ROD STEWART YOUTUBE ALERT

Okay, we've got some serious shit to look at here, but first, the irreverent prologue. This video is ridiculous but I love the song. This is 1976 and the hard rock and raw folk of The Faces era is fading away and the private jet disco era is clearly creeping in (dig that harp intro and Rod's jacket), but at least the band still has real guitars, drums, and bass.



Now let's get down to business with the real raw soul rock, "Maggie May" itself on Top of the Pops in the year 1971. The band is miming but the vocal mic is live and Rod nails it complete with great casually rocking stage presence. Speaking of which, Ronnies Wood and Lane sure are having a not-quite-so-casual good time with the mime, not to mention noted non-mandolin-playing disc jockey John Peel himself, pretending to play mandolin!



This is from the same year and the whole band is all the way live and heavy as hell:



Here's "I'm Losing You" from the same session. Don't miss the most crucial moment when the song drives into the Kenny Jones drum solo and Ron Wood is still chucking along on guitar and Ronnie Lane takes a hit from a bottle and Rod is slinking around throwing in the occasional giddy-up ad-lib, possibly while holding the mic stand upside down above his head.



And this one is really something, an epic cathedralic version of "Maybe I'm Amazed." The way Ronnie Lane's utterly sweet intro gives way to Rod's blow-out is one for the ages.



Oops, the Ron Wood connection has gotten me into a random non-musical Rolling Stones tangent. First, check out this 1969 backstage bro-down:



This next one is a lot of fun and also kind of a bummer, the radical rock and roll charisma of the ages crammed through that 1980s nadir of idiot-box commercialism, MTV. Keith truly seems like a swell guy here, hell they both do, but this might be the exact point of no return, when the band concept and album concept had officially surrendered to the new media:



And I say goodbye with Mick Jagger saying hello, live on ABC from the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He carries himself pretty well considering the size of the joint he clearly smoked within 10 minutes before the start of this interview. "It turns your head!!"