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Tuesday 12 May 2015

Alphabet Beats #126: S is for....Small Faces

S is for...






I have said for many years now that The Beatles were never a band that took my fancy. I liked a few songs here and there but that was about it. Four bands though from the Sixties that I personally enjoyed more were The Animals, The Kinks (who were spotlighted when The Letter K was under the spotlight), The Who (and I'm sure they will feature when The Letter W comes up) and the fourth one takes the spotlight today - The Small Faces.

Formed in East London back in 1965 the original line up consisted of Steve Marriot, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston. Winston would be replaced in 1966 by Ian McLagan.

Small Faces are considered to be one of the most influential Mod groups of the 1960's. Releasing memorable hit songs like 'Itchycoo Park', 'Lazy Sunday Afternoon', 'All or Nothing' and Tin Soldier' they were a force to be reckoned with. Their innovative concept album 'Ogdens Nut Gone Flake' is considered a classic. They developed into one of the premier Psychedelic bands before disbanding in 1969.

Once the band had broken up Steve Marriot would go on to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton whilst the remaining three would team up with guitarist Ronnie Wood and a vocalist called Rod Stewart (both from The Jeff Beck Group), and they renamed themselves The Faces.

The Faces themselves would eventually break up in 1975 (as Rod Stewart had begun to carve out his solo career) and their was a reunion of sorts as 'Itchycoo Park' had been reissued and was making waves in the charts. Any promise of new music was dented when Ronnie Lane departed after the first rehearsal due to an arguement that the band had pervceived as a drunken tantrum but was in fact the beginnings of the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis!

Rick Wills (ex-Roxy Music) took over bass duties. Two more albums would follow, firstly in 1977 and then the final chapter in 1978 (both on Atlantic Records).  Ex-Wings man Jimmy McCulloch would also join the band in 1977 and contributed to the final album '78 in the Shade'.

The Music
    Small Faces (1966)
    From The Beginning (1967)
    Small Faces (1967)
    Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (1968)
    The Autumn Stone (1969)*
    Playmates (1977)
    78 in the Shade (1978)
*Just contains the title track

The Soundtrack4Life Top Ten
Small Faces
05. Hey Girl.

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