Great album

It's a great album for someone that likes rod stewart.
And the track tonight im yours is worth the price alone.

Rod enters the 80's on top!

Only recently did I start buying some of Rod Stewart's full-length albums. I always liked alot of his 70's and 80's hits, but wanted a deeper look at some of his material of the era.



This is just about the perfect height of Rod's career. It's mostly upbeat and rocking, but with an 80's pop sound, and remnants of his disco era left (this was 1981--not long after) yet before he descended into adult contemporary hell around (and especially after) 1991.



1. The title track charges in with the energy of rockers like "Hot Legs" and the slight disco feel of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy." It's very 80's sounding (that's a good thing!), with an electronic, hard-edged new wave beat. In fact, it could almost pass as hard rock.



2. How Long -- Rod turns out a great cover of the already great Four Tops song. This is more of a mid-tempo, 80's pop/rock/R&B sounding variation. I won't quite say it outdoes the original, but it's pretty close.



3. Tora Tora Tora -- Probably the hardest rocker on the album. It sounds alot like a rowdy-type party song he could've done with the Faces 10-15 years before, just with a slight 80's feel to it.



4. Tear it Up -- The upbeat party rock continues here, with this very classic/oldies-rock-inspired tune with an accoustic piano intro. In fact, the guitar riff strongly recalls "Johnny B. Goode."



5. Only A Boy -- Sounds like it could've been autobiographical, about Rod's younger days and his beginnings in rock n' roll. Stylistically, it's a mid tempo pop/rock number with a slight Scottish ballad tinge.



6. Just Like A Woman -- The second cover song here, this time of a Bob Dylan tune. Done in a somewhat ballad style, it's my least favorite song, but still not bad.



7. Jealous -- Another song that kinda lends itself to the early 80's, with traces of Rod's disco sound leftover. Mid to fast tempo rock that sounds alot like the Stones' "Miss You" (especially in the guitar riff).



8. Sonny -- The first of two softer ballads here, this one the superior of them both. Starting off with synth-styled keyboards reminding me of Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" and ascending to a near-mid tempo toward the middle of the song.



9. Young Turks -- Ahh, the big hit that I love! The story of two teen lovers, Patty & Billy, who run away from home together. Rod tells it from a third person, but it seems to be more from their POV.



If you were to read the lyrics without hearing the music, you could easily think it was a country song. Not to scare y'all away, though, it's really a new wave-y pop/arena rock song, basically like a slightly toned-down version of the title track.



10. Never Give Up on a Dream -- The inspirational, touching, semi upbeat piano/pop ballad here, about (and dedicated to the memory of) runner Terry Fox, who died of cancer around the time this album was recorded.



I recently also found out that he had an album after this, BODY WISHES in 1983 (I always used to think 1984's CAMOUFLAGE was the follow-up!), which, from the two hits I've heard, keeps a pretty similar style.

Rod Stewart's Last Great One For Some Time

TONIGHT I'M YOURS was Rod Stewart's artistic comeback after the disposable disco sounds of BLONDES HAVE MORE FUN and FOOLISH BEHAVIOUR. Unfortunately, it was also his last good studio album until OUT OF ORDER, and his last great one until the 90s albums VAGABOND HEART, UNPLUGGED...AND SEATED, SPANNER IN THE WORKS, and WHEN WE WERE THE NEW BOYS. The opening title track and "Young Turks" show him applying his soulful pipes to great effect over electronic backing, while his version of Ace's "How Long" cuts the great original to shreds. The rockers "Tora Tora (Out With The Boys)" and "Tear It Up", plus the gospel-toned inspirational ballad "Never Give Up On A Dream" show his Memphis-Chicago-Texas-St. Louis-Muscle Shoals-Detroit blues/R&B/soul influences and "Only A Boy" reveals his roots in British Isles folk music. This album shows that he still had the ability, even after putting out crass disco pap, to record soulful, emotionally naked albums for the rest of his career. Unfortunately, he didn't; after a hot 1982 live album, he recorded the pieces of garbage BODY WISHES, CAMOUFLAGE, and ROD STEWART, with only his version of "People Get Ready", on Jeff Beck's FLASH, standing out among the vapid pop with which he so sabotaged his credit rating that it took VAGABOND HEART, with its highly inspirational rocker "Moment Of Glory", to truly reclaim himself and his career.