An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down

An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down is the debut solo album by Rod Stewart, released in the United Kingdom in February 1970.[1] In the United States, the album was released in November 1969 as The Rod Stewart Album and peaked at No. 139 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. Several other members of Faces also appear on the album, as well as Keith Emerson, Jeff Beck Group drummer Micky Waller and guitarists Martin Pugh (of Steamhammer, and later Armageddon and 7th Order) and Martin Quittenton (also from Steamhammer).

An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down
Studio album by Rod Stewart
Released	November 1969 (US) February 1970 (UK)
Recorded	June-August 1969
Studio	Lansdowne and Olympic Studios, London
Genre	Roots rock, blue-eyed soul
Length	32:47
Label	Vertigo, Mercury, Fontana
Producer	Rod Stewart, Lou Reizner
Rod Stewart chronology
An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (1969) Gasoline Alley (1970)
U.S. release title / cover
The Rod Stewart Album (Mercury)
Singles from An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down
"Street Fighting Man" "Dirty Old Town" "Handbags and Gladrags"

Reception

The album received positive reviews from Fusion, Rolling Stone, and Robert Christgau.[2] Christgau felt the album was "superb", [2] the same wording as used by Greil Marcus in his Rolling Stone review.[3]

In a retrospective summary for Rolling Stone, a staff writer felt that Stewart's solo debut showed him as a "highly original interpreter" of other people's songs, and that his own compositions indicated he was "capable of startlingly bare emotion and compassion".[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Rod Stewart, except where indicated.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Street Fighting Man"	Mick Jagger, Keith Richards	5:05
2.	"Man of Constant Sorrow"	traditional; arranged by Stewart	3:12
3.	"Blind Prayer"		4:36
4.	"Handbags and Gladrags"	Mike d'Abo	4:24

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down"		3:30
2.	"I Wouldn't Ever Change a Thing"		4:44
3.	"Cindy's Lament"		4:26
4.	"Dirty Old Town"	Ewan MacColl	3:42
Total length:			32:47

Personnel

• Rod Stewart – vocals, guitar on "Man of Constant Sorrow"
• Ronnie Wood – guitar, bass guitar, harmonica on "Dirty Old Town"
• Martin Pugh – guitar
• Martin Quittenton – acoustic guitar
• Micky Waller – drums
• Ian McLagan – piano, organ
• Mike d'Abo – piano on "Handbags and Gladrags"
• Keith Emerson – organ on "I Wouldn't Ever Change a Thing"
• Lou Reizner – vocals on "I Wouldn't Ever Change a Thing"

Technical

• Keith "Marcus Keef" MacMillan – design, photography

References

1. "An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down – Rod Stewart". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
2. "Robert Christgau: CG: rod stewart". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
3. Griel Marcus (7 February 1970). "Records". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. (51): 42. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
4. "Rod Stewart". Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.