Much has been made of the fact that Stewart hasn’t recorded any self-penned material since 1991. This album was widely seen as a potential return to form. However, it’s easy to forget that he has always been an interpretive singer. Some, if not most, of his biggest hits were covers ( ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, ‘This Ole Heart of Mine’, ‘Some Guys Have All The Luck’, ‘First Cut Is The Deepest’ and ‘Reason To Believe’ among them.)
And while many of his covers are near definitive, his series of Great American Songbook albums represented something of a nadir artistically (although not commercially: they sold in
the millions).
Time, then, is a mixed bag. However, Stewart sounds re-energised. The songs are strong, many referencing past glories. But the production is disappointingly lacking in cogerence.
‘She Makes Me Happy’ is ‘Baby Jane’ style anthemic pop, ‘Can’t Stop Me Now’ is an autobiographical account of his early ambition and success. “I was singing in the pubs, I was singing in the clubs, then along came ‘Maggie May”; the highly personal and poignant ballad, ‘It’s Over’ appears to be about the breakdown of his marriage to Rachel Hunter: “Oh my dear, what happened to us/ Where did it all go wrong?”
More compellingly, the rootsy, mid-tempo rocker, ‘Live The Life’, harks back to earlier songs like the scarf-waving terrace anthem ‘You Wear It Well’ and The Faces’ ‘Cindy Incidentally’; ‘Make Love To Me Tonight’ calls to mind the steamy ‘Tonight’s The Night’; and ‘Brighton Beach’ is yet another nostalgic look back at his busking years. While not the album many had hoped for (something rootsier, in the vein of the Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand, would have been fascinating) there are enough decent tunes here to make it worth a listen.