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| Faces - Long Player Band: Faces Tracks: - Bad 'N' Ruin - Tell Everyone - Sweet Lady Mary - Richmond - Maybe I'm Amazed - Had Me A Real Good Time - On The Beach - I Feel So Good - Jerusalem A Friendly Slag The warmth and self-depricating humor of A NOD'S AS GOOD AS A WINK TO A BLIND HORSE has always made it My Favorite Faces LP, but the swagger and jammy feeling of LONG Player puts it close to the top of the list as well. On LONG Player the Faces sound more bluesy, more British (as opposed to the Irish tilt of A NOD'S AS GOOD AS A WINK...) and at times more like Rod Stewart's handpicked touring band. Ronnie Lane stands out with a couple of great tunes, a shared vocal with Rod on a great cover of McCartney's classic "Maybe I'm Amazed," and his always wonderful bass, the spine of all Faces records. This was back in the days when Rod Stewart still had some soul and could sing English Folk, Rock, R&B and Pub tunes all on the same album without missing a step. He's in fine form here, as he was on most Faces records, all his Jeff Beck stuff and all of his own stuff right up to FOOT LOOSE & FANCY FREE. He couldn't pull off a fun-time gem like "Had Me A Real Good Time" today to save his life; it remains one of my all-time favorite Faces tunes. You can't go wrong with any FACES LP, and LONG Player is definitely in the upper tier. Alternates between stellar and sleepy The Faces were a good example of great potential not totally realized in the studio. None of their four albums, not even the great OOH LA LA, were as good as seeing them Live was. LONG Player certainly has it's moments, but, tellingly, what're best on here are the two tracks from a gig in New York in late 1970. The band's version of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" is terrific---they take a nice but slight song and really power the sucker up. "Feel So Good," the other Live track, isn't as rousing, but it has a great call-and-response moment between Rod Stewart and the audience. The rest of the album is okay, with "Richmond," written and sung by bassist Ronnie Lane, and "Sweet Lady Mary," featuring one of Stewart's prettiest vocals, as the best studio tracks. But when a Band of (at that time) self-professed rockers only Truly rocks out with abandon on ONE track, that's very disappointing. "Had Me a Real Good Time" This is the album where the Faces came into their own as a band. After the breakup of The Small Faces and the recording of the Faces' debut "First Step" in 1970, Rons Lane and Wood, Kenny Jones, Ian McLagan and frontman Rod Stewart emerged with the first of the two best albums of their all too short career--the other being the equally excellent "A Nod Is as Good as a Wink..." While there's plenty here for fans of Rod the Mod to enjoy [including a stunning Live version of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," which had to leave Sir Paul slack-jawed after hearing it!], the real treasures are Ronnie Lane's contributions: the folkish "Richmond" and the ballad "Tell Everyone," the very type of songs Lane would make a career out of after leaving the Faces only two years after this 1971 release. If you recently bought Best of the Faces: Good Boys When They're Asleep and want more, this is your next stop. Then get "A Nod Is As Good As a Wink." And then shake your head that there are so few artists out there today who can match the ballsy rock 'n' roll of the Faces. Buy Faces Long Player at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.comJamster - the latest ringtones for your phone! |
