| Small Faces discography | |
|---|---|
 The Small Faces in 1968 | |
| Studio albums | 5 |
| Live albums | 2 |
| Compilation albums | 14 |
| Singles | 21 |
| B-sides | 21 |
The Small Faces were an English rock band who were initially active between 1965 and 1969. [1] During their original tenure, they released three studio albums, [nb 1] four compilation albums and fourteen singles in the United Kingdom. With the exception of the band's two first singles "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" and "I've Got Mine" (both 1965) that featured Jimmy Winston on guitar and keyboards, [5] Small Faces had a consistent lineup of guitarist Steve Marriott, bassist Ronnie Lane, keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones. [6] [nb 2] Between August 1965 and June 1968, the Small Faces scored ten top-20 singles on the UK singles chart, including seven top-10 releases, of which "All or Nothing" reached number one. [8] Several of their singles were featured on the UK's year-end ranking, [8] and they became the eleventh best-selling recording artist in Britain during 1966. [9] Despite their success in Britain, the Small Faces only scored one top-20 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 with "Itchycoo Park" (1967), [10] [11] and have thus been referred to as "the best English band never to hit it big in America" by AllMusic critic Bruce Eder. [12] The Small Faces achieved success during the transition to the album era, [12] with their third and final studio album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake reaching number one for six weeks during the summer of 1968. [8] The band initially broke up in 1969 after Marriott formed Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. [13]
Contents
- Albums
- Studio albums
- Live albums
- Compilation albums
- Singles
- Year-end rankings
- Footnotes
- References
- External links
The Small Faces' debut album and eight first singles were released by Decca Records in the UK under the management of Don Arden. [14] The band were not directly signed to Decca, but rather to Arden's production company Contemporary Music. The Small Faces signed a three-year recording contract on 10 June 1965 together with their parents, as they were underage. [15] Throughout 1966, the Small Faces' relationship with Arden soured, particularly after the single "My Mind's Eye" was released in November without the band's consent. [12] [16] After an incident in which Arden told the band members' parents about supposed drug use, [17] the band turned to Andrew Loog Oldham's independent record label Immediate Records, who bought the contract from Arden for £25,000 and signed the band in February 1967. [16] As a direct retaliation, Arden released the compilation album From the Beginning and the single "Patterns" in an attempt to hamper the success of the band's Immediate debut single "Here Come the Nice" (all 1967). [18] With Immediate, the band released a further two studio albums and seven singles during their original tenure. [19] The Small Faces reunited in the mid-1970s after a re-issue of "Itchycoo Park" had become a hit, [20] [8] and the band released the albums Playmates and 78 in the Shade to limited commercial and critical success while signed to Atlantic Records. [12] [21]
The Small Faces' music has been compiled on hundreds of compilation albums following their breakup, [22] starting with The Autumn Stone in November 1969, which contained material the band had released on both Decca and Immediate. [2] [23] Most subsequent compilation albums are solely bound to the material Decca or Immediate had the rights to; a notable exception to this rule is the 2003 compilation album Ultimate Collection, released on Sanctuary Records, which features tracks from both of the band's labels. [24] Sanctuary owns the rights to the Immediate Recordings in the UK, whilst Charly Records owns the rights in the US. [25] The multitrack tapes for the group's Immediate recordings were presumed lost after Virgin Records took over ownership of Olympic Studios in the 1970s. [26] A few of them were salvaged, and released on the Here Come the Nice: The Immediate Years 1967-1969 box set in January 2014. [26] [27] The Decca Recordings are currently owned by Decca under Universal Music Group, who released The Decca Years 1965-1967 box set in 2015 from recently discovered first generation master tapes. [28] [29]