Rediscovering Appeal of Early Rod Stewart

Does Rod Stewart deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

A lot of the Hall of Fame judges are having trouble with that question.

Though Stewart was on this year’s ballot, the more than 600 executives, musicians and critics who vote in the annual competition apparently looked at the generally mediocre albums that Stewart has made over the last dozen years and threw their support behind other nominees.

If the voters focused instead on Stewart’s early solo recordings, they might come up with a different judgment.

The Englishman’s five solo albums for Mercury Records--especially 1970’s “Gasoline Alley” and 1971’s “Every Picture Tells a Story”--not only demonstrated Stewart’s excellence as a vocal interpreter, but also showed his disarming feel for rock’s various folk, country and R&B; influences.

Author and rock historian Greil Marcus summarized Stewart’s early appeal and influence in an essay that is cited in the booklet included in PolyGram Records’ new “Rod Stewart--The Mercury Anthology.”

Stewart’s early work on Mercury was, in Marcus’ words, “defined by two special qualities: warmth, which was redemptive, and modesty, which was liberating. If ever any rocker chose the role of Everyman and lived up to it, it was Rod Stewart.”

The anthology album, part of PolyGram’s new “Chronicles” retrospective series, is a two-disc survey of those years. The package contains 26 selections from the solo albums, plus three tunes from a live 1973 album with the Faces and three rarities.

Among the highlights:

* From “Gasoline Alley”: six selections, including the wonderfully wistful title track as well as an equally disarming version of the Rolling Stones’ hit “It’s All Over Now” and Elton John-Bernie Taupin’s “Country Comfort.”

* From “Every Picture Tells a Story”: five tunes, including the signature “Maggie May” and a version of Tim Hardin’s tender “Reason to Believe” that is among the finest vocals Stewart has ever done.

* From “Rod Stewart/Faces Live”: three tracks, including the sassy “Stay With Me” and John Lennon’s soulful “Jealous Guy.”

* The rare, non-album selections include a rollicking version of Glenn Sutton’s “What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me),” a country lament that was a huge hit for Jerry Lee Lewis in 1968.

Other artists saluted with albums in the new “Chronicles” series include Roy Buchanan (“Sweet Dreams: The Anthology”), the Troggs (“Archeology: 1966-1976”) and John Mayall (two sets: the ‘60s-based “London Blues” and the ‘70s-directed “Room to Move”).