FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Rod Stewart – Atlantic Crossing
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IN the 1970s…
Rod Stewart’s career went through a couple of different phases. It was a bit of a mixed and slow start to the decade. 1974’s Smiler – his fifth solo album – gained some mixed reviews, and it was not one of his best works. Things change drastically the following year when Atlantic Crossing arrived. Though it is hard to buy the album on vinyl in perfect condition, there are options around, and you can pick up a pretty good copy. Stewart’s sixth solo album went to number-one on the U.K. charts, and Atlantic Crossing was his bid to gain some new commercial success; Stewart changed direction on Atlantic Crossing (and he signed to Warner Brothers), and the album was divided into two different sides:
“Fast Half (Side One)
1. "Three Time Loser" (Rod Stewart) – 4:03
2. "Alright for an Hour" (Stewart, Jesse Ed Davis) – 4:17
3. "All in the Name of Rock 'N' Roll" (Stewart) – 5:02
4. "Drift Away" (Mentor Williams) – 3:43
5. "Stone Cold Sober" (Stewart, Steve Cropper) – 4:12
Slow Half (Side Two)
1. "I Don't Want to Talk About It" (Danny Whitten) – 4:47
2. "It's Not The Spotlight" (Barry Goldberg, Gerry Goffin) – 4:21
3. "This Old Heart of Mine" (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, Sylvia Moy) – 4:04
4. "Still Love You" (Stewart) – 5:08
5. "Sailing" (Gavin Sutherland) – 4:37”.
I love Rod Stewart’s voice through Atlantic Crossing, and I think the album contains some of his best tracks. I grew up listening to songs like Sailing, I Don’t Want to Talk About It, Three Time Loser and Drift Away. During this album, Stewart cut ties with long-time associates such as Ronnie Wood and the musicians he had worked with when he was signed to Mercury Records. Completely overhauling his sound and working practice, Stewart recruited The Memphis Horns and three-quarters of Booker T and the MG’s. Rod Stewart left The Faces by the end of 1975. The group disliked his change of sound, and it seemed like Stewart and the rest of the group were moving in different directions. This article from Ultimate Classic Rock sheds more light on the success of Atlantic Crossing and Rod Stewart’s view on the album:
“Although Stewart continued to struggle to gain traction on American radio stations, Atlantic Crossing was a sizable hit the U.S. as well as the U.K., breaking the Top 10 and going gold in the States while hitting No. 1 in Britain and spinning off a pair of Top Five singles ("Sailing," No. 1, and "This Old Heart of Mine," No. 4). Two years later, Crossing would deliver yet another hit, when "I Don't Want to Talk About It" was released as a two-sided single with "The First Cut Is the Deepest," a cut from his follow-up effort A Night on the Town.
Although some listeners, missed the Faces-style rootsy charm of his previous records, Crossing's success — coupled with guitarist Ron Wood joining the Rolling Stones — put the writing on the wall for the band, as well as Stewart's increasingly commercial focus on subsequent efforts.
"The world is a lot bigger than Great Britain and the Faces. A lot bigger," he told Creem. "I must have had blinkers on these last five years. I must have been mad using the same musicians over and over again. I should have branched out a long time ago. All the fun has come back into recording for me at last. I've never liked going into the studio and now I can't wait to go back. I'd always used the Faces on my albums so for that reason I've wanted to keep the band together. But now I know I can stand on my own two feet."
That attitude spilled over into the Faces' final round of dates, a tumultuous U.S. tour booked through the fall of 1975, and by the end of the year, the group announced it was splitting up — leaving Stewart to get right back to work on his next solo album.
"It only took three weeks' solid recording time to do it," he laughed. "When an album is only 40 minutes long, I'm a firm believer that it shouldn't take a year to make. I think I could make another one before Christmas".
Although many of the songs on Atlantic Crossing were not written by Rod Stewart, I think he makes the tracks his own. Stewart would find further success with 1976’s A Night on the Town; an album that contains classics like The First Cut Is the Deepest. The 1970s was a changeable and mixed decade for Stewart in terms of success, but I think Atlantic Crossing is a great album and one of his best solo efforts. In their review, this is what AllMusic had to say:
“Rod Stewart's sixth album was called Atlantic Crossing because the singer was literally crossing the Atlantic, making America his new home for reasons of the heart (he was fully enamored with actress Britt Ekland at the time) and the wallet (he was eager to escape Britain's restrictive tax rates). As it happens, 1975 was a perfect time for a new beginning for Stewart: the Faces were falling apart, his last LP, Smiler, wasn't roundly loved, and he had wrapped up his contract with Mercury and signed with Warner, so he completely rebooted, hiring legendary producer Tom Dowd to steer him through a slick, streamlined revamping of his signature sound. The first thing to be ditched were any traces of the ragged folkie who had popped up on all his first five solo albums, including on his career-making hit "Maggie May," a move that may partially have been due to Stewart's longtime writing partner Martin Quittenton deciding to sever ties with him.
Without those ringing acoustic guitars, Dowd and Stewart ratcheted up the rock & roll, soul, and whiskey-soaked ballads, first taking a stab at recording the album with the MG's (outtakes of which popped up on Warner's 2009 double-disc Collector's Edition of the album), then expanding this core group with other studio pros who could easily settle into a smooth, polished groove. The results were splashy without being glitzy, soulful without being gritty, an impressive big-budget revamp of Stewart that benefited enormously from a clutch of great songs, both originals and covers. Tellingly, all the great originals arrive on the first side dubbed "The Fast Half," with Rod writing blistering, funny rockers about being laid up three times with VD ("Three Time Loser") and suffering through an unwanted sobriety ("Stone Cold Sober"), then easing back for a quick romance on the Jesse Ed Davis co-written "Alright for an Hour" -- all good indications that his heart was still at a party. But the "Slow Half" did reveal that Stewart had lost none of his fine, nuanced interpretive skills, as he tore into Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want to Talk About It," took his first stab at "This Old Heart of Mine," and kept "Sailing" from drifting away into sentimentality. When taken together, the two halves might have showcased a somewhat slicker Stewart, but he was still the same old Rod with a big, oversized heart and an irresistible bad boy smirk. He may have crossed the Atlantic, but he was none worse for the wear for his journey, at least not yet.
Even if you are not a Rod Stewart fan, I think Atlantic Crossing is a fantastic album with plenty of variety and standouts. It is brilliantly produced (by Tom Dowd), and Stewart gives every song his all. Atlantic Crossing is not often talked about, but I think that it is a great album…
WORTH some serious exploration.