Small Faces

Certain Songs #2267: Small Faces – “Lazy Sunday”

January 16, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
Year: 1968

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In a little over two years, Small Faces had gone from your typical English R&B snobs to psychedelic minstrels whose consensus best album was named after Liverpudlian tobacco, was released in a circular sleeve, and featured a second side that was song suite about a guy named Happiness Stan who sets out to find the missing half of the moon.

That’s just how great the drugs were in late-60s London.

Certain Songs #2266: Small Faces – “Itchycoo Park”

January 14, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: There Are But Four Small Faces
Year: 1967

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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.

Certain Songs #2265: Small Faces – “Sha-La-La-La-Lee”

January 13, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Small Faces
Year: 1966

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Given what they would do with the rest of their careers, Small Faces almost seems like a supergroup in reverse. During their main incarnation, they consisted of Steve Marriott on guitar and vocals, Ronnie Lane on bass, Ian McLagan on keyboards and Kenney Jones on drums, all of whom — except for Marriott — have already been mentioned in this project.

And while, with one exception, which we’ll get to tomorrow, they weren’t all that popular here in the States, they were massive in the U.K., as their identification with the mods helped them score seven Top Ten hits between 1966-1968.