Even Rod Stewart's greatest admirers would probably concede that his main claim to be considered a serious artist rests with the string of hit singles he produced in the early 1970s. For those with a soft spot for the Scottish ham but unwilling to trawl through his grisly back catalogue, The Story So Far provides a neat compromise - in fact there's a good case for saying that practically everything of worth he's ever done is contained on these two CDs. The first, A Night Out, features uptempo classics such as Baby Jane, You Wear it Well and the old Faces classic Stay With Me while highlights of the second (no prizes for guessing the title) include soft-rock ballads The First Cut Is The Deepest, You're in my Heart and Ruby Tuesday. For the most part it's enjoyable stuff and even though over-familiarity has dulled the edge of the best material here, there's just about enough strength in depth to give Rod the Mod a pass mark in the credibility stakes.
