Everything from the airbrushed photo on the cover indicates that this album,in every possible respects indicates Rod Stewart's migration from the England to the United States. He's got a new label in Warner Brothers, a new producer in the legendary Tom Dowd and,by and large a totally new sound. Soul and R&B had always been a huge influence on Rod Stewart's vocal and musical style for all this albums up until this point but it's here where it really takes presidents. By this time we're dealing with a guy whose not soley intent on finding the soul in his folk/rock/country hybrid but wanted to make a full on rock n soul album with the R&B element taking a very high priority. This album is divided into a half of fast and slow songs. The faster songs that begin this set are not necessarily uptempo and don't put as much emphasis on rock n' roll as one might expect. "Three Time Loser","Alright For An Hour",a cover of "Drift Away" and "Stone Cold Sober",in fact all have a strong stop/start midtempo funk approch where,in the tradition of that music the Muscle Shoals and former Memphis Stax backup musicians who play on this album the sound is both gritty and clean and well as grooving and tuneful. Even the fast paced "All In The Name Of Rock' N Roll" has a much stronger musical bounce to it then it does a punch. This would not be the first time an established rock star made an contemporary funk/R&B album,especially around this time. Luckily as indicated that had always been at the core of Rod's own style and flavors and that makes itself even more present in the albums slower half. "I Don't Want To Talk About It","It's Not The Spotlight" and "Still Love You" all showcase the polished yet rootsy Memphis soul/pop sound,even on the latter managing to intigrate Stewart's trademark mandolin sound into the production. The Isley's "This Old Heart Of Mine",a song that Rod loved so much he'd revisit it later with Ron Isley himself is presented here in very much a mid 70's update of the Stax soul/funk sound of a decade previous to this and manages to take any of the Northern slickness from the original and put more of a grind into it. The album concludes with the wonderful gospel led/backup singer drenched midtempo soul balladry of "Sailing" where Stewart,usually totally upfront vocall retreats somewhat into the backround as the backup singers and a layored,reverbed rhythm guitar solo and the strings take hold. This is a far more polished album for Stewart for sure and is one of his most thoroughly soul,R&B and funk inflected works of this decade. Over the decades it's aged extremely well and today is rightfully viewed as a classic in it's own right.