Small Faces

The next artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year are the Small Faces, a second-tier part of the British invasion of the mid-60s. To scope them out, I picked up Small Faces Ultimate Collection, which has 50 tracks, a considerable number considering they lasted only four years. Of the 50 songs, I only recognized two, the iconic "Itchycoo Park," and the novelty song "Lazy Sunday." I think this is mostly due to the lack of respect the band has given by classic rock radio, or it could just be ignorance on my part.

Made of up four diminutive (hence the name) of boys from East London, Small Faces were creatively driven by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Kenney Jones was on drums, and Jimmy Winston was on keyboards, though he was quickly replaced by Ian McLagan.

The Ultimate Collection is on two discs, and they are distinguished by the two record companies the Small Faces recorded for. The first disc of session for Decca is heavily influenced by American R&B, with simple boy-girl lyrics but at times complicated rhythms, exemplified by Jones' drumming. For example the drumming on "E Too D" is very reminiscent of Keith Moon's work on "I Can See For Miles," and it's not a surprise that Jones was tapped to replace Moon in The Who after his death.

Additionally, Marriot's leather-lunged vocals sound a lot like Roger Daltrey's, so a listener is reminded of The Who a great deal. Small Faces were also a big part of the Mod movement, as were The Who. Another song, "You Need Loving," sounds a great deal like Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." In reading up on the subject, I see that the song "You Need Love" was written by Willie Dixon for Muddy Waters, who later sued Led Zeppelin and won. However, "You Need Loving" is still credited as a Marriot-Lane composition. Robert Plant had clearly heard the Small Faces song, as the phrasing is very similar to Marriot's. As Woody Guthrie once said, "Plagiarism is central to all cultures."

The second disc is more interesting. As with any band of the period, it's interesting to trace their development after they started taking drugs, especially LSD. They were now with Immediate Records, with Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced The Rolling Stones. Many of the songs were psychedelic and made drug references, including "Itchycoo Park":

Over Bridges of Sighs
To rest my eyes in shades of green
Under Dreaming Spires
To Itchycoo Park, that's where I've been

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
It's all too beautiful, it's all too beautiful

Other songs with inscrutable titles and lyrics include "Here Comes the Nice," "Up the Hills to Bedfordshire," and "Happydaystoytown." "Song of the Baker" is reminiscent of Cream or Traffic, and "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" is the title instrumental from their concept album, which was packaged in a round sleeve. I'm surprised Quentin Tarantino hasn't used that for one of his films yet.

Small Faces ended when Marriott split the group and formed Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. The remaining Faces dropped the "Small" and teamed with Jeff Beck Group members Ron Wood and Rod Stewart. Marriott died in a house fire in 1991, and Lane died of multiple sclerosis in 1997.