Every Faces BBC session, concert and broadcast – all in one place for the very first time.
Release Date: 6th September 2024
Label: Rhino Records
Formats: 8 x CD plus Blu-Ray boxset
sowing the seeds
Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, you have to admit that the music scene of the late 20th century would have been very different if The Faces hadn’t come along when they did. The seeds were sown when Steve Marriott left The Small Faces to form Humble Pie in March 1969, leaving remaining Small Faces members, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones at a loose end. When, during the summer of ’69, vocalist Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood parted company with The Jeff Beck Group, not too many people turned their heads when the two half-bands joined forces.
The new band was signed by Warner Brothers – a bit of a complication, because Stewart had also recently signed as a solo artist with Mercury Records – but all seemed set fair and the new 5-piece set about recording their first album together. Warner Brothers were keen to capitalize on the previous success of the Small Faces, and requested that the new band retain that name but the band members resisted; the “Small” part of the name was dropped, and The Faces were born.
joie de vivre rock and roll
It wasn’t an altogether auspicious start. By 1970, popular music had become irredeemably factionised – at the simplest, most fundamental level, artists were expected to be either rock or pop. The Faces, with a repertoire that drew on soul, folk and blues influences, as well as rock ‘n’ roll but which was delivered with a joie-de-vivre that was considered ’inappropriate’ by the more serious music followers of the day, didn’t sit comfortably in either camp. What’s more, the band’s perceived ‘trivial’ approach to their music was mistrusted by the taste-makers at the BBC, who weren’t convinced that much precious airtime should be lavished on the band.
Enter John Peel.
An early champion of the band, Peel was instrumental in securing a first BBC session for The Faces – it took place on 9th March 1970, and he was to continue to cheerlead for the band throughout their formative years (a slice of dedication that was to be rewarded when Peel was invited to join the band on the Top of the Pops stage in autumn 1971 to mime to Ray Jackson’s mandolin coda as they performed Rod’s Maggie May.) Numerous further sessions and concert appearances followed and, with just a few minor exceptions, they’re all preserved here.
The Faces have been ever-willing to acknowledge the role played by John Peel in bringing them to widespread public attention and the band’s surviving members, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones all take turns at voicing their gratitude in the 48-page booklet that accompanies this box set. Rod notes: “If it wasn’t for John Peel, The Faces would never have broken through,” and Ronnie adds: “He gave The Faces our first break,” whilst Kenney concludes: “John Peel helped The Faces so much in England, in the press and on his show.”
It’s possible, of course that, with the benefit of hindsight, the role of John Peel in turning The Faces into the influential phenomenon that they became has been overstated. Personally, I wouldn’t bet on it but, true or false, it’s indisputable that, once The Faces became known, their brand of good-time, back-to-basics rock converted many, many previously apathetic youngsters to the musical cause – I know, I was there. Arguably, without The Faces, there’d have been no Pub Rock and no Punk and music would have become increasingly out-of-reach from the man in the street. The Faces reminded us all that music was there to be enjoyed.
golden age
For the dedicated Faces fanatic, this boxset is a veritable treasure-trove. Excluding the Blu-Ray (which I’ll come back to shortly) I count 85 tracks across the eight discs, a whopping 66 of which have never been previously released. The tracks cover the period from The Faces’ formation, through the band’s four studio albums – First Step, Long Player, A Nod’s As Good As A Wink… to a Blind Horse and Ooh La La – and through the period when Rod was producing solo albums that were worth listening to – Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story, Never A Dull Moment and Smiler. Crucially, they cover the period during which the great Ronnie Lane was a member of the band. This is a document of The Faces’ golden age.
And, the miracle is that many of these recordings were assumed to have been lost forever. The BBC’s own tapes of the concerts and sessions were destroyed or, at least, dispatched that great archive in the next dimension that also houses the lost early episodes of Dr Who and much more. Happily, many of the recordings were recovered from The Faces’ own archives and private collections until, eventually, only one session comprising just three songs were unaccounted for.
buried treasure
There’s some real buried treasure here, too – stuff to make any Faces completist gush with delight. Star of the show is arguably the complete recording of a February 1973 concert, originally intended to go out as part of the BBC ‘In Concert’ series but withheld from broadcast due to BBC concerns about the band’s on-stage banter with the “rowdy audience.” I’m also particularly pleased that the legendary Christmas Carol Concert from the Boxing Day 1970 broadcast of John Peel’s Top Gear has finally seen light of day. For years I’ve been fascinated by photographs of the assembled choir which, alongside The Faces also included Marc Bolan and his (then) wife June Child, John Peel and wife-to-be Sheila, Mike Ratledge, Ivor Cutler and Sonja Kristina. You even get to hear Rod sing Away In A Manger! Once heard, never forgotten!
So, here we go: here’s what you’ll find on Faces at the BBC – Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973:
Disc 1: John Peel’s Sunday Concert, broadcast on 5th July 1970: Five songs, including versions of Wicked Messenger and Devotion from The Faces 1970 First Step debut album;
John Peel’s Sunday Concert, broadcast on 29th November 1970: Four songs, including a couple of previews of Rod’s imminent Gasoline Alley album, a version of Maybe I’m Amazed and a pair of Stones’ tributes.
Disc 2: John Peel’s Sunday Concert, broadcast on 23rd May 1971: A recording of The Faces’ 13th May concert at London’s Paris Cinema. I believe that I’m correct in saying that the stereo recording of this concert has only previously been available in bootleg form. The band plug the recently-issued Long Player album and they’re in fine form.
Disc 3: BBC Sounds for Saturday, broadcast 1st April 1972: An appearance on the much-missed BBC2 TV show. The band perform a career-to-date retrospective with songs from their three albums to date, including the hot-off-the-press A Nod’s as Good as a Wink…
Disc 4: John Peel’s Sunday Concert, broadcast 26th February 1972: Classic Faces concert, complete with hits, raucous covers, boozy revelry and even a couple of cockerney singalongs. Rough around the edges but great fun, and that’s what matters.
Disc 5: In Concert, recorded 8th February 1973 but never previously broadcast (see above): The Jewel in the Crown – a definitive Faces performance with the band at the peak of their powers and firing on all cylinders. Rod sounds just as p*ssed as much of the audience clearly is, as The Faces surge through a set of favourites including Cindy Incidentally, Angel, I’d Rather Go Blind, Twistin’ the Night Away, It’s All Over Now and Miss Judy’s Farm. If you’ve ever wondered what The Faces were all about, you’ll find the answer right here.
Disc 6: In Concert, broadcast 21st April 1973: The Faces plug their new album, Ooh La La, just a matter of days before bassist Ronnie Lane announces his departure from the band. They’ve toned down the banter but they still sound good. Unfortunately, Ronnie’s departure signaled the beginning of the end.
Disc 7: Top Gear, broadcast 28th March 1970: Four early songs;
Dave Lee Travis Show, broadcast 15th March 1970: Three songs from the First Step album;
Top Gear, broadcast 19th September 1970: More early material, including a stomping version of Had Me a Real Good Time;
Top Gear: John Peel’s Christmas Carol Concert, broadcast 26th December 1970: A legendary event – listen and judge for yourselves…
Disc 8: Sounds of the Seventies, broadcast 3rd May 1971: More of the same from the band’s breakthrough year;
Top Gear, broadcast 6th October 1971: For the sake of completeness…
Blu-Ray: Sounds For Saturday, broadcast 1st April 1972: The video version of the concert on Disc 3. Snippets have long been available on YouTube, but here’s the full show. Sounds for Saturday was something of an oddity; it featured some great guests – as well as The Faces, I recall performances by, amongst others, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell and Don Maclean. The trouble was, it went out at 9pm on Saturday evening (in pre-video days) – a time when we youngsters, presumably the programme’s target audience, were usually out, doing ‘other’ things. So it’s nice to have the chance to watch again…
Watch The Faces perform Stay With Me, Live on BBC Sounds for Saturday, 1st April 1972, here:
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