And what a laugh they had on the way. Rod would come along to listen to early rehearsals and, after a while, Kenney Jones asked him to see how the band would sound with him on vocals. The rest is the stuff of legend. After an initial incarnation as Quiet Melon (which also included Ron Wood’s brother, Art) they adopted the name “Small Faces“ and then “Faces”. Their first album was released in 1970, entitled “First Step”. It was a promising start, containing tunes that stand up well to this day, in particular the ballad “Flying” and the excellent “Three Button Hand Me Down”, a rocking number which tells the tale of a young man’s first suit.
It was followed in 1971 by “Long Player”, which boasts songs as strong as “Bad ‘N’ Ruin” - a prodigal son for the late twentieth century, “Sweet Lady Mary” and one of the late great John Peel‘s favourites “Had Me a Real Good Time“. In fact 1971 was to be Faces’ year. And Rod’s. Not that the two were mutually exclusive, but they were moving in that direction.
At much the same time as Faces were signed to Warner Brothers, Rod got himself a solo record deal with Mercury. The result was that throughout the band’s career, there was the unenviable position of Rod recording his solo material whilst at the same time playing and recording with Faces. And it was to be in his solo capacity that he met with success. His solo single “Maggie May” (ironically initially the b-side of “Reason To Believe”) topped the chart for a number of weeks in the Autumn. It was taken from the album “Every Picture Tells a Story”, and - like the rest of the album - featured Faces, as well as other musicians such as Martin Quittenton, who co-wrote “Maggie May”. An early champion was John Peel, who sat in on mandolin on the band‘s performance on Top of the Pops - an event that is etched in the collective memory of a generation.
The success was followed by a band single, perhaps their finest hour “Stay With Me”. A fast rocker, the song is an arrogant strut of the male libido, perfect for the band’s boozy, “laddish” image. They were to the early seventies what Oasis were to the nineties. And they did it with style. The single was taken from their album “A Nods as Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse”, their finest hour. It also included “Stay With Me”’s b-side, “Debris”, a beautiful Lane composition, which he sang lead vocals on, augmented by a haunting backing vocal by Stewart on the chorus - perhaps the best song written about a father and son relationship.
Their live performances were legendary. Ramshackle, fuelled with copious amounts of alcohol, they often ended up as a sing-along, with more than a nod to the tradition of music hall which had been influential to both Stewart and Steve Marriott.
But it couldn’t last. Nothing as great as Faces lasts forever. With Rod’s solo success, there was an inevitable tension within the band. Faces were increasingly seen as his backing band - a travesty of the truth - and this was sadly to be ultimately the root cause of their demise. The band’s final album was “Ooh La La”, released in 1973, with Ron Wood on vocals on the title track (supposedly because Rod was absent). The album produced some memorable tracks, such as the hit “Cindy Incidentally” and “Borstal Boys”, a classic hard rock number . But it wasn’t long before Lane decided that enough was enough, leaving to form his own band Slim Chance. Faces recruited Tetsu Yamauchi from Free on bass, who played live and on the singles “Pool Hall Richard” and “You Can Make Me Dance Sing And Anything”.
But without Lane, the soul of the band had gone. In 1975, it all came crashing down. Wood joined the Rolling Stones and Rod left for America to pursue his - increasingly bland - solo career. A moment in rock history was over. But what a moment it was. Faces were one of the maddest, booziest, coolest bands that ever lived. They created a genre of their own. They were inspirational and continue to sound great today.