Rod Stewart's seventh solo CD, A Night on the Town, was originally released in 1976 and this was Stewart's first platinum release. The disc has aged well and Rhino Records has now given it deluxe treatment by adding a second disc with an unreleased alternate version of the full A Night on the Town album along with four studio outtakes. These thirteen unreleased tracks are a 'must have' for long-time Rod Stewart fans and well worth a "trade up" from an LP or single disc versions of A Night on the Town. For the uninitiated, this disc is a return to the blues/bar-stomping sound of The Faces and 70's era Rolling Stones. While there are a few slow songs, "Trade Winds" is really the only syrupy ballad (and the only dud on the disc). If you are a fan of 70's British blues/rock, you aren't going to go wrong with this disc.

There are already a lot of reviews out of A Night on the Town, so I'm just going to focus this review on the bonus tracks. Disc 1 contains one bonus track, "Rosie", which was originally issued as the b-side to the single "The Killing of Georgie". This cut is a great New Orleans blues style bar room stomper. The song has a great build-up which features horns, strings and piano.

Disc 2 starts with the studio outtake "Share" which is a bit too soft for my taste but it doesn't fall to "Trade Winds" status as the song features intricate guitar work and raw vocals from Stewart. The alternate version of A Night on the Town follows and this is a great companion piece to the studio LP. These are "early versions" which are less produced, rawer versions of the songs. The early versions of the fast songs capture the rawness of a live-in-the-studio performance and the slow songs are more intricate than the fully produced versions would imply. While all of the songs are finished versions, this disc includes some studio banter which adds to the overall work-in-progress ambiance. In addition to including an early version of "Rosie", this second disc also includes an early version of Stewart's cover of The Beatles' "Get Back" (the final version was used in the film All This And World War II).

A Rod Stewart box set is supposed to be released sometime later this year and deluxe editions of Foot Loose And Fancy Free and Blondes Have More Fun will follow early next year.

Links:
Rhino Records
Rod Stewart's Website