Got that Box Set from Mac's site. To this day that band preserves their impeccably cool, genuinely amicable image. Mac is keeper of the flame and it couldn't be anyone better. He wrote my favorit R&R Book (All the Rage), keeps up a fun, friendly, current website, answers in person to mail, and still amnages to play some killer piano on the road and at home in texas. What a class act!
So I am once again listening to some of the Set and am reminded what a superb band that was. Of course there's the whole Ronnie phenomenon. The man was one of the greatest rock/blues players EVER! Had the whole package like Keith and some of the others who posess the right ratio of country/slide/chuckberryisms/and a touch of reggae. When called for he could rip out a solo of beauty like on Jealous Guy or "Id rather go blind". he cowrote so much of their originalsd and Rod' hits.
Rod will always be onme of the greatest vocalists. Ronnie Lan, Mac and Kenney...it reads like a supergroup. Someone should really do a detailed song by song review of that Set because every one is a masterpiece.
What got me writing this morning was listening to the studio chatter before "jealous Guy" which cracks me up. Kenny is especially drunk.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Five Guys Walk Into A Bar is maybe the dearest thing I own. Everybody on this forum should have their own copy!

A must have!

I agree, I haven't listened to the Faces for a long time, maybe 25 years, I forgot how good they were, not only Ronnie but Rod back when he used to write a lot and rock.

I refuse to buy ANY Faces cd's untill some here aknowledge how wonderful the Small Faces were. Steve Marriot was FAR cooler than Rod and Ian Mclagan, Kenny Jones and Ronnie Lane were better looking as mods in the mid-60's.

i am with big al on this.

the small faces were and are the most underated 60's band - their version of every little bit hurts (on the immediate 4 cd box set) is to die for

p.s. my wife used to cut steve marriott's hair ! just before he died (not linked events , obviously !)

Uh yes, the Small faces were great. Steve Marriott was this ball of fire. But...Five Guys walk into a Bar is still excellnt! LOL I hope you are not depriving yourself of this gem Big Al.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

The Small Faces were great, but their style was quite different - more humour, english and pretty light, and unfortunately with extremely poor sound. I like them though.

DandelionPowderman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Small Faces were great, but their style was
> quite different - more humour, english and pretty
> light, and unfortunately with extremely poor
> sound. I like them though.


If your talking about their Immediate output and songs like Lazy Sunday, then yeah, they're very English and pretty light, but in '65 and '66, they were a pure Mod act with a lot of soul music influences. I absolutely love numbers like Sha, La, La, La Lee, Whatca Gonna Do About It, My Minds Eye and the only UK number one they ever had, All Or Nothing. That track's an absolute monster!

ChelseaDrugstore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Uh yes, the Small faces were great. Steve Marriott
> was this ball of fire. But...Five Guys walk into a
> Bar is still excellnt! LOL I hope you are not
> depriving yourself of this gem Big Al.



No, of course not! To be honest, I've heard very little of The Faces and have always intended to get round to giving them a go. I only got round to listening to the Small Faces first because my dad had a few of their 45's.

Listen to Steve Marriot.....then listen to Robert Plant....and you'll hear where plant copped his style from

DandelionPowderman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Five Guys Walk Into A Bar is maybe the dearest
> thing I own. Everybody on this forum should have
> their own copy!


As one too young to have heard the Faces during their day, I have been loving this box since it was released.

The tracks are terrific entirely on their own merits, but I think the pleasure is doubled for Stones fans. The reason being that the Faces took virtually all the same elements and influences as the Stones and came up with a very different concoction. When one listens to the Faces doing their take on country, folk, blues and soul, it throws what was utterly distinctive about the Stones into even sharper relief.

The "High Heeled Sneakers/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" on disc three absolutely kills me.

One of my favorite bands and Mac is indeed a class act and genuinely warm and funny guy, not to mention a great pianist. "Had Me A Real Good Time" is one of all my all time favorite tracks.

Leonard Keringer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Listen to Steve Marriot.....then listen to Robert
> Plant....and you'll hear where plant copped his
> style from


I must admit that I've never made a comparison myself!

Steve Marriott had a great soul-style voice. Where as I do like the music of Led Zeppelin, I'd be the first to put my hands up and say that I don't particulary rate Plant as vocalist. His voice is too screecy for my likeing.

Marriot was one of the greats though and he was a fantastic guitarist too.

can't hang with you on this on Al - marriott is one of my least favorite singers of the classic rock era - I hate that yelling/yowling style. Rod, on the other hand is one the era's finest...

Big Al Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Leonard Keringer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Listen to Steve Marriot.....then listen to
> Robert
> > Plant....and you'll hear where plant copped
> his
> > style from
>
>
> I must admit that I've never made a comparison
> myself!
>
>> Big Al.....if ya have any Small Faces stuff...check out track #9 ("You Need Loving") from the first Small Faces lp......"i aint fooling, you need coolin"....and you'll really hear where Plant copped his style





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-01-06 18:40 by Leonard Keringer.

Big Al.....if ya have any Small Faces stuff...check
> out track #9 ("You Need Loving") from the first
> Small Faces lp......"i aint fooling, you need
> coolin"....and you'll really hear where Plant
> copped his style
>
Edited 1 times. Last edit at 01/06/06 18:40 by Leonard Keringer.




JESUS! I'm listening to it now. I've had the Small Faces debut for ages, but I must admit to only playing it a few times and before now, certainly not for a long time!

Plant isn’t copying Marriott; he's completely ripping him off!

Why, oh why are Marriott and Lane not included in the Whole Lotta Love credits?

Big Al Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Big Al.....if ya have any Small Faces
> stuff...check
> > out track #9 ("You Need Loving") from the
> first
> > Small Faces lp......"i aint fooling, you
> need
> > coolin"....and you'll really hear where
> Plant
> > copped his style
> >
> Edited 1 times. Last edit at 01/06/06 18:40 by
> Leonard Keringer.
>
>
>
>
> JESUS! I'm listening to it now. I've had the Small
> Faces debut for ages, but I must admit to only
> playing it a few times and before now, certainly
> not for a long time!
>
> Plant isn’t copying Marriott; he's completely
> ripping him off!
>
> Why, oh why are Marriott and Lane not included in
> the Whole Lotta Love credits?
>
>

Exactly!

Thanks for re-introducing me to that song!

It's not just the fact that they've not been credited that’s currently bothering me, it's the fact that I've never even read about it before... ANYWHERE! Maybe I've just been overlooking it, but while much is talked about them nicking the odd line and riff off some of the old bluesmen, they're most blatant copycat exercise never gets mentioned, and You Need Loving is it!

Big Al Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for re-introducing me to that song!
>
> It's not just the fact that they've not been
> credited that’s currently bothering me, it's the
> fact that I've never even read about it before...
> ANYWHERE! Maybe I've just been overlooking it, but
> while much is talked about them nicking the odd
> line and riff off some of the old bluesmen,
> they're most blatant copycat exercise never gets
> mentioned, and You Need Loving is it!
>
>


yeah Big Al...the first time i heard it, i couldn't believe how blatant it was....that's why i always remembered it (and i have a terrible memory)

I just can't get into the faces... I have Long Player (on LP, in fact), as well as the Coast to Coast live album, which is terrible. Luckily I don't think I paid anything for it.

Maybe they're too english/pubby for me. Never really got into the kinks, either, but I admire them more easily.

cc

I've always really liked the Ronnie Lane song. What's it called? Flags and Banner? He doesn't have the greatest voice in the whole world, but something about it just kinda gets to me.

And, of course, I'm partial to Cindy Incidentally.

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.

Leonard Keringer Wrote:
> yeah Big Al...the first time i heard
> it, i couldn't believe how blatant it
> was....that's why i always remembered it (and i
> have a terrible memory)



Ah!

NOW i know why I had'nt read about Led Zeppelin ripping of The Small Faces!

It seems the Marriott and Lane had been cheeky too!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whole Lotta Love' is a song by Led Zeppelin from their second album, Led Zeppelin II. It was the band's first hit single and was used as the theme song for the British television show Top of the Pops.

It was recorded at various studios in New York and Los Angeles during a 1969 tour of the United States and assembled by Jimmy Page at Olympic Studios in London. Already part of their live repertoire, it saw its first official release on the LP 'II' on October 22, 1969 (Atlantic LP #8236). The song was a rewrite of the Willie Dixon song "You Need Love", a favorite of the band's as performed by the Small Faces that had also been released by Muddy Waters in 1962. This (and other songs recorded by the band) would lead to a lawsuit settled out of court in the favor of Dixon in 1985. The song also included lyrical nods to Dixon's 'Back Door Man' and 'Shake for Me', the latter as recorded by Howlin' Wolf.

Big Al Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Leonard Keringer Wrote:
> > yeah Big Al...the first time i heard
> > it, i couldn't believe how blatant it
> > was....that's why i always remembered it (and
> i
> > have a terrible memory)
>
>
>
> Ah!
>
> NOW i know why I had'nt read about Led Zeppelin
> ripping of The Small Faces!
>
> It seems the Marriott and Lane had been cheeky
> too!
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------
> Whole Lotta Love' is a song by Led Zeppelin from
> their second album, Led Zeppelin II. It was the
> band's first hit single and was used as the theme
> song for the British television show Top of the
> Pops.
>
> It was recorded at various studios in New York and
> Los Angeles during a 1969 tour of the United
> States and assembled by Jimmy Page at Olympic
> Studios in London. Already part of their live
> repertoire, it saw its first official release on
> the LP 'II' on October 22, 1969 (Atlantic LP
> #8236). The song was a rewrite of the Willie Dixon
> song "You Need Love", a favorite of the band's as
> performed by the Small Faces that had also been
> released by Muddy Waters in 1962. This (and other
> songs recorded by the band) would lead to a
> lawsuit settled out of court in the favor of Dixon
> in 1985. The song also included lyrical nods to
> Dixon's 'Back Door Man' and 'Shake for Me', the
> latter as recorded by Howlin' Wolf.
>
>


wow!.....bunch of heavy "borrowers" out there....thanks for the info

Where's Mac's website so I can order a set?

The point re Whole Lotta Love is also that it's a rip-off of the SF' VERSION of Dixon's song stands imo. The SF indeed adapted, ripped off the Dexon song, but the "Way-Down-Inside-Youuuuu-Neeed-Lovvvve' part so famous from LZII is pure Small Faces. Jimmy added the cool theremin/guitar part, & Bonham's rhythmic stamp.
Other rips of note: LZ's Stairway to Heaven from Spirit's "Taurus", the whole opening minute of guitar. Spirit's great lead guitarist was Randy California, who played w/ Hendrix in NYC til Jimi split for England (Randy, then 15 or 16, was wanted for the JHE by Hendrix but too young)

The "Coast to Coast" live album was indeed terrible, & the band hated it. But the box set has lots of beautiful live cuts & BBC material, & otherwise shows the emotional & musical range that made Faces truly a great rock n roll band - plus the heart and soul, the collective personality. And be it Wood/Stewart, Wood/Lane, Lane, McLagan/Wood/Stewart, etc, great songwriters. Since the last official album was issued in '73 - and the band broke up in December 1975, I CD'rd my own 'final studio album' from the boxed set:

01 You Can Make Me Dance (4:32) Warner Bros 45, Jan 22, 1975
02 Wyndlesham Bay (3:08) outtake, 1973
03 Skewiff (Mend The Fuse) (5:15) Warner Bros 45, Feb 1973
04 The Cheater (4:10) 1973, outtake
05 If Loving You Is Wrong (4:55) 1975, unfinished last album
06 Gettin' Hungry (5:13) 1975, unfinished last album
07 Open To Ideas (4:00) 1975, unfinished last album
08 As Long As You Tell Him (4:20) Warner Bros 45, Jan 22, 1975
09 Rock Me (4:43) 1975, unfinished album
10 Hi Heeled Sneakers/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (5:10) 1975, unfinished album
&
tho it's on Rod's Mercury box, I cheat by adding the Faces' "Oh No Not My Baby" at the end (late '73 Rod solo single, non lp)

Back again...Any Stones fan has 5 Guys, wants to get into the Small Faces ('65-69) might start w/ the 2003 Santuary 2 cd set "Ultimate Collection" with disc 1 devoted to Decca (mod maximum r&b) & the 2nd (most of Ogden's, all the killer singles, etc) the Immediate (more studio crafted) material. Faces & Small Faces are to me both GREAT rock & roll bands, & both still (in the US) underrated.

Thanks for the recs... digging on the SFs might be a good way for me to appreciate better the Fs.