Rod Stewart: Tonight I'm Yours - 1981


This was a bit of a patchy album from Rod Stewart. We are now moving into the eighties - a decade blighted by "synth-pop" and drum programming. 

This album was not as bad as the next two would be - 1983's Body Wishes and the appalling Camouflage from 1984. This one has its moments and hangs on to critical credibility far more than those two did. Just as 1978's Blondes Have More Fun was supposedly Stewart's "disco album", this was claimed by some to be his "new wave album". I don't get either claim. They are both completely mainstream rock albums, really. 

Tonight I'm Yours was an infectious, lively opener with enough rock guitar to save it from the wall of synthesisers utilised in the backing. A cover of Ace's hit How Long from the mid-seventies is ok, but nowhere near as soulful as the original. It sounds somewhat perfunctory to me. 

A frenetic barroom rocker, Tora Tora Tora (Out With The Boys) has Stewart on great vocal form, and some wryly amusing lyrics. It takes its title from a seventies war film about the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbour. Tear It Up is another breakneck pace song, with some rockabilly-style stand-up bass and rocking lead guitar. A mid tempo rock chugger, Only A Boy has Stewart getting regretful and nostalgic about his past, as was often his wont. It has a certain appeal, as I find these songs of his always do, being a shameless nostalgist myself. 

Covering the Bob Dylan classic Just Like A Woman may not seem like the best idea, but Stewart's big rock production of it is actually ok. Jealous has one of those Da Ya Think I'm Sexy disco synth mixed with rock guitar backings. It still retains enough "rock" about it to be listenable (whereas some of the material on the next two albums did not). Sonny is a big rock ballad that seems pretty out of kilter with the 1981 zeitgeist, to be honest. Bernie Taupin is credited as a songwriter, I'm not sure how much he contributed, though, by the sound of it. 

Young Turks, however, has always held an appeal, with its slightly Dire Straits, Sultans Of Swing-style guitar and moving, observant lyrics about a young pair of runaway lovers. Never Give Up On A Dream. Bernie Taupin is again credited on what is an emotional, piano-led ballad to close what is actually a pleasant enough album, not one of Stewart's best, but certainly not one of his worst, either.

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