Faces – At The BBC: Complete Concert And Session Recordings 1970-1973 (8CD + 1 Blu-Ray)

What does it sound like?:

When Steve Marriott left Small Faces in 1969 to form Humble Pie, the remainder of the band, Ian McLagan keys, Ronnie Lane bass and Kenney Jones drums, recruited Rod Stewart vocals and Ronnie Wood guitar from The Jeff Beck Group, and shortened their name to Faces. They had an unusual contractual arrangement to tiptoe around. Faces were signed to Warner Brothers and Stewart, as a solo artist, to Mercury. Lines were blurred by Faces musicians regularly appearing on Rod Stewart records. It certainly kept them all busy. Faces released four albums during the period covered by this box, First Step, Long Player, A Nod’s As Good As A Wink… To A Blind Horse and Ooh La La and Stewart four, An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story and Never A Dull Moment, plus, most of Smiler was recorded. They had a lot of material to tap into when they played live. Fortunately, they toured constantly.

A Faces gig was a boozy night out with your mates, rumbustious, teetering on the edge of chaos. Unlike many Rock bands of the time, they were unafraid to embrace fun. This huge box brings together all of their live recordings at the BBC, often performed to an adoring audience, cheered on by an enthusiastic John Peel, a man otherwise known to be dour and taciturn. In the booklet, Wood, Stewart and Jones are effusive over Peel’s unwavering support at a point in their career when many others didn’t take them seriously. Lavishly illustrated with many previously unseen photos, the 48 page booklet, written by BBC broadcaster Gary Crowley, details every Faces BBC session, concert, and broadcast and includes a new interview with Jeff Griffin, who produced all of the band’s BBC concert appearances. Much of this box was initiated by Peel. CDs 1 & 2 are John Peel’s Sunday Concerts, broadcast July 5th, November 29th 1970 and May 23rd 1971. CD 3 and the Blu-Ray are the Sounds For Saturday performance of April 1st 1972. CD 4 is another Sunday Concert of February 26th 1972. CDs 5 & 6 are In Concerts of February 8th 1973 and April 23rd 1973. The former was never broadcast because it was considered too rowdy. In truth, the crowd are voicing their appreciation in a boisterous manner in keeping with Slade Alive!, if not quite the uninhibited worship on Bob Marley & The Wailers at The Lyceum and the hushed awe of Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall. The final two discs are sessions recorded without an audience, Top Gear March 28th 1970, Sounds Of The Seventies May 3rd 1971 and Sounds For Saturday April 1st 1973. John Peel’s Christmas Carol Concert of Boxing Day 1970, featuring Stewart singing Away In A Manger, is tacked onto the end of CD 7. Of a total of 85 tracks, 67 have never been previously released.

Listening to these recordings, with many songs repeated (six of You’re My Girl, for example), it often seems that the band were learning the songs as they went along, but they were actually accomplished musicians. In the middle of all the bedlam, before, during and after the gigs, they were a collective that had the skill to circle a black hole without falling in. Kenney Jones might not have been a metronomic drummer but he knew how to use his kit to generate energy. At one point, he plays a cymbal solo whilst maintaining momentum, as if he was taking a breather as he continued to run. Ronnie Lane was never a mere root note plodder. He was proficient at blending in fifths, sixths, minor sevenths and octave-to-ninth hammer-ons to create a pleasing flow. He brought life and a vibrancy to the party. Ronnie Wood excels on these discs, flourishing in the live setting, making an outstanding racket, especially on the many extended songs or medleys that were a feature of their sets. He gives slide a good go, too. Rod Stewart could sing the blues in a deep hue and rock with the hedonism of a star, yet still exude ordinary-bloke charm. This was before transatlantic fame, leggy blondes and spandex turned his head. However, keyboardist, Ian McLagan was their secret ingredient. He combined the quick thinking of a jazz pianist with an ear for a melody and a sixth sense of where he was on the musical page. Rock pianists of the seventies were often underappreciated. If McLagan had been in a Prog band, and on the Top Gear recording he and the band make a very good stab at Prog, he would have enjoyed centre stage. Together, they were five guys whose playing spoke to each other.

Their own material errs on the side of tight, poppy constructs with memorable choruses, such as Stay With Me, Cindy Incidentally and Three Button Hand Me Down. The selection of Soul and Blues covers follows suit from Ike and Tina Turner, to Big Bill Bronzy and The Temptations. They invite direct comparisons with The Rolling Stones by covering It’s All Over Now, Train In Vain, Street Fighting Man and Country Honk. Alas, they do not have an ounce of malice, the guitar is deficient in subtlety and fluidity, and the drumming is fixed on top of the beat, unable to swing. However, during these years, The Stones became increasingly distanced from their audience, whereas Faces were right in the thick of the crowd. It’s their physicality, simultaneously arrogant and humble, that shines through on this set, more than off-setting any short-comings in nuance, sophistication and finesse. The little rascals obviously prefer the rough and tumble of the live bear pit to the spit and polish of the studio.

As time went by, and Stewart’s star rose, some Faces felt relegated to being his backing band. Studio versions of My Way Of Giving, You’re My Girl, (I Know) I’m Losing You, True Blue and Angel are all choice cuts effectively recorded by Faces but appearing under the Rod Stewart name. To begin with, they’d managed to find a way to blend the songwriting and vocal talent but Lane, in particular, became more isolated. Many of his best songs are noticeably largely absent here. He stepped up to take a lead role in recording Ooh La La because Stewart was focussed on other things, only to find the album disparaged publicly by their lead singer. Lane voiced his objection to promoting Stewart product and quit. The band carried on for another tour and the live album Coast To Coast: Overtures And Beginners that didn’t do them justice. Stewart became a superstar, Wood sacrificed his songwriting for The Stones, Jones replaced his great friend Keith Moon in The Who and McLagan formed the Bump Band and was a much sought after session musician. Lane’s own band, Slim Chance, had initial success but his career was curtailed by Multiple Sclerosis, a condition that ran in his family. His old band of brothers rallied round towards the end, when he lived in America. Stewart, Wood and Jimmy Page paid his medical bills. Jones’s eventually successful pursuit of old Small Faces royalties came too late.

At The BBC is comprehensive and lengthy, but it is warm and unpretentious. It has a joyful consistency Faces studio albums lacks and is far more representative of their mischievous spirit. It is enhanced by the inclusion of Stewart songs, such as Maggie May, True Blue and Angel They, their audience and John Peel sound like a gang of lads having the time of their lives for the whole of these four years. The result is an exuberant, exhilarating, life-affirming box with so many treasures to savour that, to coin a phrase, there is never a dull moment.

What does it all *mean*?

It’s not cheap but what price happiness? It should delight those that felt last year’s RSD Had Me A Real Good Time… was woefully inadequate, being just one disc long.

Goes well with…

If you want a definitive collection capturing Faces in their pomp, file At The BBC next to Five Guys Walked Into A Bar, the best box set ever, according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine at Allmusic

https://www.allmusic.com/album/five-guys-walk-into-a-bar-mw0000204778

Release Date:

Out now

Might suit people who like…

Having a real good time

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