Rod Stewart's new album Time

I'm a big Rod Stewart fan. I've seen him in concert twice (2007 post) and admire his energy and his ability to still sound just like he does on the radio so many years later. I also love his rock songs, love songs and standards. In fact, my wedding song was his version of "Have I Told You Lately." People  forget just how many hits he's had: "Forever Young," "Hot Legs," "If You Think I'm Sexy," "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," and my dad's favorite, "Maggie May." Plus, many more.

Today, he's releasing a new album, Time. It's his first album of new material in almost twenty years—of course, his hairstyle hasn't changed one bit. Rod Stewart has spent four decades being a rock star, three being a parent, and has a new album's worth of rollicking stories to tell.

Stewart wrote and produced 11 of the album's 12 cuts. The first two singles off the album, She Makes Me Happy and Finest Woman, are available now as well. They are also my favorite songs on the album.

Stewart rediscovered the spark for songwriting while reviewing his life for his recent memoir.

"Suddenly ideas for lyrics were piling up in my head," he says. "Next thing I knew, I had a song called 'It's Over' about divorce and separation. And now I was getting up in the middle of the night and scrambling for a pen to write things down, which has never happened to me. I finished seven or eight songs very quickly and I still wasn't done, and it became apparent that I would eventually have a whole album of material to record." 

Along with the release of Time, Stewart is set to embark on the European leg of his Live the Life tour on June 1st, while American dates with Steve Winwood will kick off October 17th. You can bet I'll be going to see him live now for the third time!

Overall, it's a fun and upbeat album. I've been playing it while blogging. You can download the album on iTunes or order your CD at Amazon.com. 

Disclosure: I participated in this campaign for One2One Network. I received a free copy of the CD to facilitate my review, but did NOT get any compensation. By posting, I am eligible for a drawing however. All opinions stated are my own. Boy do I hate writing these things. As a journalist I didn't have to even though I also got free CDs sent to the paper then too, but now that I'm a blogger the stupid FTC threatens everyone if they don't! Shouldn't it be the same set of rules though? Anyway...