Let the Good Times Roll
This is the Faces at their rawest. It's a album that was meant to be seen more than listened to. I had the privilege of seeing them live during this period. This was like watching a good ole bar band getting it on. They sang & drank Matus (wine) on stage & just appeared to have a great time which in turn made us feel great too. Yes it's a wee bit sloppy, but it's honest rock'n roll. Feel So Good just makes one want to get off one's arse and boogie.
faces
ooh la la 5 stars
nod 4 stars
long player 2 stars - too much stewart, not enough lane & wood
1st step (small faces/actually 1st faces album) 3 stars
Sloppy Mess
This is one of the few times I bought an album based on buzz instead of the album cover. Had to because there was nothing on the album cover anyway! I kept hearing about the Faces and finally broke down and bought this album to check them out. To this day, I have never played the entire album. A few years later I read a review of this album where the reviewer said they were a great live band that had trouble translating that energy in the studio, and I have to totally agree. To give them a second chance, I just listened to the samples here on Amazon and my opinion has not changed from what it was twenty some years ago. I remember their song Itchycoo Park (as the Small Faces) and remember liking it, especially when they used that phasing technique (tape delay). But that song was a far cry from this later album. The only way I can describe this style of music is sloppy. I like things loose and not sanitary (as a few bands like to do on record) but this is a little too sloppy for my taste.
Rock 'n' roll!
The Faces were a rough, sloppy rock & roll band, able to pound out a tough, muscular rocker like "Had Me A Real Good Time", a bluesy ballad like "Tell Everyone", and a folk tune like "Richmond" all in one album. The sublime ballad "Sweet Lady Mary" and the hard rocker "Had Me A Real Good Time" are two of the band's very best songs, and bassist Ronnie Lane's two ballads, "Tell Everyone" and the slide guitar-driven "Richmond", rival each other for the most touching number on the album (which ends with a lovely instrumental rendition of Henry Wood's "Jerusalem", courtesy of Ronnie Wood).
"I Feel So Good" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" are recorded live; Big Bill Broonzy's classic up-tempo blues "I Feel So Good" is good but too long, clocking in at almost nine minutes, but the Paul McCartney-number is great. Ronnie Lane and Rod Stewart share lead vocals, and they tear into the song, transforming it from a saccharine ballad to a heartfelt cry of devotion.
"Long Player" is a bit of a sloppy record, perhaps, but it's also a pretty terrific one; it may have a couple of weak moments, and it doesn't reach the dizzying heights of Rod Stewart's magnificent solo albums from the same period, but it's a fun slice of good ol' rock n' roll.
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.
