Comes out next Tuesday...


For the upcoming Rhino collection The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998, producers Andy Zax and Cheryl Pawelsk literally picked their way through a warehouse of the singer’s tapes, unearthing enough material to pack four discs with alternate versions, early takes and other unreleased tracks. Highlights include an early rough take of “Maggie May,” a cover of Bob Dylan’s “This Wheel’s On Fire,” a piano version of “Forever Young” and an acoustic rendition of “The First Cut is The Deepest.”

Another standout track is the 1992 re-recording of “In A Broken Dream,” a song that Stewart originally sang in 1969 as a member of the group Python Lee Jackson and later resurrected for his MTV Unplugged special. Spinner has a stream of the 1992 version of “In a Broken Dream,” and it packs an impressive roster of guests: Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour contributes his trademark sound to the track, while Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones serves as organist. Rounding out the cast are Nick Lowe and Pete Thomas.

Here’s the full track list for all four discs:

Disc 1
1. “Maggie May” (Early Version)
2. “Seems Like A Long Time” (Alternate Version)
3. “Italian Girls” (Early Version)
4. “You Wear It Well” (Early Version)
5. “Lost Paraguayos” (Alternate Version)
6. “I’d Rather Go Blind” (Alternate Version)
7. “Angel” (Alternate Version)
8. “Think I’ll Pack My Bags” (Early Version of “Mystifies Me”)
9. “Farewell” (Early Version)
10. “Girl From The North Country” (Alternate Version)
11. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Man” (Alternate Version)
12. “So Tired” (Early Version)
13. “This Old Heart Of Mine” (Alternate Version)
14. “To Love Somebody” (Early Take)
15. “Sailing” (Alternate Version)
16. “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)” (Early Take)

Disc 2
1. “The First Cut Is The Deepest” (Alternate Version)
2. “Rosie” (Acoustic Version)
3. “Innocent (The Killing Of Georgie Part III)”
4. “Hot Legs” (Early Take)
5. “You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” (Acoustic Version)
6. “I Was Only Joking” (Early Take)
7. “Scarred & Scared” (Early Take)
8. “When I’m Away From You”
9. “Oh God, I Wish I Was Home Tonight” (Early Version)
10. “Time Of My Life”
11. “TV Mama”
12. “Maybe Baby”
13. “Stupid”
14. “Guess I’ll Always Love You” (Alternate Version)
15. “The Great Pretender” (Acoustic Version)

Disc 3
1. “Thunderbird”
2. “Dancing Alone” (Alternate Version)
3. “I Wish You Would”
4. “Sweet Surrender” (Alternate Version)
5. “Show Me”
6. “Ghetto Blaster” (Early Version)
7. “Satisfied” (Alternate Version)
8. “Hard Lesson To Learn” (Alternate Version)
9. “Heaven”
10. “In My Life” (Piano Version)
11. “Love Is A Four Letter Word”
12. “Forever Young” (Piano Version)
13. “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” (Alternate Version)
14. “I Go To Jail For You”
15. “A Good Lover Is Hard To Find”

Disc 4
1. “Let The Day Begin” (Alternate Version)
2. “The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar” (Alternate Version)
3. “Windy Town” (Piano Version)
4. “In A Broken Dream” (1992)
5. “This Wheel’s On Fire”
6. “I Wanna Stay Home”
7. “I’m A King Bee”
8. “Looking For A Love”
9. “Kiss Her For Me”
10. “The Long Journey Home”
11. “Now That You’re On Your Own”
12. “Dylan’s Day Off”
13. “On And On”
14. “Rockin’ Chair”
15. “Sugar Lips”
16. “The Changingman”
17. “May You Never”

Disc 4 Track 12 sounds intriguing!

Nice looking set.

As usual, every major artist in the world who made a record prior to 1980 seems to be able to do a studio archives release - even if they're still making new music - with ONE exception.

real wild child wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2009 at 3:34pm:


Well Warner Bros. is cashing in on the catalog I presume they own when he was with them and then before with Mecury records.
They are releasing either top of next year or maybe this year special editions of Blondes have more fun and I believe Footloose and fancy free.

On amazon and Itunes for loads of his 80s and 90s work there are unreleased, live, and alternative/outtakes from those records sessions.

Lots of primo outtakes.  I've been juiced for this since it was announced in the spring.  New tune everyday from it on his my space page 'till next Monday.  I'll be there when the store opens Tuesday....

Just got this today.
Major Wicked Pissa!

he released a 4 CD set in 1989? as Storyteller which is stronger material ... then take the Five Guys Walk Into A Bar 4 CD set of da Faces & combine with Storyteller ... you can come up with a vastly improved 4CD Box by using the years to 1969-1995 ... you could even make a point to include some Truth from '67 ... maybe one from '98 ... who will spend $50 for this sheet ... at least we now have the American Songbook Box to await ... 

Thanks for the review, Nelly.   I'll be on the lookout for this box set, which sounds mighty fine.