Rod Stewart has said Woody broke up the Faces. But also sort of recently shifted the blame a little (to Mick): Excerpt from Rod Stewart's new memoir (p. 134):

"I was at a party with Mick Jagger in 1974, when the rumors of Ronnie leaving the Faces were beginning to bubble.

"ME: 'Are you going to nick Woody from us?'
"MICK: 'I would never do that. I would never break up the Faces.'

[To the reader] "Oh yes you would, Mick."

Woody in his memoir said Rod shouldn't blame him (Woody), that Rod was off on a solo career, anyway.

In that same memoir Woody said the other members rather broke up the band after they saw signs (driving to a Faces show) before a concert announcing, "Rod Stewart and the Faces," when they thought it should just be, "The Faces."

I'd always thought Rod left the Faces for a solo career, so he was wrong to point fingers. But in his new memoir he says he had a solo career going parallel with the Faces. So the Mick/Woody axis really did break them up.

So many opinions....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-12-30 10:54 by Title5Take1.

If Ron Wood's biography is any indication, you can take anything he says with a grain of salt. I don't know if Rod is more credible.

whoever did it, this was the best thing which ever happend to the stones...

Amen MartinB. They got a team player and a wonderful addition in Ronnie. His note choices and playing style are a perfect fit. IMHO he will go down in rock history as the most underrated guitarist of all time.

I've grown to appreciate Ronnie's abilities, but he still lacks that special magic that Jones and Taylor had. He's very good, but not an especially emotional player.

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24FPS
I've grown to appreciate Ronnie's abilities, but he still lacks that special magic that Jones and Taylor had. He's very good, but not an especially emotional player.

I disagree - I think he's ALL emotion and groove. He's certainly not a disciple like Brian or a technician like Mick T. - and I'm not knocking either one of them - but Ronnie to me is all feel.

Who broke them up. Rod. His ego led to Ronnie Lane to leaving and when he left, that was the end for me. Then Rod moving heavily toward his solo career, Ronnie Wood decided to bail. His ego caused the band to implode.

Time ........



ROCKMAN

Tonight, it was Cain Velasquez.

It was Yoko!!!!

Yoko did it.

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GravityBoy
It was Yoko!!!!

Yoko did it.

Shit you beat me to it!! I saw the thread title, thought of that very response and scrolled to the bottom to find that you had already typed it!

According to Ian Maclagan Ronnie Lane left the band as a result of Rod Stewart not letting him sing his own songs, that was the catalyst i think. Kenney Jones said something similar once, after RL left it was a matter of time. I think its a bit unfair that the blame is put on Rod Stewart or Ronnie Wood. It was a band of five so realistically it was down to each of them a bit. Also Rod Stewart as a solo artist didn't really exist then, he did the albums i don't think he toured without the faces until after they split up.

I don't think that anyone person is to blame. The band just had its time.

Ronnie L may well have been the musical backbone but the general public wanted Rod so he left. The band limped on and it was only loyalty by the members including Rod that kept it going. Neither Rod or Ron wanted to be the one who broke up the band so they tried to blame each other.

Rod did what most of us would have done. He had number 1 singles and albums as a solo artist and people were coming to the concerts to see him. He was the undoubted star.

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Braincapers
I don't think that anyone person is to blame. The band just had its time.

Ronnie L may well have been the musical backbone but the general public wanted Rod so he left. The band limped on and it was only loyalty by the members including Rod that kept it going. Neither Rod or Ron wanted to be the one who broke up the band so they tried to blame each other.

Rod did what most of us would have done. He had number 1 singles and albums as a solo artist and people were coming to the concerts to see him. He was the undoubted star.

If we can't blame it on one person can we blame it on the good times and blame it on the boogie?

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BlackHat

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Braincapers
I don't think that anyone person is to blame. The band just had its time.

Ronnie L may well have been the musical backbone but the general public wanted Rod so he left. The band limped on and it was only loyalty by the members including Rod that kept it going. Neither Rod or Ron wanted to be the one who broke up the band so they tried to blame each other.

Rod did what most of us would have done. He had number 1 singles and albums as a solo artist and people were coming to the concerts to see him. He was the undoubted star.

If we can't blame it on one person can we blame it on the good times and blame it on the boogie?

LOL But if the Boogie is the wrong one to blame, we could blame it on the Bossa Nova...

Can we blame Iran?

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mr_c_ox
Also Rod Stewart as a solo artist didn't really exist then, he did the albums i don't think he toured without the faces until after they split up.

Sure he "existed" - he did more than "exist" as a solo artist!
I bet the only reason he didn't tour solo is because his "backing band" consisted mainly of the Faces.
The breakup wasn't solely Rod Stewart's doing, but Rod Stewart sure shouldn't be going around in books pointing fingers at Ronnie.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-12-30 14:10 by with sssoul.

Ronnie helped Rod make his best "solo" albums.

The real sad thing is that Ronnie never made the same scale of contributions to the Stones.

Either he wasn't allowed or he was a bit shy.

Yoko..

2 1 2 0

Keith...

I blame .................. the FACES !!

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

A number of factors broke up the Faces: these were as follows:

1. The overwhelming rise of Rod Stewart as a solo artist, and the fact that he was saving his best tunes for the solo albums, i.e. from Never A Dull Moment through to Smiler.

2. The tax rate in Britain, under the Labour government at the time, caused mass exodus amongst musicians that were earning good money. Rod was being hit in the pocket, and so decided to leave Britain for the USA: hence also the title of his album Atlantic Crossing.

3. Tetsui was a rubbish bassist compared to Ronnie Lane, and spent more time drunk than actually playing. Former members of the Faces attest to this fact.

4. Rod said that the final studio album, Ooh La La, was rubbish, which caused much friction between members. He actually said this upon release of the album.

5. The shocking live album, Coast to Coast (Overtures & Beginners), was credited to Rod Stewart & The Faces, which also caused a degree of ill feeling.

6. Rod's decision, in 1975, to augment the Faces, on tour, with strings and Jesse Ed Davis, which may have caused losses of revenue.

7. Ronnie Wood's decision to be permanently on loan to the Stones in 1975, causing communication breakdowns.

8. The perception that Ronnie Lane's new wife, Kate, was a Yoko Onoesque influence on the bassist.

9. Ronnie Lane's fight to be on albums, a la George Harrison on most Beatles albums.

Also, the machinations of Billy Gaff, who was Rod's manager at the time.

It was he who encouraged the Rod Stewart & The Faces scenario, and also tried to get extra money for Rod, as opposed to the rest of the band.

Mick Taylor?


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

Whoever is to blame - and I agree there were multiple factors - put yourself in Ron's shoes. You play guitar, you love the Stones, and one day Mick Jagger tells you there's a job opening for the second guitarist slot and would you be interested? How could Ron turn down a chance like that?

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24FPS
I've grown to appreciate Ronnie's abilities, but he still lacks that special magic that Jones and Taylor had. He's very good, but not an especially emotional player.

1+
And on top of that like Jagger Richards oder Lennon/Macca, Plant/Page the team Stewart/Wood (of course on little lower level) was the right thing for Ronnie to be with. We got used to woody in the stones but as a matter of fact he is in the wrong band.

Woody left The Faces for The Stones anything else is a rewrite of history but Rod was heading in all directions thinking he was "Sexy". Ron's run with the RS has been a positive one although he could never be the gunslinger Taylor is. Through the years he's done some mimics of Taylor that have been tough to swallow, CYHMK for example but he's truly great on the Brian stuff and anything in a country B bending style. No single musician has made me chuckle more than Wood. I recall the ARMS concert where he refused to go on stage until he had a lit cigarette and a SRV show on a NY pier where he strapped on a Tele and then chickened out listening to Stevie wailing on Voodoo Child. I have no doubt that the group would not have made 50 years without the beautiful Ron Wood who is truly a Stone. Today he's playing the best of his career carrying the band, paying back the boys for a sloppy decade or two or three. Getting back to The Faces, I saw them play a few times, they were as great as any band ever, I think I saw them once with Nicky Hopkins, Peter Frampton opened!

I spoke to Michael Caine about it and he Blames It On Rio.

Mutual break-up. The band - which I love - was at a natural ending point for many of the reasons listed above.