''Another Country'' is the 29th studio album by British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart. It was released on 23 October 2015 through Capitol Records. It was produced by Stewart and

Kevin Savigar Kevin Savigar (born 9 November 1956) is an English session keyboardist, record producer, songwriter, and composer based in Los Angeles, CA. Perhaps most recognised for his longtime collaboration with Rod Stewart, Savigar has also contributed to ...

Background

Stewart released his twenty-eighth studio album, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', in 2013. The album contained eleven songs written or co-written by Stewart. Commenting on ''Time'', Stewart stated, "I've found that the only way to write songs is to be as personal and honest as possible, And when my last album was so well-received it gave me the confidence to keep on writing, and to examine and write about different things. It also gave me the freedom to experiment with different sounds like reggae, ska and Celtic melodies."

Writing and recording

Stewart stated that "Batman Superman Spiderman" was written about bedtime stories that he would tell his youngest son, Aiden Patrick Stewart, about the three fictional superheroes. The album's title track, "Another Country" was inspired by Stewart's respect for the armed forces – a respect influenced by his birth occurring shortly before the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

– and consequent musing on life in the armed forces, particularly regarding the emotions generated by being apart from loved ones. Recording sessions for the album took place at Stewart's home, and were produced with

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

Singles

"Love Is" was released as the lead single from ''Another Country'' on 23 June 2015. In the United States, the single peaked at no. 37 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart. "Please" and "Way Back Home" were released as subsequent singles on 1 September and 16 October 2015 respectively.

Critical reception

''Another Country'' received mixed reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 57, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 10 reviews. Andy Gill from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' gave the album a mixed review, describing it as "warmly engaging at its best", but that the quality of music dips halfway through the track list, highlighting "Way Back Home" and "Batman Superman Spiderman" as the weakest songs. Jasper Rees from ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of traditio ...

'' also gave the album a mixed review, stating that "there is the odd misstep", criticizing the choice to include an excerpt from

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

's '

We shall fight on the beaches "We shall fight on the beaches" is a common title given to a speech delivered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940. This was the second of three major sp ...

' speech in the outro of "Way Back Home". Hal Horowitz from ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' was highly critical of the album, describing the music as " anging frompedestrian to forced", "excessively sentimental" in parts, and "bland". Ludovic Hunter-Tilney from ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' said that "dreary acoustic blandishments and plodding Celtic rock, cut from similar cloth to his 2013 album ''Time'', leave one mourning the roaring roustabout of old." Dawn Renton of '' The Falkirk Herald'' gave the album a positive review, noting that "there’s a cosy Celtic charm to ''Another Country'' that’s warmly engaging" and concluding that "the latest offering confirms that Rod can still deliver a top notch album ... he continues to show his range and talent and tis a rather pleasant surprise to anyone who was never much of a fan in the past." Kirsty Hatcher of ''

OK! Magazine ''OK!'' is a British weekly magazine that primarily specialises in royal and celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly magazine, its first issue was published in April 1997. In September 2004, ''OK''! launched in Australia as a monthly ...

'' praised the album as "romantic and charming," while Fiona Shepherd of ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' was critical of the album's nostalgic nature, noting "The Drinking Song" as the only non nostalgic. Noting that song, she concluded, 'Could we have more time in the company of this Rod next time please?" Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

argued that "as goofy as these numbers are, there's also something appealing about them", stating that "He's not the man he was back in 1969, when his folk was simpler and hungrier, but he's not pretending to be." Owing to his global celebrity status, the new album has been noticed in India as well. While acknowledging the uniqueness of Rod's voice, the Daily Post newspaper has given it a mixed review calling the lyrics as 'cheesy' and 'hollow'. The paper, however, recommends the album if only for the nostalgia it evokes for Rod's earlier work. John Aizlewood of ''

The London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...

'' stated of the album that "the legendary singer rediscovers his twinkly-eyed charm as he continues his return to form." The album was selected as the "Album of the Week" by both ''The Independent'' and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' newspapers. Reviews of the album consistently praised Stewart's voice and/or vocal performance, even if the reviewer was critical of other aspects of the album.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Rod Stewart and

; except "Hold the Line" produced by Stewart, Savigar, RedOne, and TinyIsland.

Personnel

* Rod Stewart – lead vocals *

– keyboards, programming, bass guitar (2), backing vocals (5) * Chuck Kentis – keyboards (5, 9), programming (5, 9) *

Emerson Swinford Emerson Swinford, a native of Chicago, is a Los Angeles-based guitarist, composer/songwriter and producer. He is currently a guitarist in the Rod Stewart band, and was formerly a member of the band Drill, a precursor to industrial- nu metal gro ...

– guitars (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12), banjo (1), bass guitar (3, 5, 12), backing vocals (5),

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

(11) * Mike Severs – guitars (8) * Don Kirkpatrick – guitars (9) * Conrad Korsch – bass guitar (1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11) * Iggy Grimshaw – drums (1-11) * Julia Thornton – tambourine (1, 3, 4) * J'Anna Jacoby – violin (1, 5, 6, 11) * Jimmy Roberts – saxophone (2, 4) * Nick Lane – trombone (2) * Anne King – trumpet (2, 6) * Kimberly Johnson-Breaux – backing vocals (1, 3-6, 9, 10, 11), choir vocals (2, 7) *

Lucy Woodward Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has recorded for Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung background vocals for Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, Joe Cocker, Cha ...

– backing vocals (1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11), choir vocals (2) * Keith Allen – choir vocals (2, 7) * Traci Brown-Bailey – choir vocals (2) * David Daughtry – choir vocals (2, 7) * Tia Goodrich – choir vocals (2) * Nikki Grier – choir vocals (2) * Shatisha Lawson-Aponte – choir vocals (2) * Jason Morales – choir vocals (2, 7) *

Di Reed Jade is an American girl group, originally composed of Joi Marshall, Tonya Kelly, and Di Reed. History The group Jade was originally composed of Joi Marshall, Angela Slates and Debra Mitchell and, as such, was first known as JAD. Producer V ...

– choir vocals (2), backing vocals (5) *

Nikki Leonti Nikki Leonti-Edgar (born August 20, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. Prior to her work in urban, R&B, and electronic dance music, Leonti recorded contemporary Christian music albums. She lent her vocals to over 100 songs during 4 seasons ...

– backing vocals (3) * Windy Wagner – backing vocals (3) * Gavin Cady – backing vocals (5) * Lionel Conway – backing vocals (5) *

Jim Cregan James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a ...

– backing vocals (5) * Paul Freeman – backing vocals (5) * James Harrold – backing vocals (5) * Matt O'Connor – backing vocals (5) * Alastair Stewart – backing vocals (5) * Angela Fisher – choir vocals (7) * Sharon McRae – choir vocals (7) * Andre Washington – choir vocals (7) * Geneen White – choir vocals (7) *

– voiceover (7) * Darryl Phinnessee – backing vocals (8) *

Will Wheaton Will Wheaton, born Willie Mack Wheaton Jr. (born October 26, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He grew up in Los Angeles and is the son of Gospel singer Juanita Wheaton. He studied music in his teens and was eventually tuto ...

– backing vocals (8) * Fred White – backing vocals (8)

Production

* Producers – Rod Stewart and Kevin Savigar * A&R Administration – Lotus Donovan * Engineered and Mixed by Kevin Savigar * Mastered by

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood). * Art Direction – Gavin Taylor and Nicole Franz * Design – Gavin Taylor * Photography – Penny Lancaster Stewart * Additional Photography – Amber Sterling * Management – Arnold Stiefel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control Capitol Records albums Rod Stewart albums 2015 albums Albums produced by Rod Stewart Albums recorded in a home studio