With appearances on The View and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, along with a simulcast of him rocking Times Square in movie theaters nationwide, Rod Stewart has finally introduced his new album, Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time.
After his extended flirtation with crooning on The Great American Songbook Collection and a streak of musical atrocities during the '80s and '90s ("Some Guys Have All the Luck," "Young Turks," any duet with an Isley brother), Stewart's return to rock 'n' roll seemed promising.
However, the point this release really drives home is that Stewart doesn't produce original music anymore.
The album consists solely of covers of FM radio classics that were originally sung by voices strikingly similar to his, such as "Missing You" by Jon Waite or Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain." This is a kind of musical plagiarism being pushed onto an audience that, unfortunately, could not care less what he is singing.
There are, however, some tasteful selections. Stewart's rendition of Bob Dylan's "If Not For You" is pleasant enough, and his choice of Van Morrison's "Crazy Love" instead of "Have I Told You Lately" smacks of some actual artistic purpose in the selection process. Ah, wait-he already covered that one, back in '91.
Really, the only praise this album merits is that it prevents the Great American Songbook series from having more installments than Rocky.
This is shameless comercial irrelevance at its finest.
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