BEST OF/20TH/ECO

Producers: Rod Stewart, Lou Reizner. Compilation producer: Bill Levenson. Includes liner notes by Brian Chin. Digitally remastered by Suha Gur (Universal Music Group Studios). This is part of MCA's 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection series. For some of the entries in the massive 20TH CENTURY MASTERS series of budget-priced reissues, their brief playing time only scratches the surface of the artist's catalogue. That's not the case with Rod Stewart's collection, which is actually one of the best single-disc compilations of his work. 20TH CENTURY MASTERS focuses entirely on Stewart's early-'70s tenure at Mercury Records, and takes its songs from his four best solo albums: THE ROD STEWART ALBUM, the classic EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY, GASOLINE ALLEY, and NEVER A DULL MOMENT. As a result, this 12-song compilation is stuffed to the gills with brilliant songs, including, of course, both "Maggie May" and "You Wear It Well." Stewart's immense interpretive skills are also displayed here, on his definitive versions of Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now" and Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe." Longtime Stewart fans already own all of these songs, but this is an excellent starting point for novices who want to know what Rod the Mod was capable of before the days of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" and "Love Touch."