The Small Faces - Small Faces (1966)

The Small Faces were a highly influential English rock band active from 1965 to 1969.

Guitarist Steve Marriott and bassist Ronnie Lane met in London, and after finding a musical connection they recruited their friends Kenney Jones (on drums) and Jimmy Winston (first a guitarist, but persuaded to move to organ) to form a band - the Small Faces. They started playing in pubs around London, and soon started to earn themselves a strong mod following. Their sound was heavily influenced by American soul and R&B, and Marriott's powerful voice proved perfectly suited to the cover material they were performing. Before long they had got themselves signed to Decca Records.
Their first single was the fantastic "Whatcha Gonna Do About It", which unashamedly borrowed its riff from Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love". It got to #14 in 1965. However its follow up, "I've Got Mine", failed to chart. After this they fired Winston, who was replaced on keyboards by Ian McLagan. In 1966 the new lineup released "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", written for them by Kenny Lynch and Mort Shuman, which got to #3. Their first album came out that same year, featuring both hit singles (some songs featured Winston, and some featured McLagan). Musically it fused their R&B roots with catchy pop sensibilities into a big, loud and powerful rock sound.
The band had soon become a considerable success, and were among the leading mod groups of the 60s.

|> From The Beginning (1967)
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