The Small Faces - From The Beginning (1967)

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

1966 saw the Small Faces rise to become big stars, with a series of successful singles, appearances on TV shows such as Ready Steady Go! and Top Of The Pops, and touring across the UK and Europe to great acclaim. Their popularity peaked with the release of the single "All Or Nothing" in August, which got to #1. However they didn't actually have much to show for it all financially, and so broke with Decca Records and their manager Don Arden, and were signed to the new record label Immediate (founded by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham).
However at the same time as they started recording for Immediate, Decca released an album to try and cash in on the band one last time. It featured "All Or Nothing", plus another two Top 10 hits ("Hey Girl" at #10 and "My Mind's Eye" at #4), as well as their earlier breakthrough hits "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" and "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", which had already appeared on their self-titled debut. The rest of the album was made up of loose ends recorded whilst they were with Decca, including some fantastic covers of Del Shannon's "Runaway", Smokey Robinson's "You've Really Got A Hold On Me", Don Covay's "Come Back And Take This Hurt Off Me" and Marvin Gaye's "Baby Don't You Do It" (featuring ex-member Jimmy Winston on vocals). Some of the other songs first released here they were in the process of re-recording for Immediate, and they would also appear on their next album.
Though its pieced-together nature and the circumstances of its release makes From The Beginning's place in the Small Faces canon a bit unclear (even more so due to the fact that it repeats songs found on other albums), it actually comes together fine as a record in its own right, showing the band's move from their R&B roots into more of a psychedelic pop direction.

Small Faces (1966) <|> Small Faces (1967)
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