Rod Stewart -Every Picture Tells a Story is the third album by Rod Stewart , released in the middle of 1971. Its incorporates hard rock , folk , and blues styles. It went to number one on both the UK and U.S. charts and finished third in the pazz & jobb critics' poll for best album of 1971. It has been an enduring critical success, including a number 172 ranking on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of 500 greatest albums of all time and inclusion in both 1001 albums you must hear before you die (2005) .