It Had To Be You…The Great American Songbook
Rod Stewart (J-Records)

The Great Pretender

By Ronald Wan · Urbanwire
email reporter · email story · printer friendly version

Last year, Robbie Williams tried too hard to be our generation’s Frank Sinatra and failed miserably with ‘Somethin’ Stupid’ (Despite the good airplay it received, as far as I was concerned, it was everythin’ stupid). And before your stomach can stop churning at the thought of Robbie carrying the smugness of Sinatra or the goofiness of Sammy Davis Jr., out pops another English weasel crooning American classics.

Rod Stewart, who is known for his infectious rock n’ roll hits like ‘Every Beat Of My Heart’ and ‘Tonight I’m Yours’, does a sudden about-turn and dare we say, ventures foolishly into foreign territory.

With the backing of J-Records’s boss Clive Davis (who signed American Idol’s Ruben Studdard to the label recently) and produced by Richard Perry and the illustrious Phil Ramone (who crafted Sinatra’s Duets albums), Stewart’s released a cover album of America’s classic swinging pop standards.

It Had To Be You…The Great American Songbook features 14 tracks that include old-time favourites like ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, ‘The Nearness Of You’, and ‘The Very Thought Of You’. The album begins with the Haven Gillespie’s classic ‘You Go To My Head’ delivered in Stewart’s famous raspy vocals.

Stewart is faultless in his enunciation, carefully phrasing the lyrics with great ease and pitch. However, the monotony soon sets in. You feel uninspired to the point of being cheated by the aspiring crooner. What’s clearly lacking in the album is Stewart’s inability to deliver the various classics in different style or with the pep that the ex-footballer infuses in his rock songs.

You just don’t feel like swinging.

Maybe there’s simply no magic in his vocals to move your feet. The various songs lose their lustre and degenerate to elevator muzak. All the tracks sound almost the same, and the ignorant listener might mistake all the songs for having originated from Stewart himself, instead of legendary crooners.

If Stewart had his own reputation at heart, he should have released a single instead and that could very well be Jack Strachey’s ‘These Foolish Things’, which Stewart performed to perfection here. His measured diction of the lyrics carries the melancholy of the song aptly: “The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations/Silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations.”

A good listen nonetheless, because of the well-chosen material, if not for the delivery, but you’d be better off picking up your dad’s dusty Frank Sinatra or Cole Porter album instead for some good old classic swinging.

Rating: