*** Rod Stewart

WHEN WE WERE THE NEW BOYS

(Warner Bros.)

Here's a desperate career move that actually works -- up to a point. In an attempt to shake his MOR image, Rod Stewart makes a latter-day Faces album, covering a few recently hot bands (Oasis and Primal Scream) and a couple people he should have covered decades ago (Nick Lowe and Graham Parker). It may be a calculated move, but his take on Oasis's "Cigarettes & Alcohol" is a blast. If not quite up to Faces level, it at least recalls the horny bluster of "Hot Legs"; and the song's "Just say yes" message is undeniably refreshing from a star this big.

Lovers of Skunk Anansie may object to Stewart's turning "Weak" into a more conventional rock ballad, but he gets admirably close to the heart of the lyric. Parker's "Hotel Chambermaid" is done with the appropriate nudge and wink; the Faces themselves get covered on "Ooh La La." Too bad he had to break the mood with the title song, one of those "I used to be so wild" numbers that all aging rock stars seem to write sooner or later. The lack of synthesizers is welcome, but he should have recorded it with a real rock band instead of the usual squeaky-clean studio crew. Too bad Ron Wood wasn't free.

-- Brett Milano