Making Time Review

The Small Faces had had a massive hit with their second album release on Immediate Records, Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. This was always going to be a difficult album to follow and so it proved to be. The band were looking to move away from the teenybopper image that they all hated so much. Their music was serious and recent singles had been far more than pop songs. The band never intended that Lazy Sunday be released as a single. It was a bit of a joke but the single proved to be very popular and one of the group's most-loved songs. Likewise, side two of Ogdens' may have been a highly innovative concept with the Happiness Stan story and the Stanley Unwin narration but it gave the group humour appeal. At the same time music was becoming more serious and albums were becoming more important than singles. So, where could the Small Faces go from here if they wanted to be seen as serious artists which they were.

The band returned to the studio and started work on the 1862 project, the planned follow-up to Ogdens'. The title came from a stone above a door to a chapel at Marriott's new home, Beehive Cottage, where he was looking to install a recording studio. The chapel had apparently been built in 1862. Although this was never released as an album, tracks surfaced on the posthumous The Autumn Stone alongside singles from both Decca and Immediate recordings and live tracks from a concert in November 1968. Incidentally, Ronnie Lane had written a song for 1862 called The Creation which later became Stone and Evolution in the 1970s.

Immediate was determined to milk the recently split Small Faces for cash, but they did not have enough tracks for a full album. A compilation called In Memoriam was issued in Germany at the beginning of May 1969. This release comprised five live tracks from Newcastle City Hall, 18 November 1968 with side two made up of studio tracks recorded over the course of a year. These studio tracks were, presumably, intended for 1862. Immediate Records decided to release a UK compilation The Autumn Stone in November 1969. At first glance this was similar to In Memoriam but it was a rush release that appeared to be an attempt to put unreleased tracks onto the market and cash in on the band that had recently split up. Consequently it was a messy mix of live tracks (only three compared with five on In Memoriam), unreleased "1862" tracks, Universal singles, b-sides, album tracks and Decca singles. How did Decca singles end up on an Immediate release? The answer was that Immediate's Tony Calder had concluded a deal to add the Decca tracks to Immediate releases in perpetuity. Add to this the fact that the package was not put together well. Two of the four sides were short and the live tracks were mastered at the wrong speed! Also, the band members were hardly involved in the release. They were now involved in Humble Pie and the Faces although Steve Marriott was paid to help mix the new tracks. The tracks mixed by Marriott later ended up on In Memoriam. Marriott's Humble Pie were signed to Immediate at the time.

With the remastering of Small Faces material in recent years the time has come to address the deficiencies of The Autumn Stone and produce an album that does justice to the quality of the material on it.

The new Deluxe version of The Autumn Stone is still a real mix of material from Immediate and Decca as well as the live tracks. However, tracks are complete, at the correct speed while songs and previously unreleased versions have been added. It also remains faithful to the "randomness" of the 1969 release. The vinyl version comprises six sides of Autumn-coloured vinyl. The selection includes Decca and Immediate singles as well as b-sides, album tracks, tracks recorded for the 1862 project and all five Newcastle City Hall tracks. Many of the studio tracks are previously unreleased or rare versions. Importantly, the quality of the recordings has been significantly improved to make the listening experience so much better. The Decca tracks are taken from the original master tapes not the 1969 compilation versions that use fake-stereo effects.

The package is completed with a 68-page book with rare photographs and memorabilia as well as Ian McLagan's sketches from 22 Westmoreland Terrace which have recently surfaced. There are also extensive recording notes and details about the 1862 project. The band's name has also been placed on the cover as it was omitted in the rush to release the original album.

The real gems in this collection are the "unreleased" 1862 tracks. These are most indicative of the musical direction the band was taking. Interestingly, Steve Marriott's next band, Humble Pie, mixed heavier sounds with stripped-down acoustic tracks and the Small Faces material was certainly heading in this direction. Afterglow had been issued as a posthumous single and its flip-side Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam is certainly in the heavier side of things. An alternative, earlier version of this with different lyrics is Me You and Us Too. An earlier recording from the time of the Small Faces (Immediate) album is Don't Burst My Bubble. This never had a release during the Small Faces' lifetime so great to see this heavier track reprised here. On the lighter side, the title track The Autumn Stone, earlier known as Jenny's Song, is a beautiful Marriott piece. It was thought of as a potential single at one point but was not released in this format until Record Store Day 2016. Red Balloon, a cover of a Tim Hardin song, is another beautiful track that makes use of the acoustic guitar. Two further cover versions made their debuts on the live side. A further Tim Hardin song, If I Were a Carpenter, is joined by Every Little But Hurts, probably best-known for the Brenda Holloway version though the Spencer Davis Group covered this track a few years earlier. A chance to compare Steve's Marriott and Winwood's vocals.

The live tracks are a gem. Considering that bands would gig extensively during the 1960s, there is very little recorded material. Even the Beatles and the Rolling Stones do not have a great archive of live recordings. While the recent release of Live 1966 is a great record of the Small Faces at their performing peak, the 1968 tracks are quite different. The band were still faced with screaming girls which meant they could hardly hear themselves despite the fact they had progressed musically from the pop of Hey Girl and Sha La La La Lee. The screams on the record were actually overdubbed by Immediate. Nevertheless, the tracks demonstrate well what a Small Faces concert was like towards the end of their career. Bear in mind that band's sets were shorter in these days with bands often playing two short sets each night.

This Deluxe version of The Autumn Stone also includes some previously unreleased tracks. A new find is the so-called Olympic Jam, which shows the band jamming together in the studio. Side five contains some interesting tracks that could be described as demos or works-in-progress. The newly-found version of The Autumn Stone is effectively a Steve Marriott solo piece. The known version is a very beautiful song but the stripped-down acoustic version is something else. Marriott could rock-out but he could also write some very beautiful love songs such as this track for his first wife Jenny Rylance.

Two instrumental tracks are Collibosher and Wide-Eyed Girl on the Wall. The band split up during the recording and these were probably unfinished tracks that were lacking the vocals. How would they have sounded with lyrics? However, the Small Faces released a number of instrumental tracks, often in the Booker T & the MGs style, and these two tracks stand up very well, even without vocals. Me You and Us Too has surfaced in recent years. This features ace session man Nicky Hopkins on keyboards as Mac had temporarily left the band. The song was later written, somewhat heavier, as Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam with Mac back on top form. The latter was placed on the b-side of the single Afterglow which was released after the band had split. The band would have preferred this track, another incredible Marriott love song, to have been released instead of The Universal.

The Autumn Stone is an excellent overview of the Small Faces' career with only a couple of singles missing. It also shows what could have been achieved had the band not folded as the "new and unfinished" tracks are excellent with a style that would resurface in Humble Pie. A track (not on this compilation) called Pigs Trotters later became the Humble Pie track Wrist Job. Other tracks MAY have become recordings for Humble Pie or the Faces.

Numbered copies are available exclusively from the Small Faces Shop with 750 copies signed by Kenney Jones and Gered Mankowitz.