An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down - 5

We must always remember that this was the beginning of the legend and the first of four rock albums that would establish Stewart as a prime time rock force before he moved off into the area of schmaltz.

It's very much a hotch potch of styles as if Stewart is searching for his real identity. It set the standard for his subsequent albums and set out his stall as an embryonic songwriter, mixing original material with standards as he veered between solid Rod the Mod rock and folk.

He does a decent job on Mike D'Abo's Handrags and Gladrags although I have always preferred the Chris Farlowe version. He tackles the Stones' Street Fighting Man and then gives us three originals in Blind Prayer, the title track and Cindy's Lament. Then he veered towards folk/rock with the surprise inclusion of Ewan MacColl's Dirty Old Town. Overall a patchy album, but one that showed promise

Gasoline Alley - 6

Stewart began to become of age as he continued to craft out his own style and this became more apparent on Gasoline Alley which took the themes on the previous alley and turned them into something more tangible. If "Raincoat" was a solid opening offering, this saw Stewart moving forwards but still staying within the same framework of mixing folk and rock with the gravel voice to produce a melange of songs that would lead to the excellence of Every Picture Tells A Story.

Every Picture Tells A Story - 9

"Raincoat" and "Gasoline Alley" were the build-up albums for this great rock anthem - one of the finest pure rock events of all time. This is where Stewart combined everything that was good about his persona at the time and reached heights that he would never again live up to.

It trod the same mixture of rock, blues, folk and country but in a much more grown-up way and included three Stewart classics and a bunch of others that weren't far behind. The first two albums suggest a singer trying to come to terms with a style that would suit his throaty lyrics. Here he found that style with a vengeance.

The cast list on this album reads like a who's who from 1970s rock and included The Faces, Maggie Bell, Madeleine Bell and the glorious mandolin playing of Ray Jackson from one of my all-time favourite groups Lindisfarne.

Never A Dull Moment - 6

Every Picture Tells a story established Stewart as a great British rock n roller - somebody whose albums were added to a collection without question. There were hopes that Never A Dull Moment would reach the same heights as "Picture." Sadly this wasn't to be true. Certainly after the previous offering this was a disappointment but that, of course doesn't make it a bad album and it needs to be reviewed in its own right as comparisons with the previous album were never going to be fair.

Again Stewart trod the well worn path of mixing folk, rock, blues and country but sadly the songs weren't of the same strength. Stewart and Quittenton reprised Maggie May in the form of "You Wear It Well" which was still a good song. Jimi Hendrix' Angel is also excellent and once again we have the mandolin work of Ray Jackson.