Ian McLagan – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Arc Angels – Arc Angels …album review

I started to listen to this album on a recommendation, and I was totally impressed. I started off with one song, but the hell with that, I went on to the complete album. Great rock and roll band with killer riffs and tones. Also, being produced by an E Street Band member doesn’t hurt either! Steven Van Zandt produced this album, and that right there is huge. Also, on keyboards, you have the Small Faces and Faces keyboard player, Ian McLagan. McLagan helped out on this recording, and he sounds great. They walk the line between rock, hard rock, blues, and even throw some funk in there in places. Great musicians on this album, and there is a reason for that.

The band formed right after the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, the backbone of Double Trouble (SRV’s backing band), found themselves without a frontman after Stevie’s passing in 1990. Instead of leaving the stage, they teamed up with two Austin guitarist-vocalists: Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton. Both were young, rising Texas guitar players with deep musical pedigrees. The name “Arc Angels” referenced the Austin Rehearsal Complex. Although the album was born out of Stevie Ray’s backing band, it sounded different and moved ahead.

The album was recorded in Austin and at Ardent Studios in Memphis (Big Star, The Replacements), and it blended blues, alt-rock edges, and soulful songwriting. Throughout the record, Layton and Shannon play like a unit that has lived many lifetimes together, heavy but never heavy-handed. They aren’t just holding down rhythm, they’re pushing the music forward. Doyle Bramhall II, Charlie Sexton, Chris Layton, and Shannon did most of the writing, along with help from Tonio K.

The opening song is Living In A Dream, and it’s bold and in your face, as the rest of the album is. The second song is Paradise Cafe, which is probably my favorite off the album. That guitar is raunchy as hell, and I love it. They did include a song they wrote in memory of their friend Vaughan called See What Tomorrow Brings. The track Good Times has some cool funk and blues to it. If you have some time, check this album ou.t. I think you will like it. The critical reaction was good for this album, but it got lost in the grunge shuffle that was going on at the time, unfortunately.

For anyone who loves Texas blues with bite, this is a great place to start.

Living In A Dream

If you were mineI’d give you all the worldIf you were mineI’d take you higher girlBut you got me waitingOoh, you’re so coldIt kills me timeOoh and time is all we needBut god knows I’ve tried, I’ve triedTo get you close to me

But tonight when my eyes are closingYou’ll be with me

Just let me beAnd let me believe, you’re mineCause there’s nothin’ wrong hereI’m just livin’Livin’ in a dream

Without a signYou brought me to my kneesWithout a sign,I crossed the lineI beg for sleep

But tonight when my eyes are closin’You will be with me

Just let me beAnd let me believe, you’re mineJust let me beAnd let me believe, you’re mineCause there’s nothin’ wrong hereI’m just livin’Livin’ in a dream

…

Small Faces – You Need Loving

This song exemplifies why I like the Small Faces so much. I’ve been listening to this song for years, and I can’t believe it was made in 1966. It was at least a couple of years before its time. Jimmy Page was listening very closely. Steve Marriott was asked to join Zeppelin later on, but his manager put a stop to it. Robert Plant has said he was heavily influenced by Steve Marriott, and if you want proof, listen to this recording. This song was written by Willie Dixon, and I think Zeppelin listened to this version more than Dixon…because Whole Lotta Love came out of it.

Looking back, this is more than just an album cut; it’s an early marker of what British rock would become. You can trace a direct line from this track to Zeppelin, Free, and all the blues-rock that followed. I always thought the Small Faces never got the credit they deserved. People in America only heard Lazy Sunday and Itchycoo Park because their manager would never let them tour the US.

The Small Faces were a band that always played bigger than their small size. If the Small Faces had had a good or even decent manager, they might have had a longer career and be more remembered today. They had a couple of great songwriters, Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. A superb drummer with Kenney Jones and keyboard player Ian McLagan. They were laying down some of the rawest R&B-inspired rock coming out of Britain. This song, on their debut album Small Faces, is a perfect example.

A YouTube comment on this song was crude and rude, but I endorse: Steve m*thaf*ckin’ Marriott. The ultimate rock & roll voice.

You Need Loving

Woah you foolin’Come and get coolin’I’m gonna send you right back to school, alrightMake your way down the new side girlYou know how woman, you need lovin’, lovin’, alrightI know you need lovin’ you here, oh yeah, alright

That’s right, well I’ve been yearnin’Hey baby you’ve been burnin’We’ll have a fun time, alrightYou’ll get some lovin’Cause baby we’re gonna excite youDeep in your heart woman, you need lovin’, yeah,oh lovin’, alrightThat’s all you need, lovin’ baby, yeah, alright

Eeny-meeny-miney-moEeny-meeny-miney-moCan’t take it no moreI can’t monkey and I can’t dogCan’t do the monkey, yeahI said you know how to ponyMony-baloney, I took you to the flyerPassed me byOh rock your ponyMashed potatoSaid I want to show youI want to show youIt’s alright, it’s alright…

Woman you need loving, yeah

…

Faces – Stay With Me

For the longest time, this is the only song I knew by The Faces. I found out how good they were not just by this one but by their other songs. This is the Rod Stewart I think of when I think of him. Absolutely killer on stage at this time with this band powering it on.

I usually don’t like gimmicky instruments, like in the 1980,s they had guitars with what looked like hockey sticks. I have one of those, and the strings break like crazy. Or the guitars with no headstocks…I hated those. One guitar I did like in the late sixties, early seventies was the one that Ron Wood is playing in the live video clip. The “See-Through” Ampeg Dan Amstrong Guitar. Keith Richards played one as well, and they sound dirty and raunchy. They are now worth 2-6 grand. All of you non-guitar fans…sorry. The one below can be had for $5500.

This song was written by Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, which became the Faces’ biggest hit. Stay With Me peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100, #6 in the UK, and #4 in Canada in 1972. I’ve always liked the dirty, filthy sound of the song. It’s not my so called favorite song by them. That would be Ooh La La by the Faces in 1973.

This band was formed from the Small Faces when Steve Marriott quit and Ron Wood and Rod Stewart took his place. Steve was both a great guitarist and even better singer. I remember seeing a clip of the 1993 Brit Awards on some TV show and saw a reunion of the Faces with Bill Wyman of the Stones filling in for Ronnie Lane.

Stay With Me

In the morning
Don’t say you love me
‘Cause I’ll only kick you out of the door

I know your name is Rita
‘Cause your perfume smelling sweeter
Since when I saw you down on the floor
guitar

Won’t need to much persuading
I don’t mean to sound degrading
But with a face like that
You got nothing to laugh about

Red lips hair and fingernails
I hear your a mean old Jezebel
Lets go up stairs and read my tarot cards

Stay with me
Stay with me
For tonight you better stay with me

So in the morning
Please don’t say you love me
‘Cause you know I’ll only kick you out the door

Yea I’ll pay your cab fare home
You can even use my best cologne
Just don’t be here in the morning when I wake up

Stay with me
Stay with me
‘Cause tonight you better stay with me
Sit down, get up, get down

Stay with me
Stay with me
Cause tonight your going stay with me
Hey, whats your name again
Oh no, get down

Small Faces – Song Of A Baker

Another band this week that didn’t break America but should have.

A great pop song by The Small Faces with Ronnie Lane on the lead vocal. Ronnie Lane was inspired to write this song by a book of Sufi wisdom given to him by Pete Townshend. The song was credited to Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott. The Small Faces

In 1966-67 Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott moved into a Westminster apartment, and a new drug entered their orbit that expanded their artistic vision almost beyond all recognition… LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide).

This song came off of their best-known album, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. In its initial release, the album was packaged in a mock tobacco tin that was a circular metal container with oversized folded paper as one finds in a pipe tobacco tin. It proved to be too expensive and impractical, so later releases were packaged in conventional cardboard album covers. A compact disc reissue also was marketed in a mock Ogdens tin.

Ogden’s Nut-brown Flake was a tobacco brand produced in Liverpool from 1899 onwards by Thomas Ogden.

The album was a psychedelic concept album. It was one of rock’s first concept albums coming before The Who’s Tommy. Side two follows a boy named Happiness Stan who is trying to find the missing half of the moon. The story was thought of on a boating trip to teh river Thames.

Ian McLagan on touring Australia and New Zealand: “[The Australian press] gave me hell from the very beginning, because I’d just been busted, I was on my way to Athens for a holiday but never got further than Heathrow. As I was showing my passport they smelt the hash on me, searched and busted me. As soon as we landed in Australia we had a press conference, so we’re all lined up in front of the television cameras and the first guy goes: ‘Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan… you’re the drug addict right?’”

“On our way to New Zealand we had to stop off in Sydney. You couldn’t drink on internal flights back then, but one of Paul Jones’ Australian backing band passed a bottle around and the police were called. We weren’t even drinking but they arrested and held us in the first-class lounge where a waitress came straight up to us and said: ‘What would you like to drink?’ “So we drank. The police arrested us as soon as we arrived in New Zealand, but we ended up having a great time. Steve had his 21st birthday party; Keith [Moon] wrecked his room; it was business as usual.”

Kenney Jones: “The lyrics came from Ronnie’s Sufi investigations, with the importance of the ‘wheat in the field’ and all that, I love his melodic bass playing on it. He used to think like he was playing lead guitar and that mentally fused into his bass playing.”

Ian McLagan: “It was weird that they allowed Here Comes The Nice to come out at all, we were dabbling in all kinds of chemicals and Methedrine was one of them. We were wrong to have written about a speed dealer. They weren’t the nicest people. The guy you bought your hash from was usually just a head, but a speed dealer – like a coke or heroin dealer – was only interested in getting your money. It was quite different. They weren’t your friends.”

Son Of A Baker

There’s wheat in the field
And water in the stream
And salt in the mine
And an aching in me

I can no longer stand and wonder
Cause I’m driven by this hunger
So I’ll jug some water
Bake some flour
Store some salt and wait the hour

While I’m thinking of love
Love is thinking for me
And the baker will come
And the baker I’ll be

I am depending on my labor
The texture and the flavor

…

Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story

Spent time feelin’ inferior
standing’ in front of my mirror
Combed my hair in a thousand ways, but I came out lookin’ just the same

*If you are on the main site…sorry for the formatting but if I correct the spaces it will publish everything as one huge paragrah…thanks WP*

This is my favorite song by Rod Stewart hands down. It’s an acoustic-driven
rocker with Rod never relenting on the lyrics. The song has a
stream-of-consciousness feel to it. Every Picture Tells a Story was written by
Stewart and Ron Wood.

For my money…this is Rod Stewarts best era. He sounds sharp, the music is
alive, and he is not following a trend. I just wish they would have saved some
of these songs for The Faces also. This song has something some of his later
songs did not…a raw energetic sound.

He had some guests on this song. Maggie Bell with vocals, Long John Baldry with vocals, Ian McLagan on Hammon organ, Ronnie Wood on lead and acoustic guitar, and Kenney Jones on drums.

Stewart went from recording the second Faces’ album Long Player,
while also squeezing in tour dates with the group, to starting up the sessions
for Every Picture Needs a Story. He also produced this album and
laid the songs down fast. This album made Rod Stewart in a lot of ways. The
album had Maggie May, Reason To Believe, (I Know) I’m Losing You (with the
Faces), Mandolin Wind, and of course the title song. It is my favorite Stewart
album. I grew up with most of the singles.

One lyric that I’ve heard wrong…well not really heard wrong. In the line On
the Peking ferry I was feeling merry, sailing on my way back here. I knew
what he was singing…but I thought it was “Peking Ferry I was feeling Mary“
which I think would have fit perfectly.

Rod Stewart: “I can remember the build up. You
know what the song’s about – your early teenage life when you’re leaving home
and you’re exploring the world for yourself. Ronnie (Wood) and I rehearsed
round my house at Muswell Hill and recorded it the next day. That whole album
was done in 10 days, two weeks, about as long as it takes to get a drum sound
right nowadays.”

Every Picture Tells a Story

Spent some time feeling inferiorStanding in front of my mirrorCombed my hair in a thousand waysBut I came out looking just the same

Daddy said, “Son, you better see the worldI wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leaveBut remember one thing, don’t lose your headTo a woman that’ll spend your bread”So I got out, whoo

Paris was a place you could hide awayIf you felt you didn’t fit inThe French police wouldn’t give me no peaceThey claimed I was a nasty person

Down along the Left Bank, minding my own, whooWas knocked down by a human stampedeGot arrested for inciting a peaceful riotWhen all I wanted was a cup of teaI was accused, whoo

I moved onDown in Rome, I wasn’t getting enoughOf the things that keep a young man aliveMy body stunk, but I kept my funk, whooAt a time when I was right outta luck

Getting desperate, indeed I was, yeahLooking like a tourist attractionOh, my dear, I better get outta hereFor the Vatican don’t give no sanctionI wasn’t ready for that, no, no

I moved right out east, yeahListenOn the Peeking ferry, I was feeling merrySailing on my way back hereI fell in love with a slit-eyed ladyBy the light of an eastern moon

Shanghai Lil never used the pillShe claimed that it just ain’t naturalShe took me up on deck and bit my neckOh, people, I was glad I found herOh, yes, I was glad I found her, whoo-hoo

Wait a minuteI firmly believed that IDidn’t need anyone but meI sincerely thought I was so completeLook how wrong you can be

The women I’ve known I wouldn’t let tie my shoeThey wouldn’t give you the time of dayBut the slit-eyed lady knocked me off my feetGod, I was glad I found her

And if they have the words I can tell to youTo help you on the way down the roadI couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats‘Cause it’s all been said beforeMake the best out of the bad, just laugh it off, haYou didn’t have to come here anyway

So, remember, every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? Whoo

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Small Faces- Rollin’ Over

They have become one of my favorite 60s rock bands. The biggest reason is their lead singer + guitarist…Steve Marriott.

If the Small Faces would have had a good or even decent manager they might have had a longer career and be more remembered today. They had a couple of great songwriters, Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. A superb drummer with Kenney Jones and keyboard player Ian McLagan

In my opinion, they had the best singer of any band at that time with Marriott. Other singers like Paul Rodgers and Robert Plant have said they both owed a debt to Marriott. The pure energy he gave off live is incredible. If I could build a rock band from scratch with anyone I wanted…Steve Marriott would be my singer…plus he was a great guitarist. Keith Richards wanted him to replace Mick Taylor when he left the Stones.

I always thought America had a skewed view of Small Faces. The only two songs played in America were Lazy Sunday and Itchycoo Park. One of them sounds like a music hall song and the other psychedelic. I like them but they were a driving band with a harder edge than either of those songs. Rollin’ Over is not their best song but I always have liked it. It was the B-Side to Lazy Sunday.

This song was off their biggest album Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. It’s a rocking song that reminds me of what was to come in Marriott’s Humble Pie and the later Faces. It was written by Marriott and Lane as was most of their songs. Listen to this song and All or Nothing and see the difference between the two hits in America.

The album peaked at #1 in the UK and #159 on the Billboard 100. The reason they didn’t hit more in America? Their manager Don Arden would not pay for them to tour here per Kenney Jones. During their peak in the UK, Arden paid the band just £20 a week (around $50 at that time) plus a clothing allowance. Kenney Jones said they have just recently received some of the royalties that were stolen from them by Arden.

Rollin’ Over

Goodbye sunshine, I’m on my wayI’ll be long time gone by the break of dayTell everyone that I’m gonna find itThere ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me

Rollin’ overRollin’ over (save all your lovin’ ’til I get home)Rollin’ over (ooh, the sweetest lovin’ sunshine that I’ve ever known)Tell everybody I’m gonna find itThere ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me

Rollin’ over, shak-do-wayWah-wah-doo, yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over and over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeah (rollin’ over)Shak-do-way (rollin’ over)Yeah-yeah-yeahShak-do-way

Faces – Maybe I’m Amazed ….Under The Covers Week

This week I want to mix it up a bit so I’m doing cover versions all this week. I thought I would kick it off with The Faces. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a version of this that I don’t like. A blog that I would highly recommend that specializes in covers is Randy at Mostly Music Covers. Check him out when you can…he goes in-depth on music covers.

The Faces were fun…any band that would have a bartender on stage with a bar…has my vote. Ronnie Lane would sing the first part of this song with Rod the Mod Stewart would pick it up after the first verse. I like Ronnie’s voice a lot…it wasn’t Rod Stewart but it was very rootsy. Lane was a very good singer in a band with a great singer…twice. He was in the Small Faces with Steve Marriott and The Faces with Rod Stewart. Those two types of singers don’t come very often.

The song was on their album Long Player… They did an excellent version of this song. They added to it without losing its charm. The album was their sophomore album and it peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #32 in Canada, and #31 in the UK in 1971. Their next album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse (that is a great title!) peaked at #6 on the Billboard Album Charts later that year.

This song was written by Paul McCartney on his debut album. It should have been released as a single. He did release it as a single in 1976, a live version off the triple record set…Wings Over America. Paul wrote this song for Linda who helped pull him through a bad depression after The Beatles broke up. I did read an interesting fact about this song. “This was the first song with the word “amazed” in the title to reach the Hot 100. Another didn’t appear until 1999 when Lonestar charted with “Amazed.”

It’s hard to believe that the Faces single didn’t chart because McCartney never released it as a single himself…you would think the market would have been ready for it. Although FM stations did play the McCartney version.

Stewart always called Ronnie Lane the heart of the band and that was probably true. Lane got frustrated not being able to sing many songs and was upset at Stewart’s lack of commitment… and quit. After Lane quit in 1973, Tetsu Yamauchi took his place for touring but then they broke up in 1975 when Ron Wood joined the Stones and Stewart continued his solo career.

Ron Wood talks about Maybe I’m Amazed and has a special guest in this 1:24 clip.

Maybe I’m Amazed

Baby I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave you
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you fool me all the time
You hung me on a line
Baby, I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only one that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Baby, I’m amazed at the way you’re with me all the time
Baby, I’m afraid of the way I’ll leave ya’
Baby, I’m amazed at the way you help me sing the song
You right me when I’m wrong
Baby I’m amazed at the way I really need you

Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
I’m a lonely man who’s in the middle of something
That he does not really understand
Baby, I’m a man, oh baby,
You’re the only woman that could ever help me
Baby, won’t you try to understand

Izzy Stradlin And The Ju Ju Hounds – Shuffle It All

I loved this song when it was released. I saw the video before I heard it on the radio. I knew two of the members straight off the bat. Izzy Stradlin was a founding member of Guns N Roses. The other guy I knew was Rick Richards of Georgia Satellites on lead guitar. To round out the band, Jimmy Ashhurst of Broken Homes on bass, and Charlie Quintana on drums.

To my surprise…on the organ was former Faces/Small Faces member Ian McLagan. Ron Wood also played on the album. Another surprise was super session man Nicky Hopkins. Izzy had some big guns playing with him.

Stradlin quit Guns ‘N Roses in 1991 during their hottest period. He moved back to his Indiana town Lafayette and put this band together and wrote the material. The song has a very Stonesy Keith Richards feel to it.

I was surprised, to be honest…I’ve never been a fan of lead singer Axl Rose. I liked Stradlin’s voice much more. I’ve always been a fan of voices that are a little out of the norm. This album was released within a few months of the Black Crowes The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion so the airwaves were full of rootsy blues rock and roll.

The album was self-titled Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds released in 1992…wow has it been that long? The album peaked at #102 on the Billboard Album Charts. They did a huge tour into September of 1993.

Izzy has made 10 solo albums and also two more EP’s with the JuJu Hounds. He refused to rejoin Guns N’Roses in 2016 because they refused to cut the money evenly. He also played with former bandmate Slash in Velvet Revolver.

On quitting Guns N’ Roses he said some of it was due to Axl Rose’s chronic lateness and him being a diva. He was then offered a contract. “This is right before I left – demoting me to some lower position. They were gonna cut my percentage of royalties down. I was like, ‘Fuck you! I’ve been there from Day One. Why should I do that? Fuck you, I’ll go play the Whisky.’ That’s what happened. It was utterly insane.”

Shuffle It All

Boredom saturation
It’s a never ending clue
Isn’t just to fill the time
When there’s nothing else to do

She drove on out of New York
She had enough insane
And drivin’ just though Texas two days
She ended up in L.A.

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your life again

A pile of records spread out
The covers still look good
Picture here a Peter Tosh’s
startin’ down and a smokin’ wood

My dog dreaming is running
I see him twitch a paw
My woman playing Dr. Mario
On the TV all night long

Just another cigarette
Staring at the moon, yeah
Then I’m headin’ off to bed
Sleepin’ without you, yeah

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Pack up your bags again

It’s a long and winding road
Sure enjoy the view, yeah
If you want to see it
Just slow down
You’re so welcome to come along

Lookin’ for a tune to play
I’m gonna see it again
When the day is over
Try to write you ’bout the rain

Feel the motors winding on
There ain’t no news
If you see those old friends out there
Tell them that I send my love

Wake up, time to leave again
Try to find my shoes
Put the luggage in the van
Roll up your Doctor Dolittle

Shuffle it all
Shuffle it all, yeah
Shuffle it all
Pack up your things again
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Shuffle it all (Keep movin’ along)
Pack up your life again

Keep on shufflin’

Faces – Richmond

A great song by the Faces that was written by Ronnie Lane. Lane was a very good singer in a band with a great singer…twice. He was in the Small Faces with Steve Marriott and The Faces with Rod Stewart. Those two types of singers come just once a generation.

He takes the lead in this song. The Faces were a raucous fun band. They stormed the stage with a full bar and bartender. They WERE banned from the Holiday Inn chain…but that didn’t stop them from staying there. They soon started to check in at Holiday Inns as Fleetwood Mac…and it worked! They didn’t take anything seriously and wanted to have fun and take the audience with them.

One US tour billed as a Rock’n’Roll Circus, involved sharing the bill with jugglers, acrobats, Blinko the clown, and a Chinese high-wire stripper called Ming Wung. All the while they were leaping about the stage, swapping mics, whispering in huddles, and booting soccer balls into the crowd.

This song came off of their album Long Player released in 1971. The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #34 in Canada, and #41 in the UK. Their next album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse would peak at #6 in the same year.

Drummer Kenney Jones: “It wasn’t just at gigs, everywhere we went we fell on the floor – airports, restaurants, hotels, bars. We were saying to people that you don’t have to take rock’n’roll too seriously. Every gig was like going to a party. The Faces were undoubtedly the most fun band I was ever in.”

Kenney Jones: “We were the first to do a lot of things, we’d have a white stage, and insist that Chuch Magee, who was our roadie, wore black trousers, a white shirt, and a waistcoat, so he looked like a barman. So he’d tend the bar, then quickly do Woody’s guitar and various other things. And we’d have palm trees on stage with us. It was very over-the-top. We took the piss out of ourselves, more than anything.”

Kenney Jones: “Rod summed it up really well, he told me that once Ronnie Lane left the band, the spirit of the Faces left too. Ronnie was integral to the band. It was the complete line-up when he was there. It never quite felt the same afterwards.”

Free Drummer Simon Kirke: .“Touring with the Faces was wonderful, they were at their peak and had Rod Stewart singing. Jeez, he could sing so well back then. He’s like Paul Rodgers, really; he never sung a bad show, he just had variations on brilliant. They always had such fun on stage. There were drinks in abundance, and Woody was there with the ever-present ciggie hanging out of his mouth or tucked in the end of his guitar. Ian would be grinning from ear to ear. And they dressed so flamboyantly, too, all silks and satins and flares. I loved ’em. They just had a great time, whereas Free were slightly serious.”

This video is just 7 minutes long…it is Ronnie Lane’s son talking about his dad and Cat Stevens is at the end of the video.

Richmond

I wish I
I wish I was in Richmond
I do, I would I
I wish I
I wish I was back home

I’m waitin’
Here in New York City
The rain is falling
There’s no one who cares
There’s no one loves me here

The women
They may look very pretty
And some they know it
But some look good
They show a leg and smile
But they all look like the flowers
In someone else’s garden
I’ve no act of love
for anyone but you

Small Faces – Lazy Sunday

The Small Faces were indeed small… all of them were between 5’4″ and 5’6.” They would later grow when the taller Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined and they became the Faces.

Lazy Sunday came off the classic album Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. The Small Faces didn’t intend to release this song. Steve Marriott was against his manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s decision to release this as a single and that was one reason why he left the group shortly afterward to be replaced by Stewart. The band didn’t take the song seriously and made it into a joke. Steve sang some of the voices with a cockney accent.

They were touring Germany and they picked up a music paper and saw it was not only released but a hit. Steve wanted a tougher image for the band, and this was more of a novelty pop song.

This song is not a good example, but Steve Marriott may have had the best voice of all his peers. Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers have cited Marriott as an influence. Personally, I would take him over those two and that is saying a lot.

The Small Faces also recorded this critically acclaimed concept psychedelic album in 1968 with their new record company Immediate Records. They never followed it up and only performed it once live in its entirety on a television show called Colour Me Pop. It spent 6 weeks at number one on the UK Album Charts.

Lazy Sunday peaked at #2 in the UK, #42 in Canada, and #114 in the Billboard 100.

This song was written by Steve Marriott. Marriott and Ronnie Lane did most of the writing. Their songs were clever and catchy. This band should have been bigger than they were… With the right record label, manager and push, they might have broken through.

Kenney Jones: “Steve had been a child actor, he was the first Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart’s Oliver in the West End. He brought back that theatricality to this.”

Ian McLagan: “When Steve came in with this it was slower. We started taking the piss out of it while he was out of the room. The ‘Root-ti-doo-ti-di-day’ thing stop and he laughed when he came back in and heard us. So we cut it like that. It was a piss take!”

Lazy Sunday

A-wouldn’t it be nice to get on with me neighbours?
But they make it very clear, yhey’ve got no room for ravers
They stop me from groovin’, they bang on me wall
They doing me crust in, it’s no good at all, ah
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
I close my eyes and drift away-a
Here we all are sittin’ in a rainbow
Gor blimey, hello Mrs. Jones, how’s old Bert’s lumbago? (he mustn’t grumble)
(Tweedle-dee) I’ll sing you a song with no words and no tune (twiddly-dee)
To sing in the khazi while you suss out the moon, oh yeah
Lazy Sunday afternoon, I’ve got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift away-a

Root-de-doo-de-doo, a-root-de-doot-de-doy-di
A-root-de-doot-de-dum, a-ree-de-dee-de-doo-dee (doo-doo, doo-doo)
There’s no one to hear me, there’s nothing to say
And no one can stop me from feeling this way, yeah
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift away
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I’ve got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift a-
Close my mind and drift away, close my eyes and drift away

Small Faces – All Or Nothing

The Small Faces were very popular in the UK in the 1960s. Because of management they never toured in America. Their best-known songs are Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday in America but had many hits in the UK.

All or Nothing was written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. The song peaked at #1 in the UK in 1966.

The Small Faces would splinter in 1969 and Steve Marriott would start Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. The Small Faces would welcome Ron Wood and Rod Stewart and become the Faces…Kenney Jones would later replace Keith Moon in the Who.

It was said to be written either about Marriott’s break up with his with ex-fiancée Sue Oliver, or for his first wife who once dated Rod Stewart. It is possible that both these explanations may be true…somehow.

Drummer Kenney Jones: “It was us getting to where we wanted to be musically. It wasn’t as poppy as our previous hits, but still commercial enough and better than anything we’d done before.”

Steve Marriott in 1984: “I think ‘All Or Nothing’ takes a lot of beating. To me, if there’s a song that typifies that era, then that might be it.”

From Songfacts

Not to be confused with a later song of the same title, “All Or Nothing” was recorded by the Small Faces in 1966. In his 2004 autobiography Mr Big, their manager at the time, Don Arden, said this was “top-drawer…[and] still gets played on the radio today”. Arden produced the record. Co-written by guitarist Steve Marriott and bass player Ronnie Lane, it was backed by “Understanding” and was written

For Marriott it was very much all or nothing; he married three times and appears to have sired at least two children out of wedlock. He died in a fire in April 1991, apparently after lighting a cigarette in bed and falling asleep. Prior to his death, he had taken cocaine as well as Valium and alcohol.

Here are two quotes about the song from 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh.

Kenney Jones recalled to Uncut magazine: “We were on tour and staying in the Station Hotel, Leeds, when Steve suddenly run down the corridor screaming, ‘I’ve got it! I’ve just written our next hit!”‘

Jones based his opening drum fill on the intro of Wilson Pickett’s “In The Midnight Hour.”

All Or Nothing

I thought you’d listen to my reason
But now I see, you don’t hear a thing
Try to make you see, how it’s got to be

Yes it’s all, all or nothing
Yeah yeah, all or nothing
All or nothing, for me

Things could work out
Just like I want them to, yeah
If I could have
The other half of you, yeah
You know I would,
If I only could

Yes it’s yeah, all or nothing
Oh yeah, all or nothing
You’ll hear my children say,
All or nothing, for me

I didn’t tell you no lies
So don’t you sit there and cry girl
Yeah, all or nothing
Oh yeah, all or nothing
Oh yeah, all or nothing

Do you know what I mean
You got to, got to, go to keep on trying, yeah
All or nothing, mm yeah
All or nothing, to keep on working on to me
All or nothing for me, for me, for me

Come on children, yeah
All or nothing, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah
All or nothing, I kept on singing to myself
All or nothing, yeah for me, yeah

Ooh La La 1973

What a great song from The Faces. The song was written by Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood and sung by Wood. That is strange because The Faces had one of the best lead singers around at the time…Rod Stewart.

Stewart by this time was soaring as a solo artist and his interest in the Faces was waning. He claimed the song was not in his key to sing. He did do vocals for it then and Lane but Wood ended up singing the released version.

The Faces had one big hit…Stay With Me but this song is their greatest song to me. Rod Stewart finally covered the song in 1998 for a tribute to Ronnie Lane. Ronnie Lane did his own version with his band Slim Chance. Ronnie Wood also does it live in solo shows.

A song between Granddad and Son about the ways of love. The song never ages because the subject matter never changes and it is continually passed along. The song creates an atmosphere and Wood not known for his singing ability did a great job on this one.

The song was included in the 1998 film Rushmore and enjoyed renewed popularity.

It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. Just a beautiful melody and words.

Poor old granddad
I laughed at all his words
I thought he was a bitter man
He spoke of woman’s ways

They’ll trap you, then they use you
Before you even know
For love is blind and you’re far too kind
Don’t ever let it show

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger

The can can’s such a pretty show
They’ll steal your heart away
But backstage, back on earth again
The dressing rooms are gray

They come on strong and it ain’t too long
Before they make you feel a man
But love is blind and you soon will find
You’re just a boy again

When you want her lips, you get a cheek
Makes you wonder where you are
If you want some more and she’s fast asleep
Then she’s twinkling with the stars

Poor young grandson, there’s nothing I can say
You’ll have to learn, just like me
And that’s the hardest way
Ooh la la, ooh la la la yeh

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger