Issue 2024-071
Andrew Darlington — On Track... The Small Faces & The Faces
Besides a natural focus on progressive rock, we as reviewers at DPRP frequently stray away onto other styles of music. Many of them still relatable like prog-metal, AOR, melodic rock and occasionally EM. But personally, I also at times tend to listen to a R&B legend like Fats Domino. As my dad's favourite artist, I admit his name foremost hits home from a nostalgic point of view and even in the luckiest of shots will always fail to hit any given prog-related target. And this also applies to The Small Faces & The Faces.
The nostalgia factor here is however somewhat different. In contrast to self-educated word juggler Andrew Darlington, who has also written On Track books on The Human League and The Hollies, I wasn't even born when The Small Faces existed. Additionally, as a toddler I was completely unaware of the enormous international successes achieved by them when they became famous as The Faces. But nostalgic my memories are for sure. Because the one name I soon became aware to always associate with The Faces (not The Small Faces!) was the world-renowned and distinctively raspy voiced singer/songwriter Rod Stewart. A vocalist deeply rooted musically in my youthful consciousness thanks to iconic songs like Hot Legs, Sailing, Passion and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy.
And as coincidence, faith, luck, alignment of stars and good fortune would have it. Five decades later, Darlington's book falls magically into DPRP's lap just after I, by a stroke of fortuitous chance, got to shake Stewart's hand at one of his backstage "Wolfie's" experiences. Mere minutes before he at the age of 79(!) took to the stage and together with his extremely well-oiled machine of exceptional, virtuous musicians vividly dazzled and wowed fans at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam one last time with a nostalgia-oozing set-list consisting solely out of timeless classics. A book never shifted laps more quickly here at DPRP.
Thankfully I might add. Right from the start, Darlington offers a highly detailed and elaborate story injected with a chronological overview of The Small Faces' legacy. This is not an easy task considering all the various stand-alone singles. Using a meticulous archaeological tooth-comb approach that will make CSI's cold case team jealous, Darlington brilliantly succeeds to include all. This is complemented by musical breakdowns, (important) history facts, the mentioning of (compilation) albums where to find tracks nowadays, line-up information (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, Ian MacLagan), and everything in between that a fan and/or collector basically requires and craves for. It's an excellent promising start of the book.
As contemporaries to bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The BeeGees, The Who from 1965 to 1970, the year The Small Faces folded for the first time, their musical output is (as to be expected) miles away from progressive rock. Let's face it: apart from their musical rock-style the length of their concise all-telling song nuggets averaged, when lucky, approximately two to three minutes. Something The Faces almost managed to stretch to four. Hardly an intro by the time prog became fashionable.
But don't let this prog-absence worry you too much! Fully aided by his acrobatic inventive use of the English language, Darlington manages to construct a vast network of page-turning intel that just as easily ties copyright issues (Led Zeppelin), cover versions (The Sex Pistols), and a successful hit-single torpedo that sank a yellow submarine (The Beatles) together with Doctor Who and bands/names that nowadays still resonate within the prog community, like The Syn, a pre/mid Yes project featuring Chris Squire.
Add to this a sharp-witted view of the era, including insights on Mod (a London originating subculture which eventually spread across Great Britain, influencing fashion and trends), research that goes well beyond the call of duty, and the naming of many recognisable TV programs and other iconic moments in time.
A first midway conclusion is, when on page 84 the book on The Small Faces effectively closes for the first time, that there's not a single cloud in the sky to see Darlington's book as an essential read for everybody who has an above interest in Britain's past and a fondness for the 60's and The Small Faces.
However!! Darlington's delightfully engaging read is a book of two halves. The first half utterly brilliant and massively entertaining. The second half is stylistically different, at times confusing and to some degree properly out of context. I would like to refer to the second half of the books title: "& The Faces". The band is now featuring Sir Rod Stewart and future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, both as replacement for Marriott, who would go on to become "one of the biggest rock bands of the seventies", if one is to believe the back cover statement.
I'm convinced Darlington doesn't agree! Contrary to his previous extensive in depth wordsmithery, their albums are much more formal and very sparsely addressed. To give an example: The 3:27 minutes two-track I Can Make It single by the Small Faces from 1967 takes up two full information packed pages. Which equals almost the same amount of text as the full description of the hardly analysed songs that make up the first Faces album. What remains is five meagre sentences on their iconic million-selling hit Stay With Me and a total of 16 uninspired pages of actual The Faces coverage. An amount which in light of the heralded achievements is rather slim.
Darlington's linguistic brightness does return. But at the same time clouds have started to appear. Not so much through the short chapter that delves into a solo effort recorded by Ronnie Lane with Pete Townsend. But all the more through the subsequent section of Steve Marriott's achievements with Humble Pie. With Robert Day-Webb's On Track book in mind, Darlington clearly states, and I quote, "does not need repeating here". After which he sets out to do exactly that by filling 18+ indulgent pages of devoted words on this band led by Marriott.
This rather unexpected and unnecessary outline, which is longer than everything shared about "& The Faces", also starts to effect the chronology. In the meantime, the regrouped The Small Faces actually recorded two albums during this period (1977 and 1978), which are accounted for after the Humble Pie story is finally over. Darlington once again stumbles over timelines for a lengthy description of Marriott's 1976 solo album, which is even pictured on the back cover?!
After a brief and almost obligatory-feeling overview of Stewart's solo work recorded during his time with The Faces, albums that involve contributions by members of The Faces, Darlington then starts to round up the book's second half-patchwork with a chapter on compilations and what happened next. The latter obviously with all the faces of The Small Faces accounted for, while those of Stewart and Wood are completely ignored. Something I in all honesty was expecting by now, because Darlington clearly doesn't hold back on his opinions when on page 97 he writes: "Rod's Atlantic Crossing into the dire disco hits and miscast Great American Songbook albums represents one of rock's great wasted voices, frittered away into ridiculous irrelevance." OK, so not a fan then, Andrew?
And this is where the book falls short for me. Clearly Darlington knows his stuff, writes excitingly and is overly enthusiastic when it comes down to penning up every bit of information that includes Steve Marriott. To illustrate one final time: also included is a disproportional one-and-a-half-page description of a Bill Wyman single. An item even hardly worth mentioning in a Rolling Stones book, but it does feature Lane and Marriott on backing vocals so hence the extra mile. Yet the story, however greatly told it might be at times, was meant to be utmost and foremost about The Small Faces & The Faces. Something which by some mileage isn't the case in the confusing second half of the book.
The feeling I'm all together left with is that Darlington initially set out to write an exciting book about both Faces. But somewhere down the line rascal Stewart started to interfere so he felt the need to change his thoughtful scribblings into a Marriott chronicle that's courteously sidetracked by a passage on The Faces. Just his luck he had to expand his narrative some more because these Faces also got to play a part on Stewart's solo albums during that time...
Ultimate conclusion: think twice if you're a fan of The Faces and Rod Stewart as Darlington's read isn't as passionate and sexy as it promises to be. For everyone else who doesn't mind an occasional dip elsewhere, and those dying to know all about The Small Faces and Steve Marriott, then Darlington's book is for most parts an expertly told smooth sailing experience worth splashing into.
Steve Pilkington — Rock Classics: Supertramp — Crime Of The Century
So every once in a while it's confession time here at DPRP. This time on the topic of Supertramp. A band I admit to have never taken a real interest in. Obviously I know my classics and on a good-voiced day may even be able to fully sing along to songs like Dreamer and School. Simply because I heard those songs over and over during my own school days of yore. And beyond, of course. Yet somehow the only spark that ever managed to ignite my partial fire for Supertramp is their mighty excellent 1985 album Brother Where You Bound. Anything before and after for some reason doesn't do it for me.
So why then review a book on their rock/prog/pop classic (I'm not quite sure where it fits best) Crime Of The Century I hear you ask? Well. Besides the fact that I rather enjoy the history reconstructing archaeological nature of the Sonicbond books, there's an easy explanation to be found in author Steve Pilkington. An English prog enthusiast and musical journalist who as writer of several other Sonicbond book made quite an impression on me with his splendid On Track book on Led Zeppelin. And again Pilkington does a marvellous job by rightly placing the iconic Crime Of The Century on the pedestal it, regardless of my own reservations, so evidently deserves.
Following the footsteps of Geoffrey Feakes and Stephen Lambe who jump-started this exciting new series, Pilkington achieves this by firstly drawing up a handful of truthful comparisons to other career-changing albums of the era. To then, after a nicely detailed informational recap of Supertramp's embryonic and lesser known years, arrive in 1973. The year when it all starts to come brilliantly together for Supertramp in terms of line-up, artistic creativity and inspiration. A combination paid out in full in the following year when Crime Of The Century is released to great success.
Provided with plenty of quotes from members, mostly by Rodger Hodgson who in 2012 and 2014 conversed with Pilkington for a feature published in the Rock Society magazine, Pilkington goes on to meticulously outline and prepare for Crime. In the The Album and The Songs chapter, he instantly drops a bombshell of sorts by mentioning there may well be a conceptual nature to Crime Of The Century. News to me, it is Hodgson who in one of his interviews does reveal there were initial thoughts of a concept. But it has never been fully acknowledged by Rick Davies and the other members of the band so the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
For the true Supertramp aficionado, Pilkington's resolute determination to thoroughly examine and recognize this possibility based on the music and interpretation of the frequently quoted and reproduced lyrics could well prove to be a debatable long-shot. For me as a rather neutral reader, this investigative assessment on the "lifecycle of protagonist Rudy" however works out satisfyingly well and provides a nice refreshing angle that at the same time gives food for thought and substance to Pilkington's enthusing read. That said, I do somewhat miss Rick Davies' perspective on the matter.
Accompanied by eight full-colour pages filled with video stills taken from Supertramp's 1975 Midnight Special appearance and work in progress sketches of the album's artwork, Pilkington continuous his detailed narrative with an additional twenty-five comprehensively written pages about the album's overall impact, its manifesting influence on set lists, and how the world finally awakens to the sound of Supertramp thanks to subsequent albums like Crises? What Crises? and Breakfast In America. To ultimately leave in TGV express mode with an insightful concise summary of events that eventually transpired after Supertramp's most successful line-up had spoken their final Famous Last Words. A wonderful five-page gesture for those who, like me, appreciate the reward in getting the whole Supertramp picture.
If after all this you get the impression that Pilkington has successfully delivered a thoroughly entertaining read then you're bloody well right! I admit that this time around his well-researched and smoothly written story didn't affect the contents of my wallet. But it surely has connected me to the album. Up to the point that I nowadays even start to enjoy it in ways not experienced before. A recommendation which in my mind strongly speaks for itself. Thanks, Steve!