He is without question one of the most gifted singers in rock history, but there’s something depressing about The Definitive Rod Stewart; granted, 15 of the songs on this two-CD/one-DVD set were Top 10 hits, yet one can’t help but think that Stewart has spent the majority of his career squandering his talent, hit singles be damned. Fans will point to his versatility, but it’s more like bandwagon jumping, from mellow gold to disco to new wave to the inevitable unplugged session (his mining of the Great American Songbook, thankfully, is not included here). To his credit, Rod could sell ice to the Eskimos, which is why “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Infatuation” were such massive hits. Warner Bros. definitely picked all of the right songs for this set – though we would have included anything else from his catalog, even his cover of Free’s “All Right Now,” if it meant the exclusion of “Love Touch” – and the inclusion of a DVD featuring a bunch of his promotional videos is a nice plus. But the fact that this is Stewart’s definitive work is more damning than cause for celebration. (Warner Bros.)
