Long Player

Product Information

Sham-Mozzal" [embryonic instrumental version of "Had Me A Real Good Time"] (Jones, Lane, McLagan, Wood) Following up their very aptly titled debut, 1970’s First Step, the Faces were a supergroup in the making when they released their second studio album, Long Player in February 1971. Although Stewart's vocals were arguably the most immediately identifiable aspect of the Faces' sound, the band didn't really have a leader, per se — their distinctchemistry was wholly dependent on each member's equal contributions, and they functioned, more or less, as a creative democracy. That had its definite advantages, but when it came time to wrangle the songs into shape in the studio, it could also make things difficult — especially when they elected to self-produce, as they did during the Long Player sessions. For Lane, the technical difficulties were only part of what ultimately kept Long Player from working as well as it should have. "The main problem was that we could never get that sound and feeling in the studio that we got on stage," he lamented in Had Me a Real Good Time. "We had a very haphazard idea about recording. Long Player took so long I almost completely lost interest in it."

The closing instrumental, a cover of Sir Henry Wood's traditional 'Jerusalem' was basically an abbreviated solo spot for Wood on dobro ... Technically it was pretty enough, but I can't say it was something I'd want to hear all that often. As for “Feel So Good,” its presence on the album indicates either that Faces are having trouble finding material or that they’ve got a wide self-indulgent streak, ’cause this here is almost nine minutes of stupifying bellowed De Blooze which, however good it made the live audience that had the pleasure of watching them swagger all over the stage and embracing one another like long-separated lovers in their characteristic way as they were playing it feel, it makes the listener feel bored and annoyed after about 30 seconds of appreciative amusement. Not only does Rod scream the ultimate wrong on-stage question, “Are you with me?” not once, but four times, but it’s also a shabby recording, with mostly only the crash cymbal audible from Kenny Jones’ drumkit. Celebrating 50 years since Long Player was released, let’s enjoy some classic live performances of the album’s singles below. The album was reissued in the mid 1970s as part of the double album 'Two Originals of The Faces' with record one being 'First Step'. It never occurred to me that we wouldn’t be popular, or that we would be big for that matter. It just felt right. I didn’t smell money, I smelled fun, and we had lots of it. It was as if young America was waiting to be entertained," McLagan wrote in his memoir All the Rage: My High Life with the Small Faces, the Faces, the Rolling Stones and Many More. "We were happy boys. These were the days and this was the life!"

The album sleeve was originally a stitched-together facsimile of bootleg records as well as the old style 78 RPM singles, with the record label showing.

Be all that as it may, none of Long Player's deficiencies did much to slow the band's ascension. The album peaked at No. 29 in the U.S. and No. 31 in the Faces' native U.K., and although neither of its singles charted, the group's live appearances in support of the LP increased their profile throughout 1971 — as did Stewart's growing profile as a solo artist, solidified by the chart-topping performance of his third release, Every Picture Tells a Story. In the midst of all this activity, they'd reconvene later in the year to record their next effort, A Nod Is As Good As a Wink ... to a Blind Horse— and its arrival in November 1971 signaled the band's true arrival as a transatlantic success story. The reissue used the U.S. cover artwork. It was also released at the same time in the above form as part of the complete recordings box set 1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything. The album's companion singles (aside from the unique mix of "Had Me a Real Good Time" as detailed above) were included in the box set on an exclusive CD of rarities. Jerusalem" (instrumental) ( Hubert Parry, William Blake – arr. Wood; erroneously credited as traditional) - 1:55 Faces may have achieved modest success compared to their legendary contemporaries like The Rolling Stones and The Who, but their underrated gem of a second album captures the moment a group of future icons truly hit their stride.

Release

An extended live cover of Wilie Broonzy's ' I Feel So Good' caught the band at their blues-iest. Stewart sounded pretty good on this one getting the audience involved in the song, as did the recent of the band (who were all given solo spots), but stretching it our\t to just short of nine minutes didn't do anyone any favors. Seriously, this one just seemed to go on and on and on ...