“The genius of the Faces and Keith doing ‘Sweet Little Rock And Roller’ in 1974 is that not for one tiny little second has this anything to do with nostalgia. On the contrary, it’s fuckin’ Albert Einstein breaking out of the limited paradigm of boring old Isaac Newton — not negating the old by any means, but showing how the old is merely a subset of the new. It’s new fresh branches growing on the old trunk, not a desperate attempt to go back and pour water on the withered roots of a dead tree.” This is one of my favorite things you’ve ever written, which is saying something. The tree metaphor reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by Pete Townshend: “[S]ongwriting is not poetry. It has so much else going for it: rhythm, pace, immediacy, delight, and—most of all—a backdrop. You‘ve got a backdrop both of atmosphere and, in an even more interesting sense, a backdrop of history. When you sit down to write a rock song you are saying, ―Right, I am going to work within this precise genre.‖ And we know where it comes from. It goes right down to the ground like a tree trunk into slavery. And this might just be another ring in the tree‘s growth. But we know this tree is going to continue to grow. It represents another push in the growth: the overcoming of grief as a result of human degradation. So it‘s a very profound thing. You know you‘re only a part of it.”
I saw them (sans Keith, sadly) in Manchester a month before this. The venue (King’s Hall Belle Vue; long gone) was vast and terrible. I vowed never to go to a gig there ever again, but relented to see The Who nearly a year later.
It’s great to see Ian Maclagan getting some appreciation. He was an absolutely key part of Faces’ (and their predecessors’) sound, and was by all accounts a lovely bloke.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE -- What an awesome treat for you to be able to more or less start the New Year with something like this, George. The deep love you have for Rock music is transparent, and you do a great job of conveying it! As for the performance, it's everything you say it is -- minus anything like the bedrock bass sound that would really make it crunch. But you've explained the reason for that.
My own recent foray into compiling the cream of the cream of Rock music (now that for all intents & purposes it's stone cold dead) has me with more or less 30 timeless gems that would wow the most unmusical of Extraterrestials. But for what it's worth, there's one song that seems to float above the rest: Born on the Bayoo by Creedence Clearwater. Try playing it in your car at high volume (not speed!), guarantee you'll be knocked (gently) sideways. Unflashy but simply perfect. It's my daily dose of bliss.
Good choice; my personal pick for CCR would have always been the jam at the end of 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine'. It feels a wee bit too pre-meditated and rehearsed to be absolutely perfect, but I always try to delude myself into thinking it's completely improvised and an unseen hand was simply guiding them in all the right directions. CCR's actual live performances, however, rarely, if ever, improved on the studio versions of their songs - in this they had more of a "pop" than a "rock" mentality.
Now that's a very good point, actually. But then you really reduce the number of rock groups that cut the mustard, as it were. I take a broader view of the word "rock*, allowing it to be at least bedmates with the edgier realms of the pop idiom. Have to preserve that essential core of melodic invention.
Agreed about Born on the Bayou, that track is special, the power of the vibe of it, spine tingling, such a great groove, hit with much power. Very special song
Thanks for your late comment on mine. Actually, in the interval, I've found THE most spine-tingling track of all: Cowgirl in the Sand by Neil Young. Try playing that loudly on your car stereo, you'll be playing it every day thereafter, promise!
Love the enthusiasm of this write up, and agree with much of it but disagree with the opinion of the drumming of Kenney Jones. I believe Kenney is an incredible drummer, one of the classiest of this era. At this point he has lost his ‘partner in crime’ - Ronnie Lane on bass. That combo was incredible. I think he is just doing his best to hold a rag tag jam together as best as he can trying to give it some sort of structure and shape. No one is in charge, it’s a mess so Kenney in this one cannot commit the way he can when he knows where the song is heading. Plus in this one it’s not about the Faces, it’s about having Keith Richard’s guesting with them, Kenney is going to play the support role in that. Plus consider where the Faces are career wise then - about to call it quits. Ronnie about to jump ship for the Stones, Rod always ready to jump ship, Kenney at this point has career jitters - he’s thinking ‘where am I going next’? No individual style or sound? Hmph, listen to him playing on any song with the Small Faces - incredibly distinctive drumming. Watch him play with the Faces live on the BBC video from 1971 - playing on songs such as Three Button Hand Me Down or Stay With Me - he is an utter powerhouse! Listen to the depth of groove in ‘Three Button’ as he locks in with Ronnie Lane! That’s how you play drums and bass! Listen to the incredible drumming on the Ken Russell film version of ‘Acid Queen’ from ‘Tommy’ - ( especially the long version), yes that’s Kenney Jones, incidentally with Ron Wood on there as well. One of the reasons the Small Faces and Faces are great - the drummer!
What I love about it (well, one of many things) is that they seem to be playing for each other. Rod barely acknowledges the crowd for the first couple of minutes. And what a revelation to be reminded that Keith Richards actually used to play at least five of the six strings on an electric guitar with a fair amount of dexterity and melodicism in his riffage. Delightful. Was this Ron Wood's unofficial audition for the Stones?
Heh, in the video it looks more like Keith Richards' unofficial audition for the Faces. :)
Technically, Ronnie had already worked with the Stones on 'It's Only Rock'n'Roll' (the song), but this may indeed have been his first live appearance with Keith.
“The genius of the Faces and Keith doing ‘Sweet Little Rock And Roller’ in 1974 is that not for one tiny little second has this anything to do with nostalgia. On the contrary, it’s fuckin’ Albert Einstein breaking out of the limited paradigm of boring old Isaac Newton — not negating the old by any means, but showing how the old is merely a subset of the new. It’s new fresh branches growing on the old trunk, not a desperate attempt to go back and pour water on the withered roots of a dead tree.” This is one of my favorite things you’ve ever written, which is saying something. The tree metaphor reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by Pete Townshend: “[S]ongwriting is not poetry. It has so much else going for it: rhythm, pace, immediacy, delight, and—most of all—a backdrop. You‘ve got a backdrop both of atmosphere and, in an even more interesting sense, a backdrop of history. When you sit down to write a rock song you are saying, ―Right, I am going to work within this precise genre.‖ And we know where it comes from. It goes right down to the ground like a tree trunk into slavery. And this might just be another ring in the tree‘s growth. But we know this tree is going to continue to grow. It represents another push in the growth: the overcoming of grief as a result of human degradation. So it‘s a very profound thing. You know you‘re only a part of it.”
Wonderful!
I saw them (sans Keith, sadly) in Manchester a month before this. The venue (King’s Hall Belle Vue; long gone) was vast and terrible. I vowed never to go to a gig there ever again, but relented to see The Who nearly a year later.
It’s great to see Ian Maclagan getting some appreciation. He was an absolutely key part of Faces’ (and their predecessors’) sound, and was by all accounts a lovely bloke.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE -- What an awesome treat for you to be able to more or less start the New Year with something like this, George. The deep love you have for Rock music is transparent, and you do a great job of conveying it! As for the performance, it's everything you say it is -- minus anything like the bedrock bass sound that would really make it crunch. But you've explained the reason for that.
My own recent foray into compiling the cream of the cream of Rock music (now that for all intents & purposes it's stone cold dead) has me with more or less 30 timeless gems that would wow the most unmusical of Extraterrestials. But for what it's worth, there's one song that seems to float above the rest: Born on the Bayoo by Creedence Clearwater. Try playing it in your car at high volume (not speed!), guarantee you'll be knocked (gently) sideways. Unflashy but simply perfect. It's my daily dose of bliss.
Good choice; my personal pick for CCR would have always been the jam at the end of 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine'. It feels a wee bit too pre-meditated and rehearsed to be absolutely perfect, but I always try to delude myself into thinking it's completely improvised and an unseen hand was simply guiding them in all the right directions. CCR's actual live performances, however, rarely, if ever, improved on the studio versions of their songs - in this they had more of a "pop" than a "rock" mentality.
Now that's a very good point, actually. But then you really reduce the number of rock groups that cut the mustard, as it were. I take a broader view of the word "rock*, allowing it to be at least bedmates with the edgier realms of the pop idiom. Have to preserve that essential core of melodic invention.
Agreed about Born on the Bayou, that track is special, the power of the vibe of it, spine tingling, such a great groove, hit with much power. Very special song
Thanks for your late comment on mine. Actually, in the interval, I've found THE most spine-tingling track of all: Cowgirl in the Sand by Neil Young. Try playing that loudly on your car stereo, you'll be playing it every day thereafter, promise!
Love the enthusiasm of this write up, and agree with much of it but disagree with the opinion of the drumming of Kenney Jones. I believe Kenney is an incredible drummer, one of the classiest of this era. At this point he has lost his ‘partner in crime’ - Ronnie Lane on bass. That combo was incredible. I think he is just doing his best to hold a rag tag jam together as best as he can trying to give it some sort of structure and shape. No one is in charge, it’s a mess so Kenney in this one cannot commit the way he can when he knows where the song is heading. Plus in this one it’s not about the Faces, it’s about having Keith Richard’s guesting with them, Kenney is going to play the support role in that. Plus consider where the Faces are career wise then - about to call it quits. Ronnie about to jump ship for the Stones, Rod always ready to jump ship, Kenney at this point has career jitters - he’s thinking ‘where am I going next’? No individual style or sound? Hmph, listen to him playing on any song with the Small Faces - incredibly distinctive drumming. Watch him play with the Faces live on the BBC video from 1971 - playing on songs such as Three Button Hand Me Down or Stay With Me - he is an utter powerhouse! Listen to the depth of groove in ‘Three Button’ as he locks in with Ronnie Lane! That’s how you play drums and bass! Listen to the incredible drumming on the Ken Russell film version of ‘Acid Queen’ from ‘Tommy’ - ( especially the long version), yes that’s Kenney Jones, incidentally with Ron Wood on there as well. One of the reasons the Small Faces and Faces are great - the drummer!
Kenney Jones is an f…ing GREAT drummer: j
What I love about it (well, one of many things) is that they seem to be playing for each other. Rod barely acknowledges the crowd for the first couple of minutes. And what a revelation to be reminded that Keith Richards actually used to play at least five of the six strings on an electric guitar with a fair amount of dexterity and melodicism in his riffage. Delightful. Was this Ron Wood's unofficial audition for the Stones?
Heh, in the video it looks more like Keith Richards' unofficial audition for the Faces. :)
Technically, Ronnie had already worked with the Stones on 'It's Only Rock'n'Roll' (the song), but this may indeed have been his first live appearance with Keith.