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There’s a reason Rod Stewart was seated. It’s because
he’s too young to die but too old to rock ‘n’ roll. Seriously,
at one time Stewart was right up there with the biggest
names in rock. When he started with the Jeff Beck Group
they could out rock Zeppelin. Stewart and Ron Wood left
Beck’s band after two terrific albums to join the floundering
Small Faces. Steve Marriott had left The Small Faces to
form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton while the remaining
members were struggling because they no longer had a guitarist
or front man. Stewart and Wood revitalized the band as they
called themselves The Faces (no, they hadn’t grown…it was
to distinguish themselves from the previous incarnation
of the group) out rocking The Stones who had peaked and
were beginning a long, slow and painful decline (although
they did occasionally show signs of life afterward). The
Faces made a series of messy, brilliant albums that combined
Stewart & Wood’s songwriting prowess with Ronnie Lane’s
detailed brilliant song craft. Increasingly Stewart began
to focus on his parallel solo career producing a series
of brilliant solo albums. ***
Then came disco. Rod put on his disco dancing shoes
and actually made it fun and added an ironic sense of humor
to it but, increasingly, Rod lost his fire and produced
a serious of meandering, mediocre albums that made Paul
McCartney’s worst trifle seem profound. Then Rod began to
do COVERS albums. Oh my. His decline as a valid artist happened
a long time before that (just before the disco era although
we didn’t know it then). I suspect that Rod’s seated because
he just can’t bother to get up. It’s not worth it to him.
Which describes his place in rock ‘n’ roll—a career wasted
sitting out because he just couldn’t be bothered unless
a mansion payment needed to be made it would be tragic if
it wasn’t something he wanted to do but he chose it. He
welcomed it. ***
“Seated” catches Rod revisiting the past like your
grandparents looking through photos of people long dead
and trying to recall the passion of their lives. It’s like
a wake for a career. Stewart is in fine voice but it’s all
for naught because just when you think he has rediscovered
who he was and the ambition that burned in his soul he comes
back with a series of absurd standards albums to appeal
to the boomers. ---
Image & Sound:
“Seated” looks quite good—like it was preserved with
all the magic of the undertaker’s art. Colors are quite
good—you would never know that Rod’s been dead for over
twenty years. This was shot on video so don’t expect miracles
but there’s a minimal amount of video noise and the image
quality is quite crisp. ***
Audio pops and having a crack band that essentially
is doing a Rod Stewart covers act (with the singer curiously
detached during the proceedings…suggesting that perhaps
Rod is a Rod imitator). Imaging and depth are quite good.
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