An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down

1969 studio album by Rod Stewart

Studio album by

Rod Stewart

Released

November 1969 (US)
February 1970 (UK)

Recorded

June–August 1969

Studio

Lansdowne and Olympic Studios, London

Genre

British folk rock^[1]

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"
Released: December 1969 ^[2]
"Handbags and Gladrags"
Released: May 1970 (US)^[3]

An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down is the debut solo studio album by Rod Stewart. First released in the United States in November 1969 as The Rod Stewart Album, the album peaked at No. 139 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. It was later released in the United Kingdom with the modified title in February 1970.^[4] Stewart's Faces bandmates Ronnie Wood and Ian McLagan also appear on the album, along with 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).

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[5]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)^[6]
Robert Christgau	A-^[7]

The album received positive reviews from Fusion, Rolling Stone, and Robert Christgau.^[8] Christgau felt the album was "superb",^[8] the same wording as used by Greil Marcus in his Rolling Stone review.^[9]

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".^[10]

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

Technical

Keith "Marcus Keef" MacMillan – design, photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1969-1970)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[11]	31
United States (Billboard 200)	139

References

^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1970". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. p. 247. ISBN 9781493064601.
^ "Rod Stewart singles".
^ "Rod Stewart singles".
^ Franco Brizi, Vertigo 1969-1976 Discografia completa, Iacobelli, Roma, 2022, pag. 28
^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Overview The Rod Stewart Album". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
^ Greil Marcus (7 February 1970). "Rod Stewart - The Rod Stewart Album review". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
^ "Robert Christgau: CG - Rod Stewart". Robertchristagu.com. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Robert Christgau: CG: rod stewart". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
^ Griel Marcus (7 February 1970). "Records". Rolling Stone (51). San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.: 42. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
^ "Rod Stewart". Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 295. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.