Friday, April 1, 2005 | 8:39 a.m.
Martin Andrew felt like the luckiest man on Earth when Rod Stewart transitioned from wild rock 'n' roller to standards crooner three years ago.
"It was a godsend when he started coming out with his 'Great American Songbook' albums," Andrew, a Las Vegas-based Stewart impersonator, said.
"It can only be beneficial to me, because I can continue to do the early stuff and then move into that (standards) genre as time catches up with me"
The 42-year-old Andrew also pointed out that Stewart's three "Songbook" CD, which reached, in succession, Nos. 4, 2 and 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart have also kept the veteran British vocalist relevant at age 60.
"It was a really smart move, because a lot of his past career was very glamorus the tight spandex pants and all that business and as the year tick on, you can only do that for so long before you start lookin like 'Spinal Tap' or something," Andrew said. "So what he did was a smart business move and also musically a very creative move as well."
Stewart brings his long-running "From Maggie May to the Great American Songbook" tour to the MGM Grand Garden Arena at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The show features hits from the spiked-haired vocalist's rocking years such as "Hot Legs" and "Stay With Me" along with material from his three "Songbook" releases.
Among the standards on those discs: "I Only Have Eyes For You," "The Way You Look Tonight," "It Had to Be You," "Blue Moon," "Isn't it Romantic" and "Night and Day."
Las Vegan Jerry Tiffe, who has been singing the standards for 27 years at lounges across Southern Nevada, doesn't share Andrew's zeal for Stewart's late-career move.
"I want every singer to sing what they want to sing, and obviously he's got a passion for these songs," Tiffe, 56, said. "But I cannot sit down and listen to him sing one tune (from 'The Great American Songbook'). Not one.
"I respect Rod Stewart, and I respect that he wants to sing these songs. But I don't enjoy listening to him sing these types of songs."
John Kaye, frontman for local biker band Overlord, said he respects Stewart's decision to try the standards, even if some of Stewart's longtime fans might deride the dramatic stylistic change.
"We all sell out for money," Kaye said. "I think taking it to the bank beats anything that anybody thinks."
The 51-year-old Kaye is in a unique position to judge Stewart's actions, given his own recent forays into the world of jazz standards after years of playing in rock bands.
Kaye also grew up around the Vegas lounge scene, with his aunt Mary Kaye having starred in longtime casino act the Mary Kaye Trio during the 1950s and '60s.
"(Standards) never appealed to me as a kid. The Beatles came along and that appealed to me a lot and I became a rocker for most of my life," Kaye said. "Now I'm going back to my roots. And Rod Stewart is of the age where he heard the same material growing up that I heard growing up, the jazz standards."
During a teleconference with reporters last summer, Stewart responded to questions about a backlash to his new musical direction.
"I haven't witnessed a backlash," he said. "They've sold extremely well. Where's the backlash? I mean, if they didn't sell, that would be a backlash ... and I would be there with egg on my face because it was a tremendous risk doing these albums."
John Soeder of the Cleveland Plain Dealer followed up: "I meant not too much in terms of commercial success, but there seem to be some critics out there who feel that a pop rock artist shouldn't touch these songs and they're in some way sacrosanct."
Stewart's response? "(Expletive) them."
To Tiffe, a lounge throwback who sings the standards five days a week at Station Casinos lounges and at Capozzoli's Italian restaurant (3333 S. Maryland Pkwy.), the success of Stewart's "Songbook" series is tough to accept.
"There's an art form to the standards, a certain quality that you need in your voice," Tiffe said. "I've tried so hard to perfect them. Each night I'm still trying to do them right."
Tiffe has even questioned some of his own fans' respect for the music.
"You get nice compliments from people. Somebody comes up and says, 'You did a beautiful job with that song.' And I always thought the majority of them really liked what I was doing," Tiffe said.
"But if that same person buys Rod Stewart singing the same song, then I sit back and go, 'Maybe that person really didn't enjoy my performance after all. Maybe he just liked the song.' "
Tiffe conceded that Stewart's voice offers a "uniqueness." But he stopped far short of comparing the British rocker favorably to such legendary crooners as Perry Como and Frank Sinatra.
"Perry Como was so sweet. He touched the hearts of so many people," Tiffe said. "Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams ... I say to myself, 'Have times changed so much? Have our tastes changed so much?' Or would the people who listened to the great singers of that era laugh and say, 'God, what a terrible singer that guy is.' I don't know."
Stewart likely doesn't concern himself with such criticisms. Last year's "Stardust ... The Great American Songbook Volume III" debuted at No. 1, a first in his storied career.
And Andrew, the man who plans to debut a new Rod Stewart tribute show in Las Vegas this summer, has no quibbles, either.
"It's like a second career for him," Andrew said. "And for me, it's just fantastic. Because I can only dress in the '70s and '80s fashions for a certain amount of time before it starts to look ridiculous.
"But here he comes with these three killer albums that I can move into when I get older. So thank you, Rod."
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