Artist: Faces, The
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Released: 1971
Running time: 45.16
Rating: 3.5/5
Long Player is the second album from British rock royalty The Faces. Much like its decently received predecessor First Step, this one, with seven studio tracks and two live ones, swears by a simple rock & roll formula full of tantalizing vocal flights and acrobatics that put the band’s main asset front and center, plainly and without prejudice. That asset, of course, lies in the fearsome expressive powers of Rod Stewart, whose voice was already considered one of the finest in the business by then. Once again, Rod tamed his star-studded gang of musical buddies without breaking a sweat, and if we’re being completely honest, none of them ever really managed to crawl out of the famous frontman’s shadow during the not-so-long life of The Faces’ romance.
Long Player sticks to the tried-and-true formula of sketching simple melodic outlines that often sound like they came straight out of the hungover heads of a five-piece gathered around the morning coffee, with no forethought, guilty conscience, or regrets. There’s plenty of carefree improvising that seems to have neither head nor tail, and of course no earth-shattering solo excesses from any individual. Ron Wood, for instance, just sneakily nibbles at crumbs through numerous drawn-out “jams”, and the same goes for the well-oiled rhythm tandem of Kenney Jones and Ron Lane, who selflessly sacrifices himself for the common cause and stays devoted to confidently spinning the rhythmic wheels throughout. So you’ll look in vain for any thrilling rhythmic twists on Long Player. The fairly predictable acrobatics of the backing musical foundation are just as unglamorous, though in any case spontaneous, and in spots, like on On The Beach, they pull quite hard toward the wobbly rambling of, say, the Rolling Stones in the Mick Taylor era. In short, Long Player sounds less like a disciplined musical march and more like a spontaneous orgy of basic rock & roll, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Proof of that is the delightful parading of the infectious rhythms of I Feel So Good and Had Me a Real Good Time. The Faces are simply used to hitting you with simplicity, as opener Bad ‘N’ Ruin nicely shows, a one-beat, not overly inventive, improvised rock & roll machine that gets rescued from running off the road by the refined twists and turns of Rod’s vocals.
In the whirlpool of seemingly aimless churning through basic song structures, which dominate the album in sheer quantity, there’s also a whole bunch of soul-leaning motifs, which, following the proven formula of Stewart’s solo triumphs from the then-recent past, deliver a bouquet of the album’s absolute highlights. The unmistakable quality of Stewart’s voice, on top of the soul-flavored dips into those waters mentioned above that have long since settled under your skin, stays evident on the excellent Tell Everyone and the gorgeous, acoustic-wrapped Sweet Lady Mary, while he pulls off an unrivaled feat with his bold borrowing of the fantastic Maybe I’m Amazed. His fearsome vocal take on the Paul McCartney classic is in itself the best proof of the breadth and unfathomable character depth of Rod’s voice. That recognizable rasp hides a mystique that successfully lifts even the most average melodic creations, never mind when they reach the level of a master of McCartney’s caliber, and that’s when we’re witnessing a final product of special artistic value. It’s worth adding that the decision to put a live version of that song on the album paid off handsomely for the band, since the stage performance of the gem comes packaged with the positive response of a visibly swept-up crowd, and with this “trick” the album’s already lively sonic picture only gains more vitality.
Lineup
Rod Stewart: vocals
Ron Wood: guitar, slide, pedal steel guitar
Ron Lane: bass, backing vocals
Ian McLagan: keyboards
Kenney Jones: drums
Bobby Keyes: saxophone
Harry Beckett: trumpet
Production
The Faces
Tracklist
1. Bad ‘N’ Ruin
2. Tell Everyone
3. Sweet Lady Mary
4. Richmond
5. Maybe I’m Amazed
6. Had Me a Real Good Time
7. On the Beach
8. I Feel So Good
9. Jerusalem
