The Very Best of Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart wrote the book on lead singers as rock stars go in the late '60s and early '70s fronting The Jeff Beck Group, Faces, and currently as a solo artist. His rooster-shag hairdo, sandpaper vocals, mike-stand-twirling onstage swagger, and offstage ribaldry - not to mention his gift for songwriting from ballsy rockers to hilarious story-songs to sensitive-guy ballads - are the stuff that this rock legend is made of. Rod's string of hit singles and multi-platinum albums remains unbroken to this day.

The Voice: The Very Best Of Rod Stewart spins 16 Rod the Mod classics from his Warner Bros. albums and cross-licensed to include "Maggie May" and "You Wear It Well" from his Mercury releases. This exclusive rare package includes material from 13 albums spanning from the early 1970's to the late 1990's.

Certified Gold by the RIAA. (3/02)

Rod Stewart's career has been subject to so many twists that a single-disc overview is somehow both appealingly broad and inadequate to the task of tracing all those zigzags. From beloved rocker of the first order to disco dilettante to pop crooner, Stewart's career has presented challenges to fans who may have been charmed by the rollickingly randy "Maggie May" and bemused by the alarmingly narcissistic "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" This 16-song retrospective touches all the bases without delving deeply into any era. The selections aren't arranged sequentially and the booklet is much more generous with vintage photos than album credits. This best-of collection is clearly aimed at the casual fan, but no album that presents Rod the Mod gems "Downtown Train," "You Wear It Well," and "Reason to Believe" one after another is a throwaway. --Steven Stolder