The Long Play with Al Neff" is a continuing Sunday evening Feature on The GOAT. This year, Every Sunday Evening, Album Rock WXYG, The GOAT will feature a full album at 8:00 PM from the halcyon musical days of 1971.

1971 was Quite an amazing year in Album Rock history. Gonna be a tough choice every week. So many great ones to choose from.

We hope you’ll tune in next Sunday, May 30, 2021 at 8:00 PM for “Every Picture Tells A Story” by Rod Stewart.
Every Picture Tells a Story, is the third studio album by Rod Stewart. It was released on May 28,1971. It incorporates hard rock, folk, and blues styles. It went to number one on both the UK and US charts and finished third in the Jazz & Pop critics' poll for best album of 1971. It has been an enduring critical success, including a number 172 ranking on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album is a mixture of rock, country, blues, soul, and folk, and includes Stewart's breakthrough hit, "Maggie May", as well as "Reason to Believe", a song from Tim Hardin's debut album of 1966. "Reason to Believe", with Pete Sears on piano, was released as the first single from the album with "Maggie May" as the B-side; however, "Maggie May" became more popular and was a No. 1 hit in both the UK and US.

The album includes a version of Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)" (the first single for Elvis Presley) and a cover of the Bob Dylan song "Tomorrow Is a Long Time," an outtake from Dylan's 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (it would see release on 1971's, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II).

All five members of the Faces (with whom Stewart at that time was lead vocalist) appeared on the album, with guitarist/bassist Ronnie Wood and keyboardist Ian McLagan on Hammond B3 organ being employed most. Due to contractual restrictions, the personnel listings were somewhat vague, and it was unclear that the full Faces line-up recorded the version of the Motown hit "(I Know) I'm Losing You". Other contributors included Ray Jackson on mandolin (though Stewart allegedly forgot his name and merely mentioned "the mandolin player in Lindisfarne" on the sleeve). Micky Waller on drums. Maggie Bell performed backing vocals (mentioned on the sleeve as "vocal abrasives") on the title track, and Madeline Bell sang backup on the next track, "Seems Like A Long Time". Pete Sears played all the piano on the album except for one track, "I'm Losing You", which had Ian McLagan on piano, along with the Faces as a band.
The album reached the number-one position in both the UK (for six weeks) and the US (four weeks) at the same time that "Maggie May" was topping the singles charts in both territories.

The Temptations cover, "I Know I'm Losing You" reached the top 40, at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
Village Voice critic Robert Christgau gave the album a glowing review, writing: "Rod the Wordslinger is a lot more literate than the typical English bloozeman, Rod the Singer can make words flesh, and though Rod the Bandleader's music is literally electric it's the mandolin and pedal steel that come through sharpest."

The album has been an enduring critical success, including a number 172 ranking on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[4] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. In 1992, the album was awarded the number-one spot in Jimmy Guterman's book The Best Rock 'N' Roll Records of All Time: A Fan's Guide to the Stuff You Love. It was ranked 99th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Without greatly altering his approach, Rod Stewart perfected his blend of hard rock, folk, and blues on his masterpiece, Every Picture Tells a Story."

— Personnel
• Rod Stewart – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• Ronnie Wood – guitar, pedal steel guitar, bass guitar
• Sam Mitchell – slide guitar
• Martin Quittenton – acoustic guitar
• Pete Sears – piano, celeste
• Micky Waller – drums
• Danny Thompson – upright bass
• Andy Pyle – bass guitar
• Dick Powell – violin
• Ray Jackson ("the mandolin player in Lindisfarne") – mandolin
• Long John Baldry – vocals on "Every Picture Tells a Story"
• Maggie Bell – "vocal abrasives" on "Every Picture Tells a Story"
• Madeline Bell and friends – "vocal abrasives" on "Seems Like a Long Time"
• Ian McLagan – Hammond organ, piano on "(I Know) I'm Losing You"
• Kenney Jones – drums on "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (uncredited)
• Ronnie Lane – bass guitar and backing vocals on "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (uncredited)

Tune In and Turn On, next Sunday Evening, May 30th, and every Sunday evening at 8:00 PM for The GOAT'S "The Long Play with Al Neff.”

Don’t forget, right after the “Long Play”, we do a “Replay” of this week’s GOAT GUEST DJ SHOW.