The BBC Sessions | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 15 November 1999 | |||
Recorded | 23 August 1965 – 18 April 1968 | |||
Venue | Various | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 40:41 | |||
Label | Strange Fruit | |||
Producer | Bernie Andrews, Peter Harwood | |||
Small Faces chronology | ||||
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The BBC Sessions (also known as BBC Sessions: 1965-1968) is the second live album by the British rock group Small Faces, released on 15 November 1999 on Strange Fruit Records. [1] It is a collection of recordings the group made for the BBC. While mostly being made up of tracks recorded for Saturday Club in 1966, it also features three songs recorded for Top Gear in 1968. Accompanying these tracks are four interviews with Steve Marriott, and one featuring Kenney Jones.
The album was released on 15 November 1999 on Strange Fruit Records. [2] For the US release, it was issued on Fuel 2000 the following year. [3] Len Fico, president of Fuel 2000 states that a deal was made with the BBC and their partners on Strange Fruit Records. He stated that the project took two years to put together and that they had to track down the Small Faces in order to secure their performance rights. [4] The album consists of fifteen songs recorded sporadically between 23 August 1965 and 18 April 1968. The first three songs feature original organist Jimmy Winston, who also sings lead vocals on "Jump Back" and "Baby Don't You Do It". The final three tracks feature P. P. Arnold on backing vocals.
The tracks recorded for Saturday Club were featured on the box set Small Faces – The Decca Years in 2015. [5] [6] [7]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [8] |
The Austin Chronicle | [9] |
In a review of the album, CMJ states that The BBC Sessions is not the place to start the Small Faces chronology, but that it presents a sidebar of their career with live recordings of both their earlier rhythm and blues and pop to their later psychedelic and hard rock-influenced material. [4] The Austin Chronicle states that the recording is a good choice for Americans to be introduced to Small Faces music and that "although the sessions took place over a three-year period (1965-68), the band's incendiary performances lend uncommon cohesion to this compilation". They close the review with "Taken with properly enunciated intros from staid BBC announcers, these raw-yet-transcendent performances pack all the veneer of found history." [9]
For his review, AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger states that the album tends to be heavier during the 1966 recordings than their 1968 recordings, but that is only presented on three recordings. He writes that the album feature energetic renditions of their earlier singles as well as a few first album-era songs. He states that their rendition of Willie Dixon's "You Need Loving" is an early template for Led Zeppelin's song "Whole Lotta Love". According to him, their live version of "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" "is a particularly incendiary performance" that equals to the single version. Others songs he highlighted is the Rufus Thomas original "Jump Back" and Brenda Holloway's "Every Little Bit Hurts" but that it does some tracks issued on bootleg recordings, including "You've Really Got a Hold on Me". Overall, he gave the recording 4 out of 5 stars.
All tracks written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane unless noted. Note that the interviews with Marriott and Kenney Jones don't have a time stamp, but last around 1:00 in play-time.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" | Steve Marriott | 2:15 | |
2. | "Jump Back" | Rufus Thomas | Jimmy Winston | 1:39 |
3. | "Baby Don't You Do It" | Holland-Dozier-Holland | Winston | 2:25 |
4. | "Shake" | Sam Cooke | Ronnie Lane | 3:12 |
5. | "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" | Marriott | 2:48 | |
6. | "You Need Loving" | Willie Dixon | Marriott | 2:34 |
7. | "Hey Girl" | Marriott | 2:07 | |
8. | "E Too D" | Marriott | 4:11 | |
9. | "One Night Stand" | Marriott | 1:53 | |
10. | "You'd Better Believe It" |
| Marriott | 2:22 |
11. | "Understanding" | Marriott | 2:32 | |
12. | "All or Nothing" | Marriott | 3:00 | |
13. | "If I Were a Carpenter" | Tim Hardin | Marriott | 2:29 |
14. | "Lazy Sunday" | Marriott | 3:17 | |
15. | "Every Little Bit Hurts" | Ed Cobb | Marriott | 3:57 |
16. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
17. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
18. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
19. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
20. | "Rare Interview With Kenney Jones" | Kenney Jones | ||
Total length: | 40:41 |
The album was issued in a gatefold format LP record in 2001 by Strange Fruit under the catalogue number SFRSLP087. [10] All tracks written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane unless noted. Note that the interviews with Marriott and Kenney Jones don't have a time stamp, but last around 1:00 in play-time.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" | Steve Marriott | 2:15 | |
2. | "Jump Back" | Rufus Thomas | Jimmy Winston | 1:39 |
3. | "Baby Don't You Do It" | Holland-Dozier-Holland | Winston | 2:25 |
4. | "Shake" | Sam Cooke | Ronnie Lane | 3:12 |
5. | "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" | Marriott | 2:48 | |
6. | "You Need Loving" | Willie Dixon | Marriott | 2:34 |
7. | "Hey Girl" | Marriott | 2:07 | |
8. | "E Too D" | Marriott | 4:11 | |
9. | "One Night Stand" | Marriott | 1:53 | |
Total length: | 23:04 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "You'd Better Believe It" |
| Marriott | 2:22 |
2. | "Understanding" | Marriott | 2:32 | |
3. | "All or Nothing" | Marriott | 3:00 | |
4. | "If I Were a Carpenter" | Tim Hardin | Marriott | 2:29 |
5. | "Lazy Sunday" | Marriott | 3:17 | |
6. | "Every Little Bit Hurts" | Ed Cobb | Marriott | 3:57 |
7. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
8. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
9. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
10. | "Rare Interview With Steve Marriott" | Marriott | ||
11. | "Rare Interview With Kenney Jones" | Kenney Jones | ||
Total length: | 17:37 |
Session details from Small Faces – The Decca Years. [5]
Tracks 1, 2, 3 and 16 recorded 23 August 1965
Tracks 4, 5, 6 and 17 recorded 14 March 1966
Tracks 7, 8, 9 and 18 recorded 5 May 1966
Tracks 10, 11, 12 and 19 recorded 30 June 1966
Tracks 13, 14, 15 and 20 recorded 14 April 1968
with:
Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The band was one of the most acclaimed and influential mod groups of the 1960s, recording hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing" and "Tin Soldier", as well as their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. They evolved into one of the UK's most successful psychedelic bands until 1969.
Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake is the third studio album, and only concept album by the English rock band Small Faces. Released on 24 May 1968, the LP peaked at number one on the UK Album Charts on 29 June, where it remained for a total of six weeks. It ultimately became the group's final studio album during their original incarnation. The album title and distinctive packaging design was a parody of Ogden's Nut-brown Flake, a brand of tinned loose tobacco that was produced in Liverpool from 1899 onwards by Thomas Ogden.
Small Faces is the second studio album by Small Faces, released through Immediate Records on 23 June 1967. Although this was their first album for new manager Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, recording actually commenced during their tenure with Decca Records, whom they left in January 1967 after severing professional ties with original manager Don Arden. As a result of the switch of label and management, Decca and Arden released an outtakes compilation album, From the Beginning in early June 1967 in order to sabotage the chart success of the Immediate Small Faces release - something that it managed to do to some extent when From the Beginning reached number 17 in the UK charts. The Immediate album shares its name with their 1966 Decca debut album, which has led to some confusion regarding the titles. As a result of this, it has been unofficially dubbed The First Immediate Album by several fans.
James Edward Winston Langwith, known professionally as Jimmy Winston, was an English musician and actor. He was the original keyboard player with Small Faces. Winston had apparently previously worked under the stage name James Moody.
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Small Faces is the debut album of Small Faces, released in May 1966 by Decca Records. It includes the hit singles "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" and "Sha-La-La-La-Lee". The album was well received by music critics and was popular with the public, rising to number 3 on the UK album chart remaining at the top for several weeks. It also reached number 8 in Finland.
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From the Beginning is the first compilation album by the English rock band Small Faces. It was released by Decca Records of group material after the band had left the record label; it consisted of the band's Decca hit singles combined with various unreleased recordings. The album rose to Number 17 in the UK Album Chart.
"Get Yourself Together" is a song by British rock band Small Faces, first released in 1967. It was cut during their tenure on both Decca and Immediate Records in 1966 and 1967 and was written by the Marriott/Lane partnership, who wrote a majority of the Small Faces material. It is regarded as one of their best compositions. It remains one of their most popular efforts despite it not being released as single in the United Kingdom nor the United States and has since been covered by other influential artists.
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