Talking to Mojo magazine in April 2021 Pete Townshend remarked, ‘When the Faces came together with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, hanging out with them was the best place to be on the planet. Being in The Who was grim by comparison.’ Unusually for a latter-day Townshend quote it does not appear loaded with ambiguity or sarcasm, merely a speak as you found remembrance in regard to the internal dynamics of each band.
Indeed, if by the early 70s The Who were the foremost pioneers of exciting rock music with serious intent, then the Faces were out on their own as exponents of musical merriment. While Townshend was rightly acclaimed as a seminal creative artist of the time, from their beginnings in 1969 the Faces quickly became regarded as artists of a different sort.
The boozy bonhomie of their uproarious, sometimes ramshackle live performances was in stark contrast to prevailing trends of the day. This was a time when groups replicated in concert their meticulously crafted, high brow albums with studious proficiency – Faces’ shows on the other hand a study in how much fun a band and their audience could have, even if there was a tendency for all concerned to end up in a drunken heap.
It had been thus almost from the day guitarist Wood (22) and vocalist Stewart (24) made an early 1969 exit from the Jeff Beck Group each following a path leading them to Ronnie Lane (bass), Kenny Jones (drums) and Ian McLagan (keyboards) – who in the wake of guitarist/lead singer Steve Marriott departing to form Humble Pie, were the remnants of East London power-pop maestros the Small Faces.
In addition to fronting an ensemble now known as the Faces, who secured themselves a recording contract with Warner Bros, Stewart signed on for Mercury as a solo artist, with each of the group – but predominantly Wood and McLagan – appearing on his critically acclaimed but largely overlooked ‘An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down‘ (1969) and ‘Gasoline Alley‘ (1970).
But all resistance to his gorgeous blend of folk balladry, soul and good-time rock was banished with worldwide best-seller ‘Every Picture Tells A Story‘ (1971), which yielded a magnificent number one hit single in ‘Maggie May‘ and deservedly became a landmark album of 70s rock.
In November 1971 with Stewart still riding high on the charts with his all-conquering LP, the Faces released a third album ‘A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse,’ the record presenting them in their most flattering light yet. If the first two ‘First Step‘ (1970) and ‘Long Player‘ (1971) had been somewhat haphazard efforts lacking cohesion, ‘Nod’ was instantly engaging and for the most part delightfully rumbustious – exemplified by the raucous ‘Stay With Me‘ that did good business when issued as a 45 toward the end of the year.
Aided by the concurrent solo success of Stewart, the album returned sales way beyond those of its two Faces’ predecessors, improvement in production down to mixing desk maestro Glyn Johns taking charge of the sessions. The tracks, while benefitting from a more pristine sound, also showed the songwriting axis of Stewart and Wood was beginning to dominate, the contributions of bassist Lane while instantly impressive, offered a more wistful view of the world.
Through 1972 they maintained a high profile status as a live act, Stewart consolidating his place as a superstar with the excellent ‘Never A Dull Moment‘ – an album including the sublime ‘You Wear It Well‘ which served as a huge hit and worthy successor to ‘Maggie May‘.
Outwardly at least there appeared no resentment from within the group as Stewart scaled the heights as a solo artist, Faces’ live shows containing plenty of numbers from his individual repertoire, the group happily hamming it up behind him on television shows promoting records bearing just his name.
It was, however, all too good to last. By the time of their fourth album ‘OOH LA LA‘ (March 1973), the commitment of Stewart to the Faces (or perhaps more pertinently lack of it), was being openly discussed, Lane disillusioned enough with the state of play to quit before the summer was out – his disenchantment in part fueled by some severe criticism of the record, not least from Rod, who called it ‘a bloody mess.’
Misgivings with ‘Ooh La La‘ appear rooted in its mood rather than mediocrity, almost as if the world’s greatest party band have decided on a night in. The playing is focused and dare it be said where they are concerned, disciplined. Indeed, none of the ten tracks are truly awful, even if the instrumental that opens side two is time that could have been better spent.
That track, in fact, is one of three on which Stewart does not appear, the lead singer absent through much of the recording, making his condemnation of the finished article all the more contentious, particularly to Lane – whose profile is at its highest on a Faces album since their debut set, receiving a credit for one song on the first side but with his name linked to every one on side two.
Ironically, the swaggering opener ‘Silicone Grown‘ is the only track credited purely to Stewart and Wood. In similar vein to ‘Miss Judy’s Farm‘ and ‘Too Bad‘ from the previous album, if anything it is more reminiscent of ‘Italian Girls‘ which the pair wrote for ‘Never A Dull Moment.’ Rod delivers a suitably raspy vocal in conjuring a series of bawdy puns alluding to the upper body of the female form (‘we gotta keep abreast of time’ and ‘you got more front than the Hague Museum’ the two most obvious) – the curves of the woman in question perhaps shaped by pregnancy, as suggested in the opening verse:
‘Wait a minute, honey, I don’t think the joke’s too funny, no/I stayed up all night checking out the doctor’s guide, woo/Wait a minute, honey, stop pretending you’re a bunny/Well I might’ve guessed you been to see a specialist.’
Like signature hit ‘Stay With Me‘ the song moves to a conclusion with typical Faces gusto, the pace then eased slightly for delicious pop/soul ballad ‘Cindy Incidentally‘ whose charm is apparent from the moment McLagan (credited as a co-writer with Wood and Stewart), taps out the opening piano chords.
Moved along by his excellent keyboard work and some meaty guitar from Wood, this is the Faces being cavalier and composed at the same time, Stewart giving the final verse an engaging twist as Cindy and the narrator prepare to strike out for some adventures:
‘So Cindy, get your coat on/Leave the rent with the gent up in the penthouse/Turn your music so loud let’s attract a big crowd/We’ll drink a round to this town and bid goodbye.‘
Given its roll-along accessibility, it was the obvious track to be lifted as a single and in reaching number two on the UK charts became their most successful 45.
At barely two minutes ‘Flags and Banners‘ is the shortest track on the record. This gentle folk ballad is the work of Lane and Stewart, the former providing a heartfelt vocal (the latter taking a rare turn on electric guitar) for what is a curiously poetic piece where the lyric at times is hard to pin down – the line ‘You and I we were wearing Southern Grey‘ a possible reference to the American Civil War.
The gist of ‘My Fault‘ comes across loud and clear, Stewart reflecting on how there is often nobody to blame but ourselves when things go awry, while around him producer Johns captures the four musicians at their most assured.
Written by McLagan, Wood and Stewart, the sentiments that open the last verse, ‘So if everything goes wrong/And I drink all night/It’s gonna be my fault/And no one else,’ sound like a group manifesto if it was not for the fact the Faces were always celebratory drunks, this well-constructed up-tempo rock song of the period well worth celebrating.
There is even more to admire in side one closer ‘Borstal Boys’ – a gloriously pounding rocker depicting the harshness of penitentiary life, complete with the blaring klaxon that announces its arrival:
‘Cell block five, how I hate bromide/With your coffee in the morning makes you so sterile/The corner gang never made a man of me, boy, no.’
Once again attributed to McLagan, Wood and Stewart, it showed the Faces could rock as hard as anyone, yet with more panache than any other band around. Had the Stones recorded a track of comparable verve in 1973, it would still be in their set-list today.
Chosen to open side two, ‘Fly in the Ointment‘ is the band, all bar Rod that is, having fun in the guise of being Booker T. & the M.G.’s – coming up with a near four minute piece (the longest on the album), that on occasion drifts close to a film theme from a 60s Hammer House of Horror production.
It is pleasant enough although hardly essential, its inclusion made all the more frustrating when years later it came to light a work-in-progress rendition of ‘Jodie‘ (another fine McLagan, Wood, Stewart composition) just needed properly arranging. An altogether more substantial song (and another likely hit single), the song was eventually used by Stewart as the B-side for his 1973 summer hit ‘Oh! No Not My Baby.’
Another offering of Lane and Stewart, ‘If I’m On The Late Side‘ would get by on charm even without the magnificent Stewart vocal and touching, at times whimsical, lyrical couplets that illuminate a lovingly constructed midtempo piece.
Imploring his lover to board a train even if he fails to be there in time for departure, Stewart finds that mix of poignancy and nonchalance he alone as a singer was capable of:
‘Leave a message with the porter/Or leave it at the gate/Just let me know that you’re aboard her/Just a word to know that you’re safe.’
Like the protagonist in ‘You Wear It Well‘ he has messed things up and is now seeking resolve to recover the situation, ‘I might lose some time babe/But if I do/I’ll make amends in an hour/When I’m laying down beside you.’
Short, sassy, succinct, the track shows just how resonant and restrained the Faces could be as a studio unit – the guys, in effect, going to the pub but deciding not to have a drink.
Apart from taking lead vocal on one of the three remaining tracks that is the last seen of Stewart, the trio of songs completing the album all originating from Lane, the closing title-track written in conjunction with Wood.
‘Glad and Sorry‘ and ‘Just Another Honky‘ are delightful evocations of a quieter world, the former ruminating on the uncertainties experienced in a challenging love affair (‘Glad and sorry/Happy or sad/When all is done and spoken/You’re up or I’m down‘), the latter – sung brilliantly by Stewart – a sad lament relating to a relationship reaching its end, regret borne out in the lines, ‘It hurts me more to think I’ll keep you in chains/Than if you were to leave me.’
McLagan is in top form on both, each song a continuation of the fine material Lane had submitted to previous Faces albums. The excellence of his writing was subsequently maintained on two ensuing solo LPs and then ‘Rough Mix‘ an immensely enjoyable record he cut with Pete Townshend in 1977.
With the opening chords bashed out on acoustic guitar, the title-track has rightly gone down as the Faces most endearing song – an enduring masterpiece that loses not one iota of glory no matter how many times it is heard.
Conjecture abounds in relation to why Wood performs his only lead vocal on a Faces album, Lane claimed the song was out of his range, Stewart (despite covering it since) maintaining the key was wrong for him.
Either way, Woody does the honours and even if his voice is no match for that of Stewart (or Lane for that matter), his enthusiastic reading is joyfully uplifting – even when he strains to hit the high notes or momentarily hesitates on seeing Jones, Lane, McLagan and Johns laughing at him from the Olympic studios control room.
‘I needed that,‘ joked Wood looking back at the session many years later, ‘them all taking the piss when I was trying to concentrate on the words.’
And what ingenious words they were, a cautionary tale suggesting that no matter how carefree the living there is always the prospect of payback – Ronald Frederick Lane just 26 years old when he penned the immortal phrase, ‘I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger,’ McLagan adding to the nostalgic ambience with some wonderfully expressive piano lines.
On release ‘Ooh La La‘ rose steadily up the UK album charts, reaching the number one spot toward the end of April 1973 (it peaked at 21 in the US). Yet celebrations at having a chart-topping LP were muted by Stewart disowning the record from the outset, his ‘bloody mess‘ remark made during an interview with the New Musical Express in the week it appeared, supplemented by the comment: ‘It’s a disgrace, a stinking rotten record. I don’t like it.’
Although Stewart moved to qualify his appraisal when speaking to Rolling Stone magazine a few weeks later, stating what he meant to say was ‘they were capable of a much better album than the one they had made,’ the damage was done.
McLagan countered by saying he thought it was their best album, but given his high level of involvement Lane appeared to take the negativity personally and left the band in June, the vacancy filled by former Free bassist Tetsu Yamauchi.
Despite releasing a couple of singles with Tetsu on board, the second of which being the instantly memorable ‘You Can Make Me, Dance Sing Anything‘ (November 1974) – that with no hint of disguise was credited to ‘Rod Stewart & the Faces‘ – without Lane to initiate things no serious attempt was made at recording another Faces album. In 1974 both Stewart and Wood released solo efforts, all of which made the credit on ‘Ooh La La’ of ‘Producer Glyn Johns (see you in a year)’, sound somewhat hollow.
They continued to tour extensively and rarely failed to give a rousing performance (the live recording of The Temptations ‘I Wish It Would Rain‘ on the flip side of late 1973 single ‘Pool Hall Richard‘ is a marvel), but as 1975 drew to close Stewart fully embraced his solo career, Wood was ‘guesting’ for the Rolling Stones, whom he would shortly join on a permanent basis – the Faces dissolving due to nobody having the willpower to hold them together.
Therefore ‘Ooh La La‘ stands as the final Faces studio album. By the astonishing high standards of 1973 it was no ‘Band on the Run‘ or ‘Quadrophenia‘ but still has plenty to commend it, their humour and indomitable spirit present more often than not – and subsumed with some spirits and a few mixers it retains the feeling of being in the most agreeable company, no other band capable of exuding such warmth and jollity.
Rod might have said some unkind things about ‘Ooh La La‘ although in a moment of sober reflection let us not forget he would put his name to far lesser recordings during the next twenty odd years – the bigger picture seen not only by Townshend, but by the man whose solid drumming gave the Faces their platform on which to make merry.
‘We had such a laugh, just being with each other,’ said Jones in the booklet accompanying their 2004 ‘Five Guys Walk Into A Bar‘ 4-CD box set, ‘being in the Faces was such spectacular fun.’
This article is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Ronnie Lane (1946-1997) and Ian McLagan (1945-2014) with drinks always on the house for Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenny Jones.
FACES – ‘OOH LA LA‘ (Released March 17 1973):
Silicone Grown/Cindy Incidentally/Flags and Banners/My Fault/Borstal Boys/Fly in the Ointment/If I’m on the Late Side/Glad and Sorry/Just Another Honky/Ooh La La;
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
