I always loved the early Rod Stewart and when he was with The Faces. The music was gritty to suit his voice and it was all so pure. After Stewart reached mega superstardom things changed and mainly his sound ultimately paid the price. He left his roots behind and started pumping out disco flavored hits. Oh well so it goes, he is not the only artist that has cashed in on a popular sound.
Thankfully we still have great albums like Never A Dull Moment to remind us of Stewart’s early years and the true greatness he commanded from his voice and band.
This is a 24 karat gold disc but with some variations this time around. This limited numbered edition is an HDCD with a hand folded replica of the original album cover and sleeve inserted into a slim line case. I have never seen a CD released like this from Audio Fidelity. The price is a little higher than usual because of the expensive reproduction of the album cover insert and the time intensive labor involved with packaging but trust me it is absolutely worth every penny.
Ronny Wood (guitar), Kenny Jones (drums) and Ian McLagan (organ) were nothing short of masterful on this session. I simply cannot see where Stewart was any better at anytime during his career and I believe it was all downhill from here when looking at it from a purely musical perspective (not stylistically). The blues-folk-rock melting pot created on these nine tracks was sheer perfection, what more can be said except that this 24 karat gold version sounds wonderful and it throws in some extra incentives to pick up a copy.
If you aren’t tapping your toes and bobbing your head to “You Wear It Well” which is essentially a reprisal of the huge hit “Maggie May” and “Twistin’ the Night Away” (check out Wood’s smokin’ slide on this one) then you better check the paper to see if your are listed in the obituaries.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
December 3, 2009
