The second thing is, no matter what you think about him, he always has this: вЂњHey man, say what you will about вЂDa Ya Think IвЂ™m Sexy.вЂ™ I was in the fucking FACES вЂ¦вЂќ He is a brilliant vocal interpreter, and no amount of ludicrous schmaltz can cut through the fundamental charm of his innate talent. But goddamn if that throaty, tuneful brogue is not to this day one of the most beautifully bruised instruments in all of music. Sometimes it sounds like he has done just this very thing, other times you wish that he had. ItвЂ™s commonly said that Rod could sing the phonebook and it would sound mesmerizing. In the process, he made himself fabulously wealthy and largely insufferable - as smug and pandering a heel turn as rock music has ever known.Д«ut two facts remain, inarguable, incongruent, and puzzling.ДЇirst, Rod ALWAYS sings great, no matter what sort of shit he is singing or why. He practically singlehandedly invented the вЂњadult contemporary genreвЂќ, and not in a good way. He has made ersatz-disco albums, tedious synth pop, and, inevitably, collections (many collections) of karaoke-style Tin Pan Alley standards. He has largely squandered, in artistic terms, the miraculous gift of his singing voice and engaged in some of the worst and most embarrassing instances of music-industry trend chasing and bombastic overexposure of the 1970s and вЂ™80s, which is saying something given the era. Going on 40 years now, starting around the time of his unfortunate-in-every-way 1974 solo release Smiler, Rod StewartвЂ™s persona and output has ranged progressively from the simply silly to the utterly cringe-inducing. Cue the ESPN 30 For 30 voice over: вЂњWhat if we told you that Rod Stewart was once every bit as cool, dangerous, and desirable as Keith, Kurt, or Kanye вЂ¦вЂќ We begin our discussion of the Faces, as we must, with вЂњThe Rod ConundrumвЂќ - one of the thorniest in all of rock and roll lore.

Faces live bbc 1971 cd