Updated 4/25/08


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The band that Ronnie Lane left behind

Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Wood, Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart


AN APPRECIATION OF Ronnie Lane

 

 


 

 

 

The Faces 4 CD boxed set is a hit!

 

 

 

Just click on the picture below of a band in cheery mood and all will be revealed

 

 

Here's what Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the All Music Guide has to say about it:


There has never been a better box set than the Faces' Five Guys Walk into a Bar.... There has never been
a box that captures an artist so perfectly, nor has a box set taken greater advantage of unreleased and rare
material, to the point where it seems as essential and vital as the released recordings. Simply put, there's
never been a box set as necessary as this, since it tells the band's entire tale and explains exactly what the
fuss is all about. Unfortunately, some explanations are in order, since the Faces never made it big, resigned
to cult status in America and Britain alike. Nevertheless, if you love rock & roll with an all-consuming passion,
you may consider the Faces the greatest rock & roll band ever. And you'd be right. Other bands were certainly
bigger and plenty wielded a stronger influence, but the Faces were something unique, an endearingly ragged
quintet that played raw, big-hearted rock & roll as hard as the Rolling Stones, but with a warm, friendly vibe that
would have sounded utterly foreign coming from the Stones. At the turn of the '60s, that warmth was unusual in
rock & roll, since most of the big bands were larger than life; even the Kinks, the quaintest and quietest of the
titans of the late '60s, had a theatrical bent that lent them a mystique.

In contrast, the Faces were utterly without mystique. They were unpretentious to a fault, coming across like the
lovable lads from the neighborhood who were always out for a good time, whether it was before, during, or after
a gig. They were unassuming and mischievous, with their raggedness camouflaging a sweetness that flowed
throughout their music; they were charming rogues, so endearing that even the infamously cranky, trendsetting
British DJ John Peel had a soft spot a mile wide for them. That raggedness resulted in exhilarating music, but
also made the Faces inconsistent on-stage and in the studio. At their peak, nobody could touch them, but even
their greatest albums were sloppy, never maintaining their momentum. They would also throw away great songs
on non-LP singles, and their live performances -- including BBC sessions for Peel -- often had a raucous energy
not quite captured on their albums. All of these elements taken as a whole add up to a great band, but no single
album, not even the first-rate 1999 compilation Good Boys When They're Asleep, captured each of these elements.

Five Guys Walk into a Bar... does. Produced and sequenced by their keyboardist, Ian McLagan, the set throws all
conventional rules of box sets out the window. It's not assembled in a chronological order. A grand 43 of its 67
tracks are non-LP cuts and rarities, including a whopping 31 previously unreleased tracks. It has all the B-sides
never released on CD. Several songs are repeated in alternate live or studio versions. Such a preponderance of
rarities would usually mean that a box set is only for the devoted, but that's not the case here -- these rarities are
the very reason why Five Guys Walk into a Bar... succeeds in a way none of their original albums do, since they fill
in the gaps left behind on their four studio albums. This does mean that it features several Rod Stewart solo cuts
that worked their way into the Faces' repertoire (partially because the band backed him on his solo albums, too),
but that was an important part of their history (plus, the BBC version of "You're My Girl [I Don't Want to Discuss It]"
is blistering hot), and while this showcases Stewart at his best -- he never was better than he was in the early '70s,
whether it was fronting the Faces or on his solo records -- he never overshadows his mates on this box.

The focus is on the band as a whole, which means that the spotlight is shone on the late, perpetually under-
appreciated Ronnie Lane numerous times on each of the four discs, and that Ronnie Wood has his turn at the
microphone on a wonderful live "Take a Look at the Guy." McLagan's song sequencing may appear to have no
logic behind it, since it doesn't group recordings together by either era or scarcity, yet his seemingly haphazard
approach makes musical and emotional sense, flowing like a set list yet remarkably maintaining momentum
through its four lengthy discs. While it may sound like hyperbole, there's never a dull moment here, not a bad
track among these 67 songs -- it's consistent in a way the Faces never were when they were together. It's a joyous,
addictive listen, too. It sounds like a party, one where everybody's invited and where the music doesn't stop playing
until the break of dawn. That makes a perfect tribute for a band that never got the respect they were due, and never
made the great album they should have made. With Five Guys Walk into a Bar..., the Faces finally have that great
album and not just that, they have a box set that's as infectious and satisfying as any classic rock & roll album and
a box set that's quite possibly the greatest box set ever made. Plus, it's just one hell of a good time.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a mini Faces reunion when the Bump Band played the Mean Fiddler in London on May 1st
You really should have been there!

Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan, Simon Edwards, Don Harvey, Scrappy Jud Newcomb & Kenney Jones
Photograph by David Harvey

 

 

 

 

irst of all, let me fill you in on a short history of one of the booziest and
best bands to come out of London Town.

       fter Steve Marriott left Small Faces to form Humble Pie with Pete Frampton,
      Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and I hooked up with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart,
      who were about to leave Jeff Beck's band for better things. We'd jam for a while
      and then have a few drinks in the local pub. "All shorts" was how we were described
      back then by barmen, and it had nothing to do with our lack of height. It was a
      reference to our liking for large brandies. In fact, the early days were extremely
      shambolic, and we never wasted too much time rehearsing, especially while the
      pubs were still open. That said, we must have done something right musically,
      because we signed with Warner Bros soon after, and were on our way to the States
      before the ink was dry.

               ould I mention here that the jolly old USA took us to its heaving bosom,
            took us home, fed us and made us feel very welcome, which I have to say was
            the opposite of how we were being treated in England. In fact, after playing
            Detroit City several times on that first tour in 1970, they took us so much to
            heart that we were, just like the automobiles, 'Made In Detroit.' Never a band
            to be burdened with too many hit records (it was never easy to get Rod in the
            studio after he'd changed into his pyjamas), there were nevertheless plenty of
            his to go around, 'Maggie May' and 'You Wear It Well' among them. The tours
            were as mad as Marx Bros movies, and they kept getting bigger, if not better,
            and definitely more financially rewarding.

                       ventually, even Mother England took us in and cooked us a hearty breakfast.
                  However, when Ronnie Lane left, the heart and soul was gone from the band, and
                  when we began to be billed as 'Rod Stewart and the Faces', it was all over bar the
                  shouting, though we carried on until the final derailment at the end of 1975, when
                  Rod left the band by announcing to the press that the 'Faces are over.' That's when
                  Ronnie Wood took The Stones up on their offer, and Kenney, Ronnie, Steve and I
                  got back together again as Small Faces part 2, thinking it would be just as wonderful
                  as it had been before. We soon found out you can never go back, and Ronnie Lane
                  knew it before any of us, and he promptly left us... again.

                               o there you have it. There's much more to it, of course, and my book, All
                        The Rage, will tell you all you everything you'll ever need to know about the
                        goings-on, but the Faces were a music-making band of characters, and if you're
                        not familiar with our music, then check out 'Good boys... when they're asleep', a
                        retrospective CD out on Rhino that will have to do until the 4 CD box set comes
                        out. There's tracks you've never heard before and performances you won't believe
                        you missed! Don't hold your breath for the Faces reunion, but when 'Five guys
                        walk into a bar...' is released you'll know what you've missed, and it will be as
                        good as it gets to having the Faces back together again. I can't wait.

 

 

 


'First Step' (aka 'Small Faces' in the US) 1970 Warner Bros
Just that, a first step and a decent beginning


'Long Player' 1971 Warner Bros
A better album, but not quite there yet


'A nod is as good as a wink... to a blind horse...' 1971 Warner Bros
Now you're talking. This is the shit!

'Various Artists/Reading Festival' 1973 GM
Haven't heard this one for years... zzzzzzzzz


'Ooh La La' 1973 Warner Bros
Equally as good as 'Nod's', and Ronnie Lane's swan song.
Petrolini never looked better!


'Coast To Coast' 1974 Warner Bros/Mercury
There are better bootlegs than this, but some
like it enough to rave abut it... Not me.


'Snakes and Ladders' (Best of) Warner Bros
A good selection - includes 'Pool Hall Richard'
and 'You Can Make Me Dance...'


'The Best Of The Faces' 1977 Riva
A double album with 'Borstal Boys'
and a live 'I Wish It Would Rain'.
How it came to be on this label is
anyone's guess


'Good boys... when they're asleep...' 1999 Warner Bros/Rhino
Rhino did a great job, and I'm very proud of this. Includes
'Open To Ideas', a previously unreleased track. This selection
honours Ronnie Lane as much as anyone in the band.


'Five guys walk into a bar...' 2004 Warner Bros/Rhino release that tells the whole story
Everyone at Rhino did a wonderful job in spite of having been taken over in the middle of the project.
I'm as proud of this as I am anything I've ever done. and it's dedicated to Ronnie Lane, naturally


 


At the end of 1975 each member of the Faces went on to create more music with varying success


joined THE ROLLING STONES and has been with them now
for thirty odd years. He's made umpteen solo albums and
enjoys the good life in England and Ireland. Playing like never
before on the latest Stones tour, he sat in with the Bump Band
in Houston after a Stones gig and knocked everybody out.


left the band in 1973 to go solo and struggled to make
ends meet. Though he made some beautiful records he
eventually left this place for a better one, casting a long
shadow and leaving friends everywhere. Rock on Ronnie.
My new CD 'SPIRITUAL BOY - an appreciation of Ronnie Lane'


joined THE WHO for a few years and has since worked hard
to get SMALL FACES royalties from record companies that
think they can get away without paying us. He also runs a
world renowned polo club in Surrey, England, does good work
for children working with the Small Faces Charity and has a
new album out with his new band, the Jones Gang. I'm on it too!


left the band in late 1975, went solo and has sold a vast chasm of
albums since then. He likes a laugh, a game of football, and a drink
as long as he doesn't have to pay for it. He's consistently made the
charts , and though they're not to my taste they sell in the millions.
Rock on Rod!


returned to Japan and apart from a sighting from Ronnie
Wood in the 90's, has only been heard of sporadically in
my neck of the woods. I wish him well and hope he's OK.
Here's a recent picture taken by mutual pal Alan Merrill.


recorded several solo albums, wrote a fantastic book, runs an
amazing website, was welcomed into the Texas Hall of Fame,
and only tours and records with the best of pals. He moved to
Austin, Texas in 1994 and produced the Faces collection 'Five
guys walk into a bar...' and to find out what he's up to today,
tomorrow or next month go to the 'Bump' page and have a
look, have a laugh, have a listen! Go on, you know you want to!

 

   
   
   
 

Now check out the best Faces site on the web and tell my pal Dave McNarie I sent you!

 © Ian McLagan 2008 Permission is requested and required before copying anything from these pages.