Rod Stewart, Jools Holland Release Lively ‘Swing Fever’ Album
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Rod Stewart and Jules Holland (Photo: Jonas Mohr; used with permission)
Have you heard the news? Rod Stewart has teamed with Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra for Swing Fever, a 13-track salute to the timeless songs of the big band years. The album arrived February 23, 2024, via Warner Records. Order it in the U.S. here and the U.K. here. On Dec. 5, 2023, the day of the announcement, the stars surprised commuters at London’s St. Pancras rail station by performing the first single, “Almost Like Being In Love.” Watch them below, along with several other classic tracks from the album.
From the original announcement: For the first time, Britain’s new partners in swing have united to share their peerless dexterity on a tribute to truly great songs such as “Ain’t Misbehavin,”“Frankie And Johnny,” “Sentimental Journey” and “Lullaby of Broadway,” recorded at Holland’s own studio in Greenwich, London.
Swing Fever is the realization of conversations between the pair that began in the pandemic years, and of Stewart’s dream of making an album of the songs that were, in many ways, the rock ‘n’ roll of their day. Sitting down together, Holland recounts: “I was just packing up to go away for Christmas, and you rang me. We hadn’t really spoken at any length before. I thought ‘I love Rod, how exciting,’ and you said, ‘I want to do a record.’ I’d been a fan of Rod forever but we realized with the old music that we liked a lot of the same things.”
“I’d already started making a swing album, but it didn’t turn out how I wanted it,” says Stewart. “It was more Frank Sinatra than it was Louis Prima, let’s say. So I cancelled that, and then I realized the guy I should go to is Jools. Also, our fanatical model railway enthusiasm bonded us together. So, we started recording.
“If you need cheering up and wanna have a laugh and a dance this is the album for you. Jools and I purposely agreed on no slow songs!”
On Dec. 5, the day the album was announced, Rod Stewart, with Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra played a surprise performance at London’s St. Pancras rail station, playing show tune “Almost Like Being In Love,” the first track to be released, written by Frederick Loewe, and made famous by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. The first of two clips is of the band warming up before Stewart’s arrival.
Listen to the studio version
“I didn’t really know that song, but it’s one of my favorites now,” says Holland. “I looked up the different versions of it, and there are loads. What we try and do is get to the essence of it. If there are lots of complicated chords, we get rid of those and just play the simple ones. There’s a John Lee Hooker record where he’s teaching the blues, and he says ‘Listen children, throw all those fancy chords away. Just play the one chord, make that sound good, then you can think about playing another one.’ We also spoke about trying to make it a bit Django Reinhardt-esque, and we got a guy from Liverpool called Gary Potter, who’s like the top Django guy. He’s really great, he’s got the spirit of Django.”
“I’ve got to give credit to Jools’ orchestra, and especially the drums [Gilson Lavis] and bass [Dave Swift],” says Rod. “Gilson is the nearest thing I’ve heard to Charlie Watts, in being able to do a backbeat properly. Great band, and this man Jools with the old piano. Steaming! And his brother Chris on the Hammond. The orchestra rehearsed them a couple of times when I wasn’t there, then they went in and did three a day, which is quite remarkable. Jools’ studio is so small. It’s ok if it’s a three-piece band, but we had 18 pieces in there at one time. It just unites everybody.”
The video for “Pennies From Heaven,” featuring Stewart’s wife, Penny Lancaster, was released on Valentine’s Day. “It’s such a lovely song and you can do it a lot of different ways,” says Holland. “The lyrics are very optimistic and positive, and in the mouth of Rod, they’re like modern poems of the 20th century. It’s an expression of joy and the message of it is, ‘It’s going to be alright.'”
Stewart is one of music’s top-selling artists. His signature voice, style and songwriting have transcended all genres of popular music, from rock, folk, soul, R&B, and even the Great American Songbook; making him one of the few stars to enjoy chart-topping albums throughout every decade of his career. He’s earned countless of the industry’s highest awards, among them, two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the ASCAP Founders Award for songwriting, New York Times bestselling author, Grammy™ Living Legend, and in 2016 he officially became “Sir Rod Stewart” after being knighted at Buckingham Palace for his services to music and charity.
Holland was awarded an OBE in 2003 for his services to the British music industry. He was an original member of the band, Squeeze, and since 1992, the musician has hosted Later… With Jools Holland, a music-based television show for BBC2.
Holland sums up the spontaneous charm of Swing Fever: “The effect that this music has on me, and whenever I put it on where people are, they feel this thing, they want to move. Music is an expression of a lot of different things, and joy is an important part of what it does. You can feel the joy in this music, and it’s unashamed joy as well.”
The complete track listing appears below along with several other songs. When you buy something using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting Best Classic Bands.
Watch Stewart and Holland perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2022
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland Swing Fever Track Listing
Lullaby Of Broadway
Oh Marie
Sentimental Journey
Pennies From Heaven
Night Train
Love Is The Sweetest Thing
Them There Eyes
Good Rockin’ Tonight
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Frankie And Johnny
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
Almost Like Being In Love
Tennessee Waltz
1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationGreat American Songbook VI. Safe as milk. Suburban Moms just got a hot flash.
Come on, Rod – what happened to those Faces tracks recorded during the pandemic? Tick tock, sir.