Rod Stewart's solo debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down was released in early 1970 in the UK. Released as The Rod Stewart Album in the US in late 1969, it received many positive reviews upon release and sold moderately well. On the album, Stewart created a unique mix of folk, hard rock, and blues which he would continue to explore on his later albums. After leaving the Jeff Beck Group, he and Ronnie Wood joined with the member of Small Faces to create a new iteration of the band Faces. Because he joined the band before recording his solo debut, many members of Faces contributed to the album. (For the next few albums in this series, we'll be jumping back and forth between Rod Stewart's solo albums and Faces' albums.)
Although he might have been simply following the lead of the Rolling Stones' return to roots rock with their 1968 album Beggars Banquet--a hypothesis reinforced by the fact he opens the album with "Street Fighting Man"--Rod Stewart's attempt to return to the basics is remarkably unique and original. The acoustic guitar and piano become a vibrant basis of the album and the originals fit nicely next to "A Man of Constant Sorrow." No longer fronting a hard rock band where his voice was used mostly for shrills, Stewart's sandpaper voice is at home in the more lowkey environment and, interestingly, more capable of acing those howls when necessary. Perhaps only suffering from a lack of a major highlight, a surprisingly competent step forward. B+
