The Small Faces

In August 1965 Decca Records released "Watcha Gonna Do About It" which launched four East Londoners into the big time.   With their smart mod clothes and cute good looks the Small Faces quickly built up a huge following and secured a series of hit singles  in the U.K. including "Sha La La La Lee," "Lazy Sunday," "All Or Nothing," (which, incidentally, knocked "Yellow Submarine out of the number one position in 1966!) "Itchycoo Park" (a world-wide smash) and "Tin Soldier," a pop masterpiece that the gods surely came together on.

They had initially struggle to find their own sound instead of slavishly copying the American-type sound as did many other Rhythm 'n' Blues bands in the UK. Led by Steve Marriott, who had sung in Lionel Bart's stage show Oliver, and had studied for four years at the Italia Conti Drama School. He met up with Ronnie Lane, a bassist and single, who had already been playing guitar in a band called The Outcasts. When he went into the music shop Lane recognized Steve Marriott working behind the counter, who he had seen with his own band, Steve Marriott's Moments. The two realized they had similar tastes in music and combined members of their own former bands and The Small Faces emerged. The original lineup included Marriott, Lane, drummer Kenney Jones (of The Outcasts) and Jimmy Winston (of The Moments) on keyboards. Winston was replaced in Nov. 1965 by Ian McLagan, creating the lineup that would last until 1969.

Their name came from the fact that they were all mods (they were all "faces" - a top mod) and the average height in the group was about 5'5". Said Marriott, "Ronnie drew a picture of a Mod in a parka with Small Faces painted on the back, like it was on Kenney's drum kit, which Ronnie had also painted. We put it outside the gig and it brought all these Mods in. We got the following because we were Mods ourselves."  The group developed a unique mixture of soul and psychedelia when they switched to the Immediate label in 1967. They released their masterpiece, Ogden Nut Gone Flake in 1968, which reached the top of the album chart and has still regarded as one of the greatest albums of the decade. Side one consists of unlinked tracks including the singles Lazy Sunday and Afterglow . The second side make up a story with narration by Professor Stanley Unwin. The story tells of Happiness Stan who is looking for the other half of the moon.

The original Small Faces dissolved in 1969, when Marriott left the group to form Humble Pie. They resurfaced as The Faces, fronted by Rod Stewart with Ron Wood on guitar. They continued with hits like "Ooh La La" until their breakup in 1973.  Although they disbanded at their the height of their creative powers, the Small Faces remain one of the most influential bands of the 1960s, with groups like the Jam and Blur owning them a considerable debt.