Video Du Jour: The Small Faces

Members of the latest class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Small Faces put out their most ambitious album in 1968 – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. The psychedelic concept album is not only their best, but it pops up on many “best of” lists, particularly in the United Kingdom.

Here, bassist Ronnie Lane takes the lead vocals on “Song Of A Baker,” with help on vocals and guitar from the great Steve Marriott. That’s Kenney Jones on drums, and although we don’t get a good view of him, our friend (and fellow  Texas resident) Ian McLagan on keyboards. It doesn’t get any better than this – R.I.P. Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott.

By the way, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake has been reissued as a 3-CD deluxe edition set. Check it out on iTunes.

Ian McLagan official website

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: Peter Frampton

We have uncovered an album by a guy who was in a lot of big sisters’ bedrooms during the 1970s – Peter Frampton.  But our album today is Wind of Change from 1972, the first solo album by the British rocker after he left the group Humble Pie.

Humble Pie was, of course, the English band formed by Frampton and blues-rock belter Steve Marriott (previously from the Small Faces).  By 1971 Frampton was ready for a split, despite the successes that year of the Humble Pie studio set Rock On and the live Rockin’ The Fillmore.  At that point Humble Pie was being torn apart by the different directions its two main players seemed be taking: Marriott obviously preferred bloozy-boogie tunes, contrasting sharply with Frampton’s more melodic sensibilities.

So Frampton went to work on Winds of Change, encasing his songs in lush, mostly acoustic settings.  The title song is a good signpost: it starts with an chiming acoustic figure that sounds a bit like the gentle underpinnings of Led Zeppelin III (“Tangerine”).  “All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side)” is a pop/rock ballad that recalls a bit of Steve Winwood’s Traffic, and “The Lodger” puts it all on the table with the lyrics “I’ll play the songs I should be singin’.”

But Frampton also liked to rock out: “It’s A Plain Shame” has an electric guitar edge and the album closer “Alright” showcases Frampton’s always-great guitar playing.  (Guest stars Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman and Billy Preston play on “Alright”).  Even the cover of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” manages to catch fire, despite the goofy horn section which drags the song down a bit.  But here you have a British guitar slinger, a pretty decent singer and songwriter, who seems to know where he’s going despite leaving a commercially successful band.

Small Faces spotlighted on new DVD

Viewing this short promo video this morning made me happier than I’ve been in weeks.  The British Invasion – what a great time to be alive.  One of the best bands to come out of that movement was the Small Faces, comprising Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and the great Ian McLagan.  Amazon will start selling ’em on March 30 but if you go to McLagan’s website you can order a copy now – and he’ll autograph it for you!

Mac’s Pages – Ian McLagan’s website

Your Big Sister’s (Record) Rack: “Smokin’,” Humble Pie

OK, enough of the video and back to some old records – this is the stuff that your big sister or big brother had, the stuff that might have been kinda famous back in the day.  Today we remember Humble Pie’s Smokin’, from 1972.

Humble Pie was, of course, the British rock band that started in 1969 with lead singer Steve Marriott (formerly of the Small Faces), bass player Greg Ridley (Spooky Tooth), 17-year-old drummer Jerry Shirley and a pretty-boy guitarist and singer named Peter Frampton.  Frampton made four studio albums (and another live album) with Humble Pie before departing for a solo career in 1971.

Lost Classics! “Rock On,” Humble Pie

  

Humble Pie was a British boogie-rock band that reached monstrous success in the early 1970s.   The band was formed in 1968 by former Small Faces guitarist/singer Steve Marriott, and Peter Frampton, a guitar player from the Herd, a moderately successful U.K. pop band.  Because they signed a recording deal with Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, it was thought that Humble Pie would be a sort of Stones-ish blues rock band – but it took a while for them to get there.

The band’s first two albums (As Safe As Yesterday Is and Town and Country) sounded more like the Band, with its acoustic underpinnings.  It wasn’t until the fourth album, Rock On (1971), that Humble Pie hit its stride.  The band recorded many of the songs on tour before they went into the studio and Rock On is a balance, a tug-of-war maybe, of Frampton’s more sedate, acoustic pop sensibility vs. Marriott’s boogie-till-you-puke approach.