Rod Stewart
An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down

THE REVIEW

The sky covered with clouds and a raincoat. A child and an adult man running on the grass on an autumn afternoon.

The expressive power of an album cover should not be underestimated. For example, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down, the solo debut of former Faces member Rod Stewart, belongs to that group of albums featuring a strong evocative presence that leaves you amazed.

Musicians of the caliber of Keith Emerson and Martin Pugh accompany a broken voice with a melancholic tone that tells of how he lost what he loves and how he fears losing what remains.

Recorded in 1969, with the collaboration of artists from Jeff Beck Group and Steamhammer, it was released in the USA under the title Rod Stewart Album, leaving you with the Blues and rain in your soul.

The cover of Street Fighting Man by the Stones shows how the band doesn't limit themselves to doing the basic assignment well, presenting a melodic structure rich in noteworthy guitar moments (Ronnie Wood does not yet know that he will periodically play the song with Keith in the years to come).

Of the splendid covers, Rod and his broken voice have delivered hundreds, but perhaps none as much as Handbags And Gladrags (Mike D'Abo and Chris Farlowe), which picks up the theme of the entire album and is the song that compels you to listen to the entire record with that piano in the background and the trumpet weaving the perfect carpet for the first refrain:

What will become of you, my love, when you are stripped of the suitcases and clothes your grandfather sweated to give you?

In the titletrack, the bass is the most fascinating instrument, with those Blues notes descending into the depths and lifting you powerfully, just like the father's raincoat that doesn't let you fall down.

How fascinating can a gray and cold day be?