Album: There Are But Four Small Faces
Year: 1967
. . .
As befits any self-respecting British Invasion band of the mid-1960s, the Small Faces discography is a bit of a hash. Actually, it’s a fucking brush fire. Their 1966 debut album, on Decca Records and their 1967 second album, on Immediate Records — as they were smart enough to get the fuck away from shitty-ass Decca as soon as possible — are both called Small Faces, because why not? I guess they beat Peter Gabriel to the punch in that way.
As revenge for splitting from Decca, a compilation of unissued tracks plus singles recorded while still under contract called From The Beginning was also released in 1967. There were also two posthumous compilations from Immediate, 1968’s half-live In Memoriam and 1969’s odds-and-sods The Autumn Stone.
I don’t think that any of the above records were released in the U.S. at the time. Instead, the first record that we got was 1968’s There Are But Four Small Faces, which is basically 1967’s Small Faces with a different track listing (of course) plus some recent hit singles (of double course), one of which was the eternal psychedelic gem, “Itchycoo Park,” the one Small Faces song that casual music fans would know, though they might think it’s called something else.
Written by Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott, “Itchycoo Park” is driven by Marriott’s bouncy acoustic guitar and Ian McLagan’s restless organ, as Marriott quietly describes a drug-fueled stroll in the titular park.
Over bridge of sighs
To rest my eyes in shades of green
Under dreamin’ spires
To Itchycoo Park, that’s where I’ve been
And then in the pre-chorus, McLagan and Lane start asking questions about his time in the park, each one answered by Marriott in something closer to his trademark scream, which a really effective contract.
(What did you do there?)
I got high
(What did you feel there?)
Well I cried
(But why the tears there?)
I’ll tell you why
And then they all join forces on one of the catchiest and most memorable choruses of the British psychedelic era. And probably what people thought the song was called, to boot.
It’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful
It’s all too beautiful
There’s something lovely and universal about the cadence of that chorus, especially in the later iterations when they sneak in “itchycoo” as a counterpoint. Also: it might one of the first songs ever to use the flange effect — the whirling you hear on the bridges where everything is breaking down, or on Kenney Jones drum rolls.
“Itchycoo Park” was a smash on both sides of the pond. In the U.K., where it was their 7th Top Twenty in a row, it made it to #3, but it was also a big hit here in the U.S., climbing the charts all the way to #16, the only time they ever made a dent here. Also: “Itchycoo Park” is one of the few songs to be a U.K. smash hit two different times: a reissue in 1975 made it all the way to #9, which is pretty fucking beautiful.
“Itchycoo Park”
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