BBC Sessions- The Reviews

Mojo January 2000

The Small Faces were one formidable R&B force to be reckoned with. Live, especially. Powered by Steve Marriott's blistering vocals and Ian McLagan's chunky Hammond groove, they dared to take on Marvin Gaye's Baby Don't Do It, Rufus Thomas's Jump Back (wrongly credited here to Marriott) and Brenda Holloway's Every Little Bit Hurts - and won, rivaling the originals for guts and emotion. These previously unissued BBC sessions - dating from 1965 and 1968 do, however, reveal a band never quite getting to grips with the psychedelic happenings of their later recordings. Only the pop art experimentation of E-D and Lazy Sunday are taken to the stage. But even at their most ragged the group's energy and enthusiasm, if nothing else, gave them a proto-punk edge, other '60s beat groups couldn't boast. Also included on the CD are period interviews with Steve and Kenney, the questioners providing an unintentional laugh or two. Go buy!

Making Time January 2000

Making Time Review

Q February 2000

"Why do you think the kids want to hear so much noise?" a stuffy BBC interviewer asks Steve Marriott, the Small Faces lead vocalist, in 1966. Barely suppressing a laugh, Marriott chirps: "The volume we get excites us, and in turn excites them." This is indeed a record to play loud. Compiled from the archives of such '60s BBC pop shows as Saturday Club and Top Gear, these sessions have a raw, spontaneous, garage feel. There's a sharp, speedy intensity to such hits as All or Nothing and Whatcha Gonna Do About It, while You Need Love (later "borrowed" by Led Zeppelin for Whole Lotta Love) is wash with bluesy desire. Elsewhere, Lazy Sunday and E Too D showed they could also branch out into music hall and psychedelia with similar conviction. Utimately, their star shone brightly but all too briefly. ****

Lucy O'Brien