No post yesterday because that Velvet Underground marathon wore me down to such a degree, also wanted to scout out the Giants/Cardinals game to see who will be facing my Royals in the World Series (yes, I have been a Royals fan since I was a kid, they have not made the playoffs since taking the Series in 1985 (!), I have remained true to their awful teams since then, and they have been nothing short of a joy to watch in the playoffs.......GO ROYALS) anyway, I skipped a Thursday evening post, and hope to make up for it with a good one this evening.....The Small Faces morphed into the Faces when Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie, and was replaced by the "taller" vocalist Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood....the remaining members were bassist Ronnie lane, drummer Kenny Jones, and Keyboardist Ian McLagan, really a fairly all-star lineup, though no slap at the Small Faces with Marriott, they were a good band as well, as, at times, were Humble Pie.
Anyway, that isn't my point, this is about the Faces who released four albums (all of them pretty good), and a 4-disc compilation "Five Guys Walk Into a Bar"......If I were you, I'd probably pick one (the four albums) or the other ("Five Guys", even though "Five Guys" DOES have some bonus material......lot of overlap here, but hey, I have em all, you can handle it however you desire......The new edition of the Faces was more of a bluesy-rocking Stones-type band, as opposed to the Brit psych of the Small Faces....personally, I think the Faces are one of the great underappreciated bands of the early 1970's, if you already know them likely already have an opinion on this, if not, you can form an opinion here. Myself, I always enjoyed Rod Stewart's vocals until he became such an unbearable douche, but the guy had a unique voice for an absolute fact.
Thier first release, 1970's "First Step", is my personal least favorite of the four efforts, not horrible, but not that great either.....it includes a few decent tracks, "Flying", "Stone", and a cover of Dylan's "Wicked Messenger".....it's ok but not essential.
"Long Player is MUCH better, with the rocking "Had Me a Real Good Time", "Bad n Ruin", and a good cover of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm amazed....if the debut was a 2-star disc, this one merits three......later in the same year (1971), they released "A Nod Is As Good As a Wink....To a Blind Horse", which includes the blistering "Stay With Me" which is great and not exactly what we would call an anthem of feminism ("In the morning, please don't say you love me, 'cause you know I'll only kick you out the door", also "I'll even pay your cab fare home"), it's a great hard rocking track and probably their best known tune. Also includes a decent cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" (Stewart's voice works well on Berry and other R&B singer's tunes) and "Miss Judy's Farm"....let's call this one a 3.5 star disc, mostly due to the inclusion of "Stay With Me".
Their final studio effort is a good one as well, "Ooh La La" (the original title was "How You Gonna
Keep Em Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paris", as I understand it, they decided one too-long album title (see above) was plenty. Too me it is thier best work, some disagree, but it includes my favorite of all Faces tunes "Borstal Boys" which has one of Stewart's best vocals ever, the single "Cindy Incidentally", "My Fault" and "If I'm On the Late Side", a really good album with one of my least favorite album covers ever, a creepy-looking French guy with a moveable mouth.
Most of the material on "Five Guys", as I've said before, is culled from these four albums, see below to check which non-LP tracks are included to decide if you want it......MOST of "A Nod" and "Ooh La La" appear here, but there are some worthwhile rarities, an early live BBC version of "Maggie May", a live "Cut Across Shorty", and several other live tracks, B-sides, outtakes and what have ya.......decide for yourself, I'm just the delivery guy.
Hope everyone enjoys this, I decided to stay in the early 1970's for a day or so, we'll see where the wind carries me tomorrow......I have a busy day tomorrow, so I will try to at least get a one-disc post up for you guys, before Sunday (Vikings football) and next week (ROYALS IN WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
LONG PLAYER-01 Bad N Ruin/02 Tell Everyone/03 Sweet Lady Mary/04 Richmond/05 Maybe I'm Amazed/06 Had Me a Real Good Time/07 On the Beach/08 I feel So Good/09 Jerusalem
A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK...TO A BLIND HORSE-01 Miss Judy's Farm/02 You're So Rude/03 Love Lives Here/04 Last Orders Please/05 Stay With Me/06 Debris/07 Memphis/08 Too Bad/09 That's All You Need
OOH LA LA-01 Silicone Grown/02 Cindy Incidentally/03 Flags and Banners/04 My Fault/05 Borstal Boys/06 Fly In the Ointment/07 If I'm on the Late Side/08 Glad and Sorry/09 Just Another Honky/10 Ooh La la
FIVE GUYS WALK INTO A BAR DISC 1-01 Flying/02 On the Beach/03 Too Bad/04 If I'm On the Late Side/05 Debris/06 Jealous Guy (Outtake)/07 Evil (Rehearsal)/08 As Long As You Tell Him (B-Side)/09 Maggie May (Live BBC)/10 Cindy Incidentally (Alternate Mix)/11 Maybe I'm Amazed (Live BBC)/12 Insurance (Outtake)/13 I Came Looking For You (Rehearsal)/14 Last Orders Please/15 Wyndlesham Bay (Jodie) (Outtake)/16 I Can Feel the Fire (Live)/17 Tonight's Number/18 Come See Me Baby (The Cheater) (Outtake)
FIVE GUYS WALK INTO A BAR DISC 2-01 Pool Hall Richard (Single)/02 You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It) (Live BBC)/03 Glad and Sorry/04 Shake Shudder Shiver (Rehearsal)/05 Miss Judy's Farm (Live BBC)/06 Richmond/07 That's All You Need/08 Rear Wheel Skid (B Side)/09 Maybe I'm Amazed/10 (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right (Outtake)/11 Take a Look at the Guy (Live)/12 Flags and Banners/13 Bad N Ruin (Live)/14 Around the Plynth/15 Sweet lady mary/16 Had Me a Real Good Time/17 Cut Across Shorty (Live)
FIVE GUYS WALK INTO A BAR DISC 3-01 You're So Rude/02 (I Know) I'm Losing You (BBC Live)/03 Love Lives Here/04 I'd Rather Go Blind (Live)/05 Hi-Heel Sneakers/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Rehearsal)/06 Gettin' Hungry (rehearsal)/07 Silicone Grown/08 Oh Lord I'm Browned Off (B Side)/09 Just Another Honky/10 Open To Ideas (rehearsal)/11 Skewiff (Mend the Fuse) B Side)/12 Too Bad (Live)/13 Rock Me (Rehearsal)/14 Angel (BBC Live)/15 Stay With me (Live)/16 Ooh La La
Upon further review, although I already have all these anyway, if I were searching to download, I'd do the comp......pretty much every track that's worth having is there and the live tracks and stuff are really good......anyway, I'm sure the price is right, so do as you please.....just agree with me that "Borstal Boys" is one of the underappreciated hard rock songs of the era.
Go Buckeyes tomorrow, Vikings Sunday (fat chance), and ROYALS tuesday in the WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
