It Had to Be You… The Great American Songbook

Jazz · 2002 · 14 tracks

It Had to Be You… The Great American Songbook

A whiskey-soaked voice meets velvet orchestral arrangements. Rod Stewart trades rock anthems for the timeless intimacy of the Great American Songbook.

October 21, 2002 · J Records

A sophisticated and sentimental embrace of mid-century romance, delivered with a weathered, soulful charm.

Tracklist · 14 Tracks

01

You Go to My Head

4:17

02

They Can’t Take That Away From Me

3:26

03

The Way You Look Tonight

3:49

04

It Had to Be You

3:25

05

That Old Feeling

2:55

06

These Foolish Things

3:48

07

The Very Thought of You

3:20

08

Moonglow

3:33

09

I’ll Be Seeing You

3:51

10

Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye

3:28

11

The Nearness of You

3:01

12

For All We Know

3:25

13

We’ll Be Together Again

3:55

14

That’s All

3:03

Moments Worth Listening For

The contrast between the sandpaper grit of Stewart's voice and the pristine string swell on The Way You Look Tonight.

The intimate, almost whispered opening of The Nearness of You where the piano is mixed bone-dry.

That specific moment in It Had to Be You where the brass section kicks in with a classic mid-century swing.

Reviews

BBC Music

AllMusic

Where This Album Departs

How does It Had to Be You… The Great American Songbook sound next to the rest of Rod Stewart's catalogue?

Candlelit+2.2σ

Candlelit saturates this record far more than the artist's norm.

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