Rod Stewart is one of the most soulful vocalists on Earth, as well as one of rock’s finest interpreters.

He also sucks.

This Rod dichotomy has been a part of the Stewart listening experience since 1976’s Atlantic Crossing, which, while very much a solid album, hinted at the dark depths to which the erstwhile Face would soon sink. 1977’s Foot Loose & Fancy Free kicked off Stewart’s plunge to the bottom of lowest-common-denominator MOR rock in earnest, slipping the loathsome “Hot Legs” out of its asscheeks, followed the next year by Blondes Have More Fun and “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” From then on, every Rod record has contained a few gems scattered between fragrant mounds of dookie; he’s turned himself from the heartbreaking singer of his early sides into the musical equivalent of a classroom fuckup who has to follow any honest effort with a fresh round of cheerful stupidity. Even worse, as the ’80s became the ’90s, his periodic bursts of actual talent grew dimmer (like, say, “Rhythm of My Heart”), and were followed by ever more spectacular feats of lameness (like, say, “The Motown Song”). (more…)