How about Joe Cocker? There are certainly some strong similarities in Cocker songs like “Many Rivers to Cross”.
Stewart has one of the best and most distinctive voices in rock, and his work with the Jeff Beck group quite rightly made him a star. Without Beck to challenge him, the quality of his work suffered (and the quality of Beck’s work suffered without Stewart). It’s a similar dynamic to that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney; neither was as good apart as they had been together.
His solo work was originally well regarded, but when “Maggie Mae” – one of his weakest songs – became a hit, Stewart seemed uninterested it doing anything more than phoning it in. Much of his work was not worthy of his talent, and his critical regard hit bottom with “Do You Think that I’m Sexy.” But he made a lot of money with what he was doing, so didn’t seem interested in trying any more. His Great American Songbook series was a mistake from start to finish: he had absolutely the wrong voice for those sort of songs; he sounds like Bea Arthur from Mame.
Personally, my favorite non-Beck vocal by Stewart was when he sang lead for the obscure Australian group Python Lee Jackson; “In a Broken Dream” shows just how great Stewart could be when he was on.
Makes some sense … so lots of different audiences find him very likable (not a bad talent to have), and some of his early collaborative stuff really does rock - I hadn’t heard some of those Faces songs before.
But as for his solo stuff (which is the bulk of his career), sheesh … it sounds, at times, like what you’d get if Bryan Adams and Spinal Tap decided to collaborate.
What’s the man done other than the train deal?
Have you listened to “Every Picture Tells a Story”—his most critically acclaimed solo album—mentioned repeatedly in this thread?
He did some pretty decent stuff in the early 90s as well. Vagabond Heart is a pretty good album, with a strong soul influence, and the Unplugged set is fantastic. I’m also a fan of A Spanner In The Works from 1995, probably his best album since the early 70s. I could be biased on that one, though, as it’s the first one I bought myself rather than listening to my parents play. Same with the Stones’s Voodoo Lounge…
When I think of Rod Stewart at the point in his career at which I really liked his singing, for some reason I think of Jonny Lyons.
Lyons obviously never obtained the degree of stardom that Stewart did, but like Stewart, in his best years he had Springsteen and Van Zandt, while Stewart had Beck and Lane and Wood.
And they both started off as good solid R&B singers. Johnny Lyons never went any further, but there are similarities.
He’s still making good records now. If you’ve not heard it, the Tom Waits covers album from a few years back is wonderful. There’s another thing he has in common with Stewart, the Waits covers.
I think Rod’s down-to-earth affability almost counted against him when it came to fronting the Faces, who tended to be seen as a good-time party band when the natural comparison was with the Stones’ studied - and at times forced - aura of darkness. It was an unfair reputation: the Faces might not have been able to pull off Gimme Shelter, but neither Mick Jagger nor Keith Richards could have penned the beautiful and haunting Debris - which for my money is the best song about fathers and sons ever written - like Ronnie Lane did. And I love his vocal on this.
No mention of the “stomach pumping” legend? Thank god!
Now, what’s all this about model trains, then?
I’d always heard Stewart had a poor reputation as a person among his peers. In particular I seem to recall some story about Stewart showing up at a Ronnie Lane benefit after initially blowing it off. He supposedly became interested at the last minute when it looked like it was going to be a big deal and Eric Clapton in particular took offense.
But so much of that rock celebrity gossip is sensationalist heresay, I’ll admit I have no idea if that was just bullshit ( like the stomach pump incident 
).
You know what other rocker owns a massive scratch built model train set?
Neil Young.
And in a case of coming full circle, Rod covered “It’s A Heartache” on his 2006 album *Still the Same - Great Rock Classics of Our Time. *
And then bought the company that made the trains, if I remember correctly.
Some singing. I heard he was in a band. But it pales in comparison.
You oughta SEE the train layout! About as impressive as Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry’s layout.
I’m sick of these mutha fuckin’ trains on this mutha fuckin’ board!!
This brings up the question: did Rod ever do a cover of Train Kept A Rollin’?
No but he did do a cover of Downtown Train
The Singing Brillo Pad Strikes Again was the title of a mid-70s Rod Stewart album review in our high school paper.
missed the edit: I like The Gap Band’s Party Train.