Atlantic Crossing


Atlantic Crossing is Rod Stewart's sixth album, released in 1975. It peaked at number one in the UK, and number nine on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
The title indicated Stewart's new commercial and artistic direction, referring to both his crossing over to Warner Brothers and on his departure to escape the 83 per cent top rate of income tax introduced by British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson for the jet-set lifestyle in Los Angeles. The album was divided into a slow side and a fast side, apparently at the suggestion of Stewart's then-girlfriend, Swedish actress Britt Ekland. Stewart would repeat the format for his next two albums.
The album contained two of Stewart's most popular songs, "Sailing" and "I Don't Want to Talk About It”, and classic rock favorites "Three Time Loser" and "Stone Cold Sober".
With Atlantic Crossing, Stewart ended his association with Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan and the stable of musicians who had been his core collaborators on his classic run of albums for Mercury Records, fusing soul and folk. Instead, he used a group of session musicians, including The Memphis Horns and three-quarters of Booker T. and the MG's. The album was produced by Tom Dowd, the famous engineer and producer on records by so many of Stewart's heroes during Dowd's time on staff at Atlantic Records. The only song performed from this album on The Faces' final US tour in autumn 1975 was "Three Time Loser", and the rest of the group heavily disliked Stewart's change in musical direction on this album. Following the success of the album, and his move to the U.S., Stewart announced his exit from the Faces by the end of the year.
"Sailing" was a number one hit in the UK in September 1975, and returned to the UK Top 3 a year later when it was used as the theme for the BBC series Sailor; both acoustic and electric guitars in the song were played by Pete Carr. In 1977, almost two years after the album was released, Stewart scored another UK number one from the album with the double A-side single "I Don't Want to Talk About It" and "The First Cut Is the Deepest".
In 2009, Rhino Records released a two-disc version of the album with bonus tracks.

Track listing

Fast Half
  1. "Three Time Loser" – 4:03
  2. "Alright for an Hour" – 4:17
  3. "All in the Name of Rock 'N' Roll" – 5:02
  4. "Drift Away" – 3:43
  5. "Stone Cold Sober" – 4:12
Slow Half
  1. "I Don't Want to Talk About It" – 4:47
  2. "It's Not The Spotlight" – 4:21
  3. "This Old Heart of Mine" – 4:04
  4. "Still Love You" – 5:08
  5. "Sailing" – 4:37

    2009 two disc re-release

Disc one
  2. "Skye Boat Song " 4:13
Disc two
  1. "To Love Somebody" – 4:12
  2. "Holy Cow" – 3:16
  3. "Return to Sender" – 3:42
  4. "Three Time Loser" – 4:40
  5. "Alright for an Hour" – 4:36
  6. "All in the Name of Rock 'n' Roll" – 5:00
  7. "Drift Away" – 3:58
  8. "Too Much Noise" – 3:24
  9. "I Don't Want to Talk About It" – 4:56
  10. "It's Not the Spotlight" – 4:27
  11. "This Old Heart of Mine" – 3:54
  12. "Still Love You" 4:57
  13. "Sailing" 4:39
  14. "Skye Boat Song " 4:20

    Personnel

String arrangements by Arif Mardin and James Mitchell

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums Chart17
Italian Albums Chart83

Certifications