Like you, Pete, Rod was my entry point to rock. And many of the points you make are valid. American Songbook was thrown out of my house!
I have to say, though, that seeing him in Vegas in 2016 I was, despite myself, impressed. He did 90 minutes, the length of a football match, waved the solos round when he could, let his backing singers do a number and avoided songs like Sailing which would have shown him up. By the time we were out of the door he was at the airport preparing for the short hop home. Game management in football-speak.
A month later we saw Macca in Portland. Three-hour shows, a different city every night, lead vocals on every song… Different strokes for different folks.
At least the likes of Dylan and Ian Hunter don’t have that problem - they never had a voice to lose! 😂