Small Faces

Depending on which pressing you get, First Step is either the last Small Faces record or the first Faces record; musically, it's more of the latter. Rod Stewart steps up to the microphone and shreds up the vocals on tracks like "Flying" and "Three Button Hand Me Down," while Ron Wood's slide on "Around the Plynth" is dirty and fantastic.

The Small Faces are now into a more sophisticated and mature commerciality. The addition
of Rod Stewart as vocalist and Ron Wood on lead guitar has altered the substance of their
music noticeably. The three remaining Faces -- Ian McLagen, organ; Ronnie Lane, bass;
Kenny Jones, drums -- all are very good instrumentalists and coupled with Stewart and
Wood they make a fine rock band. The basic weakness with the album is that alt... More >

One more complication in the Rod Stewart mystery. With Jeff Beck he parodies himself before he's established a self to parody. With Lou Reizner he establishes himself as a singer-songwriter of uncommon spunk and a vocal interpreter of uncommon individuality. And here he steps into the shoes of a purveyor of Humble Pie to pose as the leader of a mediocre white r&b band. Best cut: Ronnie Lane's "Stone." (Grade - C+)