Recording of the Month

Faces at the BBC, Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970–1973
Rhino R2726026 603497827824 (8 CDs/1 Blu-ray). 2024. Rob Caiger, prod.; Nick Robbins, Dave Corbett, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ***½

The record business was awash in money and power. Vinyl LPs were still five bucks, and while the pressings could be suspect, the music-buying public still snapped them up en masse. Even in that world of gatefolds, inserts, and textured covers, Faces' Ooh La La remains an impressive sleight of hand. Made up of remnants from two other bands—The Small Faces and The Jeff Beck Group—the band's five colorful louts could have been musical world-beaters, but in the end were more interested in having a good time.

In the words of their glammy vocalist with the shaggy razor cut, they were "five drunks who got away with murder under the guise of music." Although "Stay with Me" rose to #17, they never had a Top 10 single. And none of their generally excellent (though generally ignored) albums sold big numbers. Yet, just as they were coming apart—as their lead vocalist went solo—they somehow convinced their label, Warner Bros., to fund one of the most wildly creative, difficult-to-produce album-cover designs of all time and throw in a poster to boot.

Ooh La La, with its front cover that could literally change "faces," wouldn't even crack the Top 20. Yet almost from the moment the band passed into history, their fanbase and respect for what they accomplished have increased.

After years of collecting every bad-sounding scrap of the band's time together (mostly garbled audience recordings), the dreams of Faces fans everywhere have unexpectedly come true. Rhino Records has released Faces at the BBC, Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970–1973, a wonderous eight-CD/one–Blu-ray bounty of our heroes in action. The set is well-packaged and annotated, with a first-class booklet of notes and photos. Best of all, the sound, while not pristine by any measure, is quite listenable, thanks to the work of BBC engineers Tony Wilson, Joe Lycett, Hugh Barker, and John Etchells; producers John Peel, Jeff Griffin, John Walters, John Muir, and Paul Williams; and the reissue/ restoration team (see top matter).

The mystery of why Faces' reputation has snowballed since their 1973 breakup is really no mystery at all. They were nothing if not fun, on record and especially onstage, as this remarkable set makes abundantly clear. Their shambolic charms are hard to resist. They played no-frills, straight-ahead rock'n'roll that was easy to understand and enjoy. An abundance of musical talent swirls around the bottom of their glass. Rod Stewart (before he cheesed himself out and got rich), Ron Wood (guitar), Ronnie Lane (bass), Kenney Jones (drums), and Ian McLagan (keyboards) had enough juice between them that they could jam up anything their boozy hearts desired.

A Scot on his mother's side, Stewart had that memorable rasp. Woody worked in his now-familiar razor-edge fuzztone. Jones was a pounder and went on to play with The Who. Lane was a great songwriter as well as a passable bassist. McLagan, who was a tasty player, was always underestimated next to his outrageous mates, who, as BBC presenter John Peel so memorably puts it before one song in this set, were "excessively rowdy." They were also perfectly capable of staggering with convincing bluster into any genre they chose, be it country, soul, pop, or rock, and pulling it off with admirable aplomb.

Famed BBC tastemaker Peel, who admits in one intro here that the Faces are his "favorite band," repeatedly had them on as guests on his BBC shows. Nine Peel shows are among the 11 recorded between 1970 and 1973 and presented on this eight-CD set; the set includes two other BBC appearances without Peel. As a special treat, a video Blu-ray of the band performing during a program called Sounds for Saturday: The Music of The Faces, from October 1971 (the audio of which fills one CD), is also included.

This LP-sized folder is filled with myriad brilliant musical moments and much hilarious studio patter. In the barely controlled chaos of the intro to "(I Know) I'm Losing You" from the May 1971 show, after Peel deadpans "It's gettin' beyond a joke, Rod," Stewart blithely offers that the Temptations "were great" but have now "lost the best singer in the world, David Ruffin." Before a version of "Bad 'N' Ruin" from the same show, Stewart explains that the band had never played the song except while recording it on the Long Player album, "So if it falls apart in the middle, uhh, you know, laugh it off."

Two tracks later, the fivesome, locked into the kind of one-mind unanimity that still wins them fans today, launch into a version of "Had Me a Real Good Time," which incorporates a verse of "Auld Lang Syne" before escalating into a stormin' rocker. Also included in the set is the band's much-bootlegged appearance on Peel's 1970 Christmas Carol Concert; the Faces croon through a medley that begins with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and ends with "O Come, All Ye Faithful." During their final appearance (in March 1973, just before Ooh La La was released), revved-up versions of "Cindy Incidentally," "True Blue," and "Twistin' the Night Away" (the latter two from Stewart's solo career) manifest the band's sloppy genius.

The sonics could be better, but this welcome set is authentically classic Faces and provides more than enough proof to support Peel's assertion, quoted in the liner notes: "I've not enjoyed anything as much as this in a long time."—Robert Baird