When did Rod Stewart jump the shark?

If you love that, try Never a Dull Moment. To me, those two albums go hand in hand.

 

When the legend was fact...

 

I agree that it was "Do You Think I'm Sexy" and the cartoon of himself he became on the Blondes Have More Fun cover. Before that, his sound had that great juxtaposition of acoustic instruments with some electric ones and those heavy drum beats, rocking out while still showing his folk and blues roots. This was most evident on his first 4 albums, but there still and element of it through Footloose and Fancy Free. He lost that mojo around 1978 and never got it back until the Unplugged...and Seated album. Jumped another shark with 4 volumes of the Great American Songbook and covers albums in general. He may not be down for the count, though.

 

It was when he dyed his hair blond.

 

"Atlantic Crossing" was definitely the beginning of this "pop idol" period. Interestingly, this album was well received by the critics, as most first rock-pop crossover albums by typically rock-oriented artists usually are at the time of release (like David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Phil Collin's "Face Value"). When he actually "jumped the shark" is a matter of personal taste. I actually like most of his pop albums from the late 70's and 80's.

 

His song selections and arrangements were too predictable, same with his subsequent rock and R&B cover albums.

 

I'll buy that, thank you

 

a long long time ago, when he woke and looked in the mirror and realized he was a rock star.

 

Yep, dying your hair can do that to your career...

 

This Ol Heart of Mine cover

 

And a deserved Top 10 hit in 1972. Deserved and surprising, as well.

 

Which one? The one from '75 (number 4 in the UK) or the re-cover in the late 80s? Because I LOVE the one from 1975.

 

I hate Tonight's the Night, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, Love Touch and a lot of the other dreck he's produced. Absolutely despise it. That being said, I love the guy. One of the best rock voices in the history of the genre and I've never lost hope of once again hearing material worthy of it before I die.

In keeping with the title of the thread if I must pick a JTS moment, I'll go with the missed opportunity after Unplugged. He should have partnered up with Ron Wood after that for a new album. Instead we got more of the same safe material and production for suburban soccer moms and AC stations.

 

Late 80's

 

Agh! Horrible.

 

I dunno. Saw him in '88 and I was not expecting "Ain't Superstitious" in a million years.

He did it. It was note perfect. It was awesome.

But you don't get to live his life singing "Ain't Superstitious" every night for 50 years.

 

I like ‘Never a Dull Moment’ very much, but the above sounds to me like the best assessment so far.

 

great, another troll thread. talk about jumping the shark ...

 

Respectfully,
Not intended as a troll thread.
"Jumping the Shark" has perhaps become cheap, lazy shorthand and I apologize, I'm sure there is a nicer way to say it but most know what it means.

A great singer and performer who for some of us seemed to choose a different path than artistic vision in pursuit of continued commercial success.
That's fine, it's his life and career.

His first 4 or 5 albums all were praised and received glowing reviews. After that with rare exception his LP's were universally panned.
He went from the brilliance of "Gasoline Alley" and "Every Picture ..." to "Footloose", "Body Wishes", "Human" and the like.
Music is of course subjective and everybody's mileage varies but it's difficult not to think "what happened?"

There are contemporaries of his who didn't abandon personal vision. His old bandmate Jeff Beck continued to follow his own to some peculiar path ignoring commercial success (granted there were brief record company encouraged attempts, "Flash" being one).
Van Morrison, Neil Young, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Robert Plant, David Bowie and others seemed to hang onto artistic integrity.

As mentioned I was at a Jeff Beck show a few years ago and Rod was a surprise guest. The voice was there, the swagger was there, the magnetism and showmanship were there.
Seeing him perform on The Today Show with Today hosts Hoda and Savannah Guthrie singing backup made me sad, had he turned into Tony Orlando? I longed for the old Rod Stewart.
Maybe it's my own lost youth I'm longing for.

Somebody mentioned Rick Rubin producing Rod like he did with Johnny Cash.
I would pay for that in a heartbeat.

 

When he gave up his grave digging job ...

 

So yeah, like I said, troll thread.

 

The follow up to Unplugged is held in high regard by fans who have stuck with him and considered to be the most under-rated album of his career.
It shared some features with the Mercury albums, particularly great covers ( Dylan, Waits, Cooke , Petty, Chris Rea), some good originals and even opened with a mandolin intro.
Admittedly the production was more slick..
What Spanner lacked, ironically given the charges against Rod, was a killer hit single to get the momentun going.

 

I agree, and like spanner in the works a lot. These days I probably play the first four songs more than Every Picture. Heresy I know, but my choices are based on what I like, not what others tell me I should like.

My wife and I saw him maybe eight years ago and both of us were very impressed with his performance. He pulled the clever older rock star trick to very good effect by allowing the back up singers to hit the notes he couldn't anymore.

Anyway irrespective of critical acclaim or otherwise, I like a lot of his work.

Cheers

 

I liked everything Rod did until Footloose & Fancy Free...

That was final straw for me...

I still miss the once great talent that was Rod "The Mod" Stewart...

EPTAS is always going to be my favorite album from the 1970s