Rod Stewart in the 1980s poll: Singles (that reached the Top 40)

with you on that. i prefer it equally wrt the original, depending on my level of inebriation.

It's one of the few covers which really does sound like the singers had a great time recording it.

Could it be that I'm the only person here who likes "My Heart Can't Tell You No"? I'd like it even more without the cheesy spanish guitar solo.

It's my least favorite of the ballads, but, really, I can defend every song here except "Passion," "Infatuation," and "Love Touch." I'm on record preferring his version of "Downtown Train" to Tom Waits'.

Baby Jane is wonderful listen to it again you'll see! PS surely you can forgive the horrid 80s production/arrangement by now.

forever young gives me the nostalgia goosebumps when i hear it

really like 'my heart can't tell you know' but mostly for the production, much like his other 80's+ stuff. so many audio effects! i think the spanish solo is the least produced part of it.

I can defend every song here except..."Infatuation"

I think that's one of the easiest to defend, tbh. The production squarely traps it in 1984, but lifts the song above a lot of what else is here at the same time. One of the finest sounding songs of 1984 imo. Plus it's just kind of cheeky.

Infatuation is awesome and so is the video. Over the top and knowing it.

found the chick in the out of order videos saga so fucking hot when i was 14.

"Infatuation" the only really good song here IMO so it got my vote.

"People Get Ready" technically a Jeff Beck record with Rod singing. I think this is Beck's highest charting single in the US, maybe the only one. ("Hi, Ho, Silver Lining" did nothing stateside).

I think "Love Touch" would be better regarded if it weren't the theme from an awful movie. I think it's a reasonably good song, and don't get why this one is so often singled out for derision.

Reportedly, Rod Stewart didn't realize until after it was released that "Forever Young" was a complete knock-off of the like-named Bob Dylan tune. He quickly acknowledged that he forgot he had heard this somewhere rather than dreaming it up himself, and had the songwriting credit corrected.

Any of his first four albums would trounce an album of his '80s hits.

Wish "Oh God I Wish I Was Home Tonight," the umpteenth rewrite of "Maggie May and it missed the top 40, had made the cut.

Could it be that I'm the only person here who likes "My Heart Can't Tell You No"?

I have a soft spot for it, but that's in large part due to "nostalgia goosebumps," as Whiney put it.

Pondering list, until found last entry, easy: Downtown Train.

Just saw the credits for Out of Order -- whoa. Andy Taylor's all over it.

you've never read xgau's review then?

Out of Order [Warner Bros., 1988]
You know what "Produced by Rod Stewart, Andy Taylor & Bernard Edwards" means? It means he's elected to replace Robert Palmer in Power Station. And you know why Jim Cregan, David Lindley, and Lenny Pickett are on the record? Because he didn't have the guts to go all the way. C

I remembered the C review but not the review itself.

"Love Touch" isn't more offensive than the really minor stuff on this list like "What Am I Gonna Do" -- it's the synth-calypso program that makes this flirt with the execrable.

"Young Turks" is practically the national anthem of Peru. You hear it constantly, everywhere, and everybody knows the chorus.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

You know, the guy gets a lot of guff for going the standards route, but hasn't he always been big on interpretation? Was listening to some of his early solo stuff, and there are plenty of duff or overblown covers - of contemporaries, of traditional songs - that seem like something 2011 Rod would be laughed at for.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not suprised Young Turks won. Suprised by the margin (and the total number of votes!).

"Baby Jane"!

color me stunned @ #2

and "Tonight I'm Yours" is not exactly one of his most played minor hits either.

baby jane is easily one of his best known songs in the UK. it was huge.

Damn! Missed this poll!

Love this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VaazQfxGso

"Young Turks" for the lyrics alone, and the verse and chorus are impeccable.

tonight-igh-ight