Camouflage

If any artist embraced the boisterous, surreal and exaggerated record productions of the ‘80s, it was Rod Stewart. Outfitted in extreme reverb and echo chambers with mechanized beats and artificial synth textures everywhere, Stewart added his sandpaper croon to these ostentatious scenarios and behaved as if he was a native and had never been such a demanding rock singer in the past decade. This offended a good share of his base, but hits like ‘”Infatuation” and “Some Guys Have All The Luck” added a new constituency that enjoyed the easy grooves and bouncy melodies. The cover of Free’s hard rock anthem “All Right Now” is given a questionably odd arrangement, Stewart reworking the tune by substituting its macho swagger with a dancefloor come-on. Guitar legend Jeff Beck adds a few solos that sneak past on first listen, but his askew timing and tightly wound picking can be discerned poking out from these laidback surroundings. Todd Rundgren’s “Can We Still Be Friends” has an atmospheric and quicker approach that expands on the original, which was a hit for Rundgren and a modest hit for Robert Palmer.