I don't know if I could ever fully express my gratitude to Rod.. A couple of years back, I had a blind date.. Well, she was more attractive than I ever could have expected; I was at a loss for words and I simply just froze up. I had gone into this date with no expectations; I didn't bring flowers; I simply just honked when I arrived at her place of residence.. When we started to leave for our destination(on the phone,I had originally flat out lied and told her I was broke and could only afford Subway; and to go dutch at the dollar cinema)she was cold. When I was able to compose myself and actually attempt to make conversation, I got nothing. She clearly wasn't impressed with me. I attempted to smooth things over by telling her that she didn't look anything like I had expected; she expressed the same sentiment to me, but unfortunately, before we met, she told me that I had a gorgeous voice.. Anyway, there we were driving; her head turned towards the window; I'm quickly grasping for any possible solution to pull me out of this hole.. Then, I remember, I had taken my Grandmother out to lunch earlier in the week, and she had left a Rod Stewart album in my stereo. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about it, but this was no ordinary Stewart disc. No, this wasn't his humdrum work from the early '70s, or that lame duet with Jeff Beck.. this was the sensual guarantee of being asked in at the end of the night.

I started with the first track, "If We Fall In Love Tonight"; I needed to get the message to this girl that it was okay, She could let go, and who better to help me express this sentiment than Rod? As the vocal started, she actually turned her attention away from the passing traffic and commented that she thought she had heard this one before, but couldn't put her finger on the time or place.
It didn't get me very far, but at least she was talking..
Then, I skipped ahead to "For The First Time"; at that point, she spoke again, and said that this one always reminded her of a root canal. I didn't understand, but then she explained that there was a version of this that the guy who did the song "Footloose" did, and when she had some dental issues a few years back, she heard the song, over and over again while sitting in the chair.
This wasn't going at all as I had planned, so I moved ahead to "When I Need You"; all of the sudden, I felt an arm come around my shoulder- she giggled and whispered in my ear, "you know what this one is really about, don't you?" Well, I had no clue what she was talking about, but what difference did it make? I was finally getting somewhere, so I smiled and nodded, and let the track play in it's entirety.

When, "Have I Told You Lately" began, I felt her hand on my knee. She told me that for some reason, this remix took her back to high school, when a video by the group "Color Me Bad" was popular, in which a man and woman were trapped together in an elevator.. I couldn't believe how much this girl could blab, but I didn't care, the CD was working, she was getting increasingly heated up.

By track eight, we were kissing rather intensely, and no, it's no coincidence that the song playing was a slow jam like "The First Cut Is The Deepest".
The deal was pretty much set with "Tonight's The Night", but when my date didn't hear the French whispers at the end, she cooled off a little bit. I almost panicked, but then "Sometimes When We Touch" closed the deal. It went back to the whole elevator scenario again(shrug); only this time it was a connection to an Aerosmith song.. Whatever the case, it didn't matter, she asked if I wanted to pass on our plans for the evening and just go back to her place for a drink.. Thank you, Rod..
Oh and no, you don't have to ask, we finished the CD once we arrived at her place- it all went well until the last two tracks: "Forever Young '96" started her talking about her need to start a family before she was too old; and I'm sure "All For Love", featuring Bryan Adams and Sting is self explanatory..

Anyway, after this release, I thought we almost lost Rod; he actually put out an album in '98(When We Were The New Boys) that featured rockers, where he was attempting to go back to his roots(yawn).. but it's always darkest before the dawn; he then did a motivational song for the "Patch Adam's" soundtrack- and then the flood.. "The Great American Songbook". With this exceptional, four volume set, we realized Rod hadn't lost anything; and I'm sure I don't have to explain my good fortunes on subsequent dates.

but the one and only reason I can't is because I like an earlier version of "Forever Young," and the one included on this CD is a recent (1996) version.

Besides that one flaw, this is a perfect CD!

Unlike Rod's current choice of music going back to the "Great American Songbook", every song on this CD has been an Adult Contemporary Hit. Even if you're not a huge Rod fan like myself, you can appriciate the quiet loving nature of this CD. He hit many of the great love songs on here such as "When I Need You", and "For the First Time", but also his own hits "Broken Arrow",and "All For Love". This CD is the one you pop in when you want to fall in love with your significant other all over again. I believe sales of this CD must spike near Valentines Day, because I know that's when I would buy this. I can't say enough good about this CD, except it's worth every cent of your purchase price. It's one of those rare CDs where every song on there is a winner, and you can set your CD player to shuffle without fear of hitting a bad one.