Rod Stewart just announced that he’ll be playing Rogers Arena on April 10th, 2018 and it got us feeling nostalgic for classic Rod Stewart hits. And it just so happens that one of his big albums is celebrating a big birthday: Rod the Bod’s 8th album, Foot Loose & Fancy Free, is turning 40!

 

By 1977, Rod Stewart was just beginning his superstar journey. He’d only been a solo artist for a handful of years, had recently relocated to Los Angeles and was now sporting a more glammed up look (maybe the highlight of his hair evolution, and he has GREAT HAIR).

 

This album is most commonly remembered for being the record that produced “Hot Legs”. Love the song or hate it, it’s pretty fun. It wasn’t a huge hit at the time but has always gotten lots of radio airplay (including on JACK 96.9).

 

This was also the first album Rod Stewart recorded with the Rod Stewart Group, his own band comprised of accomplished players such as Chinese-Jamaican bassist Phil Chen (who played with Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Ray Charles and others) and drummer Carmen Appice (who was a member of Vanilla Fudge, recorded with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Jeff Beck and was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014).

 

The highest charting single from the album was the ballad “You’re In My Heart”. It peaked at #4 but ended up causing Rod considerable stress. His girlfriend at the time of the album’s recording, Swedish supermodel and Bond girl Britt Eklund, claimed Rod wrote much of his material, including “You’re in My Heart”, about her and filed a $12.5 million dollar lawsuit against Rod. They eventually settled out of court.

 

 

Our music director’s favourite song on the album is Rod’s cover of The Supremes anthem “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. It is different enough from the original to be memorable yet not disrespectful. And the instrumental breakdown about 4:30 minutes into the song is gnarly. It might be the best cover version of this song, and there are many. Oddly enough, Rod’s drummer Carmen Appice also recorded a version of this song while with Vanilla Fudge.

 

 

All in all, it’s a great album from an interesting turning point in Rod Stewart’s career.

 

Do you still have the album? Will you be going to Rod Stewart’s April concert at Rogers Arena?

Filed under: 1977, Foot Loose & Fancy Free, Rod Stewart