[psychedelic rock, rock'n'roll] (2025) Small Faces - Something Ni...

       Small Faces – Something Nice (2025)    

Review:

…The 11-track album Something Nice includes rarities, alternate takes and live cuts, including a set of tracks from the new deluxe edition of The Autumn Stone. This slew of rare Small Faces goodies is largely pooled from Kenney Jones’s recently revived Nice Records. “I started the label in the ’90s to raise money for Ronnie Lane when he had multiple sclerosis,” Jones tells Uncut. “I put it to bed after he died, but have since thought, ‘No, I want to do something with this.’” The first Nice release was 2021’s Live 1966, an extraordinary document of Small Faces’ two sets at the Twenty Club in Mouscron, Belgium, selections from which comprise the first half of CD. “It was one of the first gigs we’d ever done abroad,” recalls Jones. “We always loved jamming and that gig is really what the Small Faces were all about. You can hear why Led Zeppelin became big fans – Page and Plant in particular. The spirit of those early days never left us.” Also included are rare mixes, cuts from the newly expanded edition of 1969’s The Autumn Stone and an in-progress version of Tim Hardin’s “Red Balloon”, exclusive to Uncut. All of it carries Small Faces’ unique imprint. “We had so much chemistry,” Jones adds. “There was a kind of telepathic understanding between the four of us. We just always knew what was needed.”

1. Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Live at The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
“Formidable!” cries the excitable Belgian stage announcer, before Small Faces launch into the opening song of their matinee set in Mouscron. Originally released in 1960 by New Orleans singer Jessie Hill, “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” undergoes a full rock’n’roll makeover, with Ronnie Lane’s bluesy vocals out front and Ian McLagan driving along on organ. One of several songs the band never captured in the studio.

2. You Need Loving (Live at The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
Steve Marriott fairly flies into this heaving R&B remake of Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love”, still four months shy of its studio counterpart on Small Faces’ debut album. Built around an improvised jam, the song had been in the band’s repertoire since they first started. Robert Plant evidently took note, later mining Marriott’s raw phrasing for Led Zep’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

3. Plum Nellie (medley) (Live at The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
Along with “Green Onions”, “Plum Nellie” was one of two Booker T & The MG’s instrumentals in Small Faces’ early setlists. Here it forms part of an epic medley that includes a fearsome take on Big Joe Williams’ “Baby, Please Don’t Go” (styled after Muddy Waters) and Bukka White’s mighty “Parchman Farm”, before climaxing in a breathless blues blowout.

4. What’Cha Gonna Do About It (Live at The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
Crowd hysteria ensues after Marriott introduces “our current British hit”, a pumping R&B powerhouse directly inspired by Solomon Burke’s “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”, with lyrics by Ian Samwell and Brian Potter. It would find its way into the Sex Pistols’ setlist a decade later, falling short of Small Faces’ ferocious live attack, however. “This really suited the power of Steve’s voice,” notes Kenney Jones.

5. Comin’ Home Baby (Live at The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
Previously recorded by the Dave Bailey Quintet, Herbie Mann and (with the addition of vocals) American jazz crooner Mel Tormé, this searing instrumental offers a fabulous insight into Small Faces’ intuitive dynamic. Marriott singles out McLagan during the lead-up – “This is our organist, Mac… Hope you dig it a lot” – but it’s very much a groove-riding ensemble piece.

6. E Too D (Live at The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
This Marriott/Lane original, developed from a live jam, is essentially a two-chord blues vamp (hence the title). Yet there’s also room for spontaneity and an old-school tip of the hat (“You heard of Chuck Berry? You heard of Nina Simone?”) as Marriott unpacks a tortured, imploring lead vocal. The studio version would up on Small Faces in May ’66.

7. The Autumn Stone (mono single mix)
September 1968 saw Small Faces record for the final time as a four-piece at Olympic Studios, where Marriott’s sublime, semi-acoustic “Jenny’s Song” was reworked as “The Autumn Stone”. Rejected as a single by Immediate, whose Andrew Oldham felt unsure of its commercial potential, this mono mix remained in the vaults until being issued on limited-edition vinyl for Record Store Day 2016.

8. Green Circles (mono)
Inexplicably ditched in favour of “Talk To You” as B-side of “Here Come The Nice” (Small Faces’ debut single for Immediate), “Green Circles” is a firm fan favourite, marking the band’s shift from bullish mod-pop to bucolic psychedelia. Lane and Marriott share trippy vocals about an enlightened stranger imparting wisdom: “He dreamt of circles in the air/And you and I and everywhere”.

9. I Can’t Make It (stripped-down acoustic mix)
The single version of “I Can’t Make It” was caught in the crossfire
that accompanied Small Faces’ acrimonious switch from Decca to Immediate in 1967, barely troubling the Top 30 after the group refused to promote it. In its pared-back form – as heard on the expanded The Autumn Stone – the song’s limber groove and Stax/Motown core feel all the more invitingly lucid.

10. Red Balloon (Take 4 backing track)
Exclusive to Uncut, this newly mixed instrumental backing track finds the band veering into warm folk-roots territory, highlighted by electric piano, distorted 12-string guitar and Jones’s nimble brushwork. “Red Balloon” was cut at Trident in late May 1968, a day before the release of Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. Another Tim Hardin tune, “If I Were A Carpenter”, was already in their live set.

11. All Or Nothing (Live)
This Steve Marriott classic landed Small Faces their first UK No 1 hit in September 1966. An essential component of the band’s live show from thereon in, by the time of this November ’68 performance at Newcastle City Hall it had taken on a richer, more measured tone, accentuated by McLagan’s soulful organ textures. “All Or Nothing” would later form the requiem at Marriott’s funeral. — Uncut

Track List:
01. Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Live At The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
02. You Need Loving (Live At The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
03. Plum Nellie (Medley) (Live At The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
04. What'cha Gonna Do About It (Live At The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
05. Comin' Home Baby (Live At The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
06. E Too D (Live At The Twenty Club, Belgium, 1966)
07. The Autumn Stone (Mono Single Mix)
08. Green Circles (Mono)
09. I Can't Make It (Stripped Down Acoustic)
10. Red Balloon (Take 4 Backing Track)
11. All Or Nothing (Live)


Media Report:
Genre: psychedelic rock, rock'n'roll
Origin: London, England, UK  
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.3.0 (UTC 2013-05-26)


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