I thought there was some good stuff on his recent album of '70s mellow rock covers, Still The Same. And he's made his label - J Records - millions of dollars in just a few years, when few of his peers (or anyone else) was putting out multi-platinum albums once a year.

So, I'm reading this little feature on him in the new Rolling Stone, and he mentions that his next album will be the fifth (and final) Great American Songbook album, and he also wants to do an album of old R&B classics and then a country album. But the label doesn't want him doing a country album. He said, "Apparently, the idea didn't 'test' well, whatever the fuck that means." I'd love to be a fly on the wall when some marketing and research guy explains to Rod Stewart what kind of albums he should be making. And would it really be a stretch for the guy who sang "Maggie May," "The First Cut Is The Deepest" and "Handbags and Gladrags" to do a country album?