Rod Stewart - It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook

Customer Reviews:

Now I Understand.......2006-06-29

For many years, I had been only a casual fan of Rod's work, due to a surfiet of "Maggie May" played continuously on the juke box in my college restaurant by some unknown idiot. After a while, people would get up and kick the plug out of the wall, to tumultuous applause from the rest of us. After that beginning, I was loathe to explore more of Rod's work. However, I did eventually pick up "Storyteller", since it contained all the Stewart material I liked. I was mildly puzzled by the title, but never enough to pursue it. It was only when I received this DVD as a gift that "Storyteller" made sense. In drama school, we spent some time learning the art of storytelling, which can be even more difficult than acting. The answer was evident then. One has to SEE Rod to understand that he has mastered the art of storytelling in his songs. This DVD has taken a lot of flack; it doesn't deserve it. Rod's performance of "Downtown Train" is killer; a fantastic example of his storytelling skills, but they are also evident in his songs from "The Great American Songbook". Combined with the "One Night Only" DVD (another must-have), you've got Rod Stewart as he should be enjoyed --- live and loving what he's doing!

Not As Good As "One Night Only" But A Solid Show Overall.......2005-04-03

In Rod's first concert dvd since 1998's "Storytellers", "It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook" is a concert originally recorded in 2001 to promote his first "Great American Songbook" album, "It Had To Be You". Mixing several tracks from that album with the usual Stewart classics, it is not as great as the recent "One Night Only! Rod Stewart Live At The Royal Albert Hall", it is still an overall solid five star perfomance.

The concert starts off with two energetic renditions of two of Rod the Mod's biggest hits, "Forever Young" and "Some Guys Have All The Luck", the latter tacking on "Every Breath You Take" at the end. Then comes 12 straight tracks from the "Great American Songbook" album. Now, I don't know why so many people dislike these songs, or at least Rod's versions. Stewart's raspy voice is perfect for these standards, just as Sinatra's and Crsoby's were on the original version. The live version breathes new life into these already great songs.

After this half of the concert is over, Rod bounds back onstage to perform seven more Stewart classics. This is the only part of the show that is somewhat disappointing. While "Maggie May" and the rarely heard these days "Young Turks" are fine, the rest of the performances a re a mixed bag. "Rhythm Of My Heart" and "Downtwon Train" are never as good as the studio versions when performed live, as they lack the richness and excitement of the originals, and these workmanlike performances are no exception. And while "Hot Legs" is done really well here, the version on "One Night Only! Rod Stewart live At The Royal Albert Hall" blows this one out of the water. However, Rod rescues the concert from an average four star rating with pitch perfect renditions of "Havin' A Party", "I'll Be Seeing You" and "It Takes Two".

Overall, again not as good as the Royal Albert Hall concert dvd, but definitely worth owning. It's not an overall excellent concert, but the majority of it is Rod at his best.

Poor lipsync.......2005-02-02

How can it be with to days technology. While the music is great to me, I hate to see a delay between the lips of a singer and the words of the song. On this DVD it happens several times.

No Rod Soul.......2005-01-04

The rock hits on this DVD are not sung with the usual Rod gusto, instead he is still recovering from the throat surgery from a couple years previous. And the audience is a hand picked bunch of stiffs who add nothing. Rod sings the standards with respect but they don't sound much different from the CD. All in all, not a good performance, and definitely NOT like a real Rod concert. Skip this and go for the Storytellers AND the "Royal Albert Hall" DVDs--both are superior.

One of the Best Concert DVDs !!!.......2003-10-12

I'm so glad I got this dvd inspite of having the cd already. The dvd has 9 bonus tracks compared to the cd. The tracklist includes the ff: songs

1. Forever Young
2. Some Guys Have All The Luck
3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
4. The Way You Look Tonight
5. These Foolish Things
6. Moonglow
7. Every Time We Say Goodbye
8. The Very Thought Of You
9. That Old Feeling
10. You Go To My Head
11. For All We Know
12. The Nearness Of You
13. That's All
14. We'll Be Together Again
15. Rhythm Of My Heart
16. Downtown Train
17. Maggie May
18. Young Turks
19. Hot Legs
20. Havin' A Party
21. I'll Be Seeing You

Bonus Track: It Takes Two

It's so different when you see an artist perform in front of you & ROD STEWART was truly a treat to watch in this DVD. For a man who's over 50 he sure didn't act like one and that's a compliment coz you will see how much fun he was having in this concert!

I wasn't really exposed to his songs, while I was growing up, for the main reason that I wasn't the "rock" type of person but with the old songs of his that he included in this DVD... This DVD surely rocks my collection of favorites !

DVD:

DVD

DVD