Small Faces – There Are But Four Small Faces (1968) VICP 61244 - Japan 2001
The Small Faces' first album for Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label originally appeared in two different forms in England (where it was known as Small Faces) and America, and the two song lineups have been combined on an early-'90s American Sony Music reissue: There Are but Four Small Faces. The music here is much more fully developed and experimental than their preceding album, still largely R&B-based (apart from the delightfully trippy "Itchycoo Park," the band's sole American hit) but with lots of unusual sounds and recording techniques being attempted.
I may be off a little, but I believe this was the first album the Small Faces made as a concrete album, and it shows: this contains the flaky excitement and energy of a band let loose for an extended period in the studio for the first time. It's chock full of strong singles material, and there are only a handful of misfires. By now they'd excised a lot of the more derivative aspects of their R&B based sound for a more Summer of Love/Carnaby Street psych-pop approach; the opener, "Itchykoo Park" is one of the great hippy-dippy anthems with its "What did you do there? I GOT HIGH!" and "It's all too bea-u-ti-ful" refrains. There's hardly anything bad I can say about this record, except that it's rather lightweight, but sometimes a light classic is just what I need. Surprisingly, an ode to a speed dealer, "Here Comes the Nice" got past the BBC, but that's nothing compared to the Small Faces' greatest song, the brilliant stroke that is "Tin Soldier". Even Ian McLagan contributes a strong neopsych tune, "Up the Wooden Hills (To Bedfordshire)", about getting tucked into bed. An unjustly lost classic (at least in America) that holds its own against almost any other album of the era.
Tracklist 01. Itchycoo Park 02. Talk To You 03. Up The Wooden Hills 04. My Way Of Giving 05. I'm Only Dreamin (stereo version) 06. I Feel Much Better (stereo version) 07. Tin Soldier 08. Get Yourself Together 09. Show Me The Way 10. Here Come The Nice 11. Green Circles (USA mix) 12. (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me (version 2) 13. I Can't Make It (stereo version) ..... bonus track 14. Just Passing (stereo version) ..... bonus track 15. Eddie's Dreaming ..... bonus track 16. Mad John (US single version) ..... bonus track 17. Me You And Us Too ..... bonus track 18. You Really Got Me / The Moments ..... bonus track 19. Money, Money / The Moments ..... bonus track
Credits Kenney Jones: Drums Steve Marriott: Guitar, Vocals, Producer Ian McLagan: Organ, Vocals, Guitar P.P. Arnold: Vocals Ronnie Lane: Bass, Vocals, Producer
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