FACES
''1970-1975: YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE, SING OR ANYTHING..., DISC ONE''
AUGUST 28, 2015
268:09
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REVIEW
Hal Horowitz, www.americansongwriter.com
Listening to Rod Stewart strut and shimmy fronting these ragtag rockers on five albums during the titular years, it’s nearly impossible to imagine he would achieve some of his biggest success crooning the Great American Songbook of smooth standards three decades later. Such are the inexplicable twists and turns of the music industry that found Stewart, fresh from a short, two album gig singing for the Jeff Beck Group on their groundbreaking albums (Truth and Beck-Ola), replacing Steve Marriott in the Small Faces, and bringing buddy Ron Wood along. The new, taller members lost the “small” after the debut, continuing as simply the Faces, churning out four studio albums included in this set.
Considered at the time somewhat of a poor man’s Rolling Stones with a few Led Zepp references, the Faces have since been acknowledged as rock and roll trailblazers, trading off the terrific and often heartfelt songwriting of Ronnie Lane (“Debris,” “Glad and Sorry”” just to namecheck a few) with the scrappy, Chuck Berry influenced, boozy rockers like “Miss Judy’s Farm” and “Stay With Me” they are best known for. Thankfully, those that missed them the first time around have had plenty of quality reissues to educate the uninitiated to the Faces’ greatness. All of their studio albums (Long Player is half live) have already been reissued and remain in print, there was a superb 2004 four CD box set that rounded up a batch of rarities, and a shorter single disc that squeezed the group’s basic strengths into 19 tracks.
Regardless, the stunning remastering on this new set is likely the last word on sonic upgrades to these 40 plus year old recordings. Each disc comes with previously unreleased material–some of it live– recorded at the time of its release and a fifth platter (at 41 minutes, a bit short) fills in the blanks on more hard to find “stray singles.” This set has been on drawing boards for a number of years, so it’s hard to say why it’s finally seeing the light of day but perhaps with the December, 2014 passing of keyboardist Ian McLagan following Ronnie Lane’s death in 1997, a reunion of the remaining members is now unlikely.
It remains thrilling to hear the whiskey throated Stewart charging through these songs, urged on by Kenney Jones’ often frantic drumming and McLagan’s ever present keyboards. It’s also clear that a solo career was inevitable, a fact that ultimately broke up the band. None of the Faces’ four albums were without flaws, but even at their weakest, they get by on energy and a loopy yet palpable enthusiasm any act would envy. The sum of them, warts and all, make a case for the band’s longevity and cult status that was generally overlooked upon their initial release. That makes this package with its multitude of extras pretty much perfect and an essential addition to any rock and roll fan’s collection.
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REVIEW/AMG
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The
Faces albums were scheduled for expanded reissues in 2008, roughly four years after the release of the definitive rarities-laden box set
Five Guys Walk into a Bar..., but those plans were scrapped and the albums remained untouched for the next seven years. After that long wait came
You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything: 1970-1975, a five-disc box that contains expanded versions of the four
Faces studio LPs -- 1970's
First Step, the twin 1971 masterpieces
Long Player and
A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse, 1972's
Ooh La La -- along with a disc of non-LP singles. These aren't quite the track listings from 2008 but they're close enough and, more importantly, they offer a bunch of songs that were not on
Five Guys. While
A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... is expanded by two BBC Sessions also heard on the box, the rest are given substantial additions.
First Step has outtakes of "Behind the Sun" and "Mona: The Blues," alternates of "Flying" and "Nobody Knows," plus a BBC Session of "Shake, Shudder, Shiver";
Long Player has outtakes of "Whole Lotta Woman" and the instrumental "Sham-Mozzal," an alternate of "Tell Everyone," and two selections from a November 1970 show at the Fillmore East ("Too Much Woman [For a Henpecked Man]" and "Love in Vain");
Ooh La La has rehearsal versions of "Borstal Boys," "Silicone Grown," and "Glad and Sorry" along with a live version of "Jealous Guy" from the 1973 Reading Festival; finally, "I Wish It Would Rain (With a Trumpet)" from 1973's Reading Festival is added to the fifth disc. Part of the appeal of
Five Guys Walk into a Bar... was how it captured the rangy, rowdy mess of
the Faces at their peak and, to its credit, this box doesn't attempt to replicate the sound of a never-ending party. Instead, it offers good-sounding copies of the canon, supplemented by tracks that can't be heard elsewhere. That's good bang for the buck and a good enough reason for the die-hard fans to pony up for this music one more time.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
When
Steve Marriott left
the Small Faces in 1969, the three remaining members brought in guitarist
Ron Wood and lead singer
Rod Stewart to complete the lineup and changed their name to
the Faces, which was only appropriate since the group now only slightly resembled the mod-pop group of the past. Instead,
the Faces were a rough, sloppy rock & roll band, able to pound out a rocker like "Had Me a Real Good Time," a blues ballad like "Tell Everyone," or a folk number like "Richmond" all in one album.
Stewart, already becoming a star in his own right, let himself go wild with
the Faces, tearing through covers and originals with abandon. While his voice didn't have the power of
Stewart, bassist
Ronnie Lane's songs were equally as impressive and eclectic.
Wood's rhythm guitar had a warm, fat tone that was as influential and driving as
Keith Richards' style.
Notorious for their hard-partying, boozy tours and ragged concerts,
the Faces lived the rock & roll lifestyle to the extreme. When
Stewart's solo career became more successful than
the Faces, the band slowly became subservient to his personality; after their final studio album,
Ooh La La, in 1973,
Lane left the band. After a tour in 1974, the band called it quits.
Wood joined
the Rolling Stones, drummer
Kenny Jones eventually became part of
the Who, and keyboardist
Ian McLagan became a sought-after supporting musician;
Stewart became a superstar, although he never matched the simple charm of
the Faces.
While they were together,
the Faces never sold that many records and were never considered as important as
the Stones, yet their music has proven extremely influential over the years. Many punk rockers in the late '70s learned how to play their instruments by listening to
Faces records; in the '80s and '90s, guitar rock bands from
the Replacements to
the Black Crowes took their cue from
the Faces as much as
the Stones. Their reckless, loose, and joyous spirit stayed alive in much of the best rock & roll of the subsequent decades.
Lane was diganosed with multiple sclerosis in the 1970s but continued to work. He relocated to Austin, Texas in the 1980s and worked until the disease claimed his life in 1997.
MacLagan also relocated to Austin, where he became an integral part of the city's vibrant music scene. In addition to leading his own group, the Bump Band, he collaborated with musicians--well known and obscure--in recording sessions and on the stage. He suffered a stroke on December 2, 2014, and passed away a day later.
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BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
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WEBSITE
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DISC ONE
''FIRST STEP (BONUS TRACKS)''
1970
69:41
1 Wicked Messenger (Bob Dylan) 04:04
2 Devotion (Ronnie Lane) 04:54
3 Shake, Shudder, Shiver (Ronnie Lane, Ron Wood) 03:12
4 Stone (Ronnie Lane) 05:35
5 Around The Plynth (Rod Stewart, Ron Woood) 05:49
6 Flying (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood) 04:14
7 Pineapple And the Monkey (Ron Wood) 04:23
8 Nobody Knows (Ronnie Lane, Ron Wood) 04:04
9 Looking Out The Window (Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan) 05:00
10 Three Button Hand Me Down (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart) 05:44
11 Behind The Sun (Outtake) (Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood) 05:27
12 Mona The Blues (Outtake) (Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood) 05:04
13 Shake, Shudder, Shiver (BBC Session) (Ronnie Lane, Ron Wood) 02:44
14 Flying (Take 3) (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood) 04:39
15 Nobody Knows (Take 2) (Ronnie Lane, Ron Wood) 04:41
Kenney Jones - Drums
Ronnie Lane - Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Lead And Harmony Vocals
Ian McLagan - Piano, Hammond Organ, Wurlitzer Electric Piano, Harmony Vocal
Rod Stewart - Lead And Harmony Vocals, Banjo
Ronnie Wood - Lead And Rhythm Guitars, Harmonica, Harmony Vocal
REVIEW/AMG
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The notorious sloppiness of
the Faces was apparent on their debut, almost moreso on the cover than on the music, as the group was stilled billed as
the Small Faces on this 1970 debut although without
Steve Marriott in front, and with
Rod Stewart and
Ron Wood in tow, they were no longer Small. They were now larger than life, or at least mythic, because it's hard to call an album that concludes with a riotous ode to a hand-me-down suit as larger than life. That was the charm of
the Faces, a group who always seemed like the boys next door made good, no matter where next door was. Part of the reason they seemed so relatable was that legendary messiness - after all, it's hard not to love somebody if they so openly displayed their flaws - but on their debut, it was hard not to see the messiness as merely the result of the old
Faces getting accustomed to the new guys. Fresh from their seminal work with
Jeff Beck,
Rod and
Ron bring a healthy dose of
Beck's powerful bastardized blues, bracingly heard on the opening cover of "Wicked Messenger," but there's a key difference here; without
Beck's guitar genius, this roar doesn't sound quite so titanic, it hits in the gut. That can also be heard and
Rod and
Woody's "Around the Plynth," or "Three Button Hand Me Down," which is ragged rocking at its finest. Combine that with
Ronnie Lane and
Ian McLagan finding their ways as songwriters in the wake of
the Small Faces' mod implosion, and this goes in even more directions.
Lane unveils his gentle, folky side on "Stone,"
McLagan kicks in "Looking Out the Window" and "Three Button Hand Me Down." All these are moments that are good, often great, but the record doesn't quite gel, yet that doesn't quite matter.
the Faces is a band that proves that sometimes loose ends are as great as tidiness, that living in the moment is what's necessary, and this
First Step is a record filled with individual moments, each one to be savored.
ABOUT THE ALBUM/WIKIPEDIA
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DISC TWO
''LONG PLAYER (BONUS TRACKS)''
FEBRUARY 1971
66:59
1 Bad 'N' Ruin (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart) 05:24
2 Tell Everyone (Ronnie Lane) 04:18
3 Sweet Lady Mary (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 05:45
4 Richmond (Ronnie Lane) 03:03
5 Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney) 05:33
6 Had Me A Real Good Time (Ronnie Lane, Ronnnie Wood) 05:49
7 On The Beach (Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood) 04:14
8 I Feel So Good (Big Bill Broonzy) 08:43
9 Jerusalem (Ronnnie Wood) 01:52
10 Whole Lotta Woman (Outtake) 03:12
11 Tell Everyone (Take 1) (Ronnie Lane) 04:00
12 Sham-Mozzal (Instrumental) (Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Wood) 03:12
13 Too Much Woman (For A Henpecked Man) (Ike Turner) (Live Fillmore East, New York 11/10/70) 05:25
14 Love In Vain (Robert JOhnson) (Live Fillmore East, New York 11/10/70) 06:21
Harry Beckett - Trumpet On 6
Kenney Jones - Drums, Percussion
Bobby Keys - Tenor Saxophone On 6
Ronnie Lane - Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Ian McLagan - Keyboards, Organ, Piano
Rod Stewart - Vocals
Ronnie Wood - Lead Guitar, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Backing Vocals
REVIEW/AMG
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
On their second album
Long Player,
the Faces truly gel -- which isn't quite the same thing as having the band straighten up and fly right because in many ways this is album is even more ragged than their debut, with tracks that sound like they were recorded through a shoebox thrown up against a couple of haphazardly placed live cuts. But if the album seems pieced together from a few different sources, the band itself all seems to be coming from the same place, turning into a ferocious rock & roll band who, on their best day, could wrestle the title of greatest rock & roll band away from the
Stones. Certainly, the sheer force of the nine-minute jam on
Big Bill Broonzy's "I Feel So Good" proves that, but what's more remarkable is how the band are dovetailing as songwriters, complementing and collaborating with very different styles, to the extent that it's hard to tell who wrote what; indeed, the ragged, heartbroken "Tell Everyone" sounds like a
Stewart original, but it comes from the pen of
Ronnie Lane. The key is that
Stewart,
Lane and
Ron Wood (
Ian McLagan only co-write "Bad 'N' Ruin") are all coming from the same place, all celebrating a rock & roll that's ordinary in subject but not in sound. Take "Bad 'N' Ruin," the tale of a ne'er do well returning home with his tail between his legs, after the city didn't treat him well. It has its counterpart in "Had Me a Real Good Time," where a reveler insists that he has to leave, concluding that he was glad to come but also glad to get home. These are songs that celebrate home, from family to the neighborhood, and that big heart beats strong in the ballads, too, from the aching "Sweet Lady Mary" to the extraordinary reworking of
Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," which soars in ways
Macca's exceptional original never did. Then, there's there humor -- the ramshackle "On the Beach," the throwaway lines from
Rod on "Had Me a Real Good Time" -- which give this a warm, cheerful heart that helps make
Long Player a record as big, messy, and wonderful as life itself.
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DISC THREE
''A NOD IS A GOOD AS A WINK... TO A BLIND HORSE (BONUS TRACKS)''
NOVEMBER 17 1971
44:55
1 Miss Judy's Farm (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart) 03:39
2 You're So Rude (Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan) 03:43
3 Love Lives Here (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane) 03:05
4 Last Orders Please (Ronnie Lane) 02:35
5 Stay With Me (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart) 04:38
6 Debris (Ronnie Lane) 04:36
7 Memphis, Tennessee (Chuck Berry) 05:28
8 Too Bad (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart) 03:13
9 That's All You Need (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart) 05:07
10 Miss Judy's Farm (BBC Session) (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart) 03:29
11 Stay With Me (BBC Session) (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart) 05:17
Rod Stewart – Vocals
Ronnie Lane – Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
Ronnie Wood – Lead Guitar, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Backing Vocals On 8, Harmonica
Ian McLagan – Piano, Organ, Backing Vocals On 8
Kenney Jones – Drums, Percussion
Harry Fowler – Steel Drums On 9
REVIEW
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Faces' third album,
A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse, finally gave the group their long-awaited hit single in "Stay with Me," helping send the album into the Billboard Top Ten, which is certainly a testament to both the song and the album, but it's hard to separate its success from that of
Rod Stewart's sudden solo stardom. In the mere months that separated
Long Player and
A Nod,
Rod had a phenomenal hit with "Maggie May" and
Every Picture Tells a Story, his third solo album, something that would soon irreparably damage the band, but at the time it was mere good fortune, helping bring them some collateral success that they deserved. Certainly, it didn't change the character of the album itself, which is the tightest record the band ever made. Granted that may be a relative term, since sloppiness is at the heart of the band, but this doesn't feel cobbled together (which the otherwise excellent
Long Player did) and it serves up tremendous song after tremendous song, starting with the mean, propulsive "Miss Judy's Farm" and ending with the rampaging good times of "That's All You Need." In between,
Ronnie Lane serves up dirty jokes (the exquisitely funny "You're So Rude") and heartbreaking ballads (the absolutely beautiful "Debris"), the band reworks a classic as their own (
Chuck Berry's "Memphis") and generally serves up a nonstop party. There are few records that
feel like a never-ending party like
A Nod -- the slow moments are for slow dancing, and as soon as it's over, it's hard not to want to do it all over again. It's another classic -- and when you consider that the band also had
Long Player to their credit and had their hands all over
Every Picture in 1971, it's hard to imagine another band or singer having a year more extraordinary as this.
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DISC FOUR
''OOH LA LA''
APRIL 1973
46:10
1 Silicone Grown (Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 03:07
2 Cindy Incidentally (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 02:37
3 Flags And Banners (Ronnie Lane, Stewart) 02:01
4 My Fault (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 03:06
5 Borstal Boys (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 02:52
6 Fly In The Ointment (Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Wood) 03:49
7 If I'm On The Late Side (Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart) 02:38
8 Glad And Sorry (Ronnie Lane) 03:05
9 Just Another Honky (Ronnie Lane) 03:33
10 Ooh La La (Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood) 03:33
11 Cindy Incidently (BBC Session) (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 02:26
12 Borstal Boys (Rehearsal) (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 02:46
13 Silicone Grown (Rehearsal) (Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 03:05
14 Glad And Sorry (Rehearsal) (Ronnie Lane) 02:41
15 Jealous Guy (Live At Reading Festival, Reading, UK 8/25/73) (John Lennon) 04:44
Rod Stewart – Vocals, Banjo
Ronnie Wood – Lead Guitar, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Ian McLagan – Piano, Organ, Harmonium, Vocals On 8
Ronnie Lane – Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
Kenney Jones – Drums, Percussion
Neemoi "Speedy" Aquaye – Congas, Shakers On 6
Tetsu Yamauchi - Bass Guitar On 15
REVIEW
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It wasn't all over but the shouting, but
the Faces sure weren't thriving when they released their last album,
Ooh La La, in 1973. The problem, of course, was
Rod Stewart, who had turned into a superstar, causing innumerable tensions within the band. He had yet to decamp to America, had yet to turn to pop instead of rock & roll, but he was on the cusp of that sea change. Nevertheless, on the record at least, it didn't seem like being with
the Faces was a strain on him; it still seemed that he enjoyed a good night out with the boys, and
Ooh La La is precisely that: a good night out, one that's blessed with some very memorable moments. If there's not quite as many as on the past two
Faces platters, chalk that up to circumstance perhaps. On
Long Player and
A Nod Is as Good as a Wink, they were a well-oiled machine at the peak of their powers. Here they're trying to rev up -- they get there, but it's possible to hear the effort, as some of the songs fall just a little bit short of memorable. But there are some extraordinary moments here, including
Rod's "Silicone Grown" and the wonderful "Cindy Incidentally," a sweet, easy pop song. But the heart of this album really belongs to
Ronnie Lane, who dominates the second side of the album, starting with the
Stewart collaboration "If I'm on the Late Side" and running through the sweet, soft "Glad and Sorry" to "Just Another Honky" and, finally, to the raucous yet bittersweet "Ooh La La," as great a song as they ever recorded and an appropriate drawing of the curtain on this tremendous band.
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DISC FIVE
''STRAY SINGLES & B SIDES''
2015
40:24
1 Pool Hall Richard (Single Version) (Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) 04:23
2 I Wish It Would Rain (With A Trumpet) (Live At Reading Festival, Reading, UK 8/25/73) 04:45
3 Rear Wheel Skid (Single Version 04:43
4 Maybe I'm Amazed (Single Version) (Paul McCartney) 03:38
5 Oh Lord I'm Browned Off (Single Version) 03:50
6 As Long As You Tell Him (Single Version) 04:19
7 Skewiff (Mend The Fuse) (Single Version) 05:15
8 Dishevelment Blues (Single Version) 04:57
9 You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything (Even Take The Dog For A Walk, Mend A Fuse, Fold Away The Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Short Comings) (Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Tetsu Yamauchi) 04:31
All Tracks Remastered
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