Rod Stewart's mellowing years have neatly coincided with a commitment to smart ballad choices and a generally warmer musical persona. Rod the Mod liberated at last? Like many a pop singer, Stewart returns here to what's become generally known as the Great American Songbook, that evergreen body of mid-20th century songcraft that continues to inspire singers across oceans and generations. It's said that Stewart has been vocalizing many of these songs in private for years, and given the warm, human scale of most of the performances here, it's not hard to believe. Producer Phil Ramone's spare, unobtrusive arrangements inspire the singer to some of his most subtle and rewarding performances in years. Stewart's slightly weary vocal tack handsomely suggests the smoke, booze, and aching heart that lie at the best of these songs. Such back-to-the-future efforts can often sound like a last career gasp; here, they seem a refreshing breath of fresh air. --Jerry McCulley

2009-05-20 -- 3/5:: No Maggie Mae
Different but still good Rod. I love American Songbook CDs by formidable singers and Rod is holding his own with this CD.

2009-04-17 -- 3/5:: Great American Song Book
Well, the first disk in the set of four was a little dissapointing, not bad, just not "WOW". If I had heard that one first, I probably would not have bought the rest. BUT... I heard the third one first, and the second, third and fourth are Great.....

2008-09-12 -- 5/5:: Rod Stewart
As a Rod Stewart aficionado dating back to 1971, I was highly suspicious of this product, even dismissing it at one early stage as "drivel" ! However, I chanced upon a listen one evening at a dinner party and I have to say it is a recording of the highest quality. The music is immaculately played by session musicians of considerable experience and Stewart's vocal delivery is clear and appealing. Unlike many contemporary artists who have delivered a "swing album", Stewart goes back in many cases here, to the 1930s for his songs and produces something special.

"Every Time We Say Goodbye", "It Had To Be You", "We'll Be Together Again" and "The Way You Look Tonight" are timeless classics given a really good run-out by Stewart, although whisper it quietly but "You Go To My Head" and "These Foolish Things", although done wel here, were both the beneficiaries of superior covers by Bryan Ferry in the 1970s !

This album is a triumph, something different and very relaxing after a long, hard day. Love it.

2008-05-27 -- 5/5:: Rod stewart
I also liked this one to. Play it at work every day. We sing along with rod.

2008-04-08 -- 5/5:: Rod revives WWII-era standards with wit and panache
On It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook Vol. 1 by Rod "the Bod" Stewart, Rod lovingly resuscitates WWII-era standards by Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and others in a laid-back ballroom style. Opening with They Can't Take That Away From Me, the strummed guitar, reminiscent of manouche Jazz a la Django, provides a swaggering backing for Rod's playful delivery (this song has become known as "the Knife Song" in my house due to an family tradition of a glass of wine and someone waving a knife in the air during the lyric "the way you hold your knife"). The Way You Look Tonight opens with a sparse, nostalgic pianissimo piano solo and sliding into soft snare brushes as Rod croons the lyrics softly.

Rod's delivery alternates between a wistful, lovestruck tone on softer, slower songs such as The Nearness of You, For All We Know, and The Nearness of You, or a playful, dashing sort of tossed-off delivery as the lyrics require (You Go To My Head, Moonglow, These Foolish Things). There are jazzier touches such as the blues-inspired intro on Moonglow, or the manouche guitar on For All We Know.

Rod's band really shines on providing a retro-sounding backing suitable for candlelit dinners or soft, slow dancing, featuring numerous studio musicians on piano and synth, bass, guitar, and drums and guests Dave Koz on tenor sax and Arturo Sandoval and Chris Botti on trumpet. If I had to sum up the mood, it would be "low key." This is wonderfully relaxed and free of too-modern arrangements. Rod's voice may have a scratchier edge than true '40s-era crooners such as Sinatra, but he really inhabits the songs with a playfulness and respect that make him utterly believable in the role of crooner. Even if you're not a fan of Rod's earlier recordings, just give It Had To Be You a try; you may just fall madly in love with these songs, as I did.

Many critics have commented that these songs don't suit Rod's whiskey voice, but I disagree. For one thing, I, too, grew up hearing Rod's rock persona from his 1970s recordings, so I'm no stranger to his more famous hits such as Maggie May. In fact, this album, which I heard for the first time in 2003, was a watershed moment on my musical tastes and started me on a journey collecting authentic 1940s recordings by Glenn Miller, Tommey Dorsey, Harry James, all of Frank Sinatra's Brunswick and Columbia material, and '40s vocal collections by Jo Stafford, Peggy Lee, and Doris Day. If it hadn't have been for Rod's impassioned delivery, I wouldn't have become interested in the Great American Songbook.

If I had to venture a guess, it would be that Rod has done for revival of the Great American Songbook and WWII standards what Sarah Brightman has done for the popularity of classical crossover, creating the first successful albums that would inspire new genres and artists to flourish. This isn't to say that he's the first to do so; Linda Ronstadt's What's New and 'Round Midnight and Natalie Cole's Unforgettable: With Love and Stardust were on the market in the early 1990s.

My only disappointment with It Had To Be You was the fact that the subsequent albums never matched the brilliance of the original; As Time Goes By...The Great American Songbook: Volume II, Stardust... The Great American Songbook, Vol. III, and Thanks For The Memory...The Great American Songbook IV featured some lackluster duets with other music celebs and some of the best songs were already covered on this album. After the success of It Had To Be You, practically everybody cashed in on the Songbook hype, including Michael Bolton (Vintage), Cyndi Lauper (At Last), and Carly Simon (Moonlight Serenade).

This album will appeal to several generations: the Greatest Generation that lived through WWII and remember these songs firsthand, the Baby Boomers that may have grown up hearing these, and finally, my generation (Gen X), who will probably be hearing many of these classics for the first time. Hats off to Rod for preserving and renewing interest in an important American musical legacy that threatened to be lost to fading memories and the ravages of time.