September 15 - Stay With Me

After having been introduced to The Small Faces and both their phases (the Decca years were considerably rawer in sound than the Immediate Years), I was very surprised to realize what happened next. Steve Marriott, who at times belted it out like Robert Plant and played a mean guitar, decided it was time to leave The Small Faces to start a new band with, among others, Peter Frampton. The new band was Humble Pie - but it also left the rest of the Small Faces wondering what to do next. Enter Ron Wood and Rod Stewart, who no longer were playing with Jeff Beck, and voila, you have a new line-up. Except the music changed quite significantly, so to distinguish themselves from The Small Faces, they dropped the "Small" from their name and became The Faces - the most rickety jangly little bar band you can imagine (even more so than The Band and Neil Young's Crazy Horse). Their music is so loose when they play it that it sounds like a miracle that they start and end at the same time. But that is also what makes it so good - and rather more complicated than it sounds.

After just having listened to today's song again, I couldn't stop listening to Ronnie Lane's bass. His basslines are out of this world - and I came to the conclusion that as much as I like the other members of The Faces - and Ronnie Wood is an incredible guitarist in his own right - the secret sauce is really Ronnie Lane. Much like John Paul Jones is the unsung glue that kept Led Zeppelin together, Ronnie Lane does it for Faces. Also listen to the tempo changes in today's song. It's just so great. And Rod Stewart can sing. I'll give him that. He grew older and boring - but in his 60s and 70s output I am really amazed by what he did. Please enjoy Stay With Me