Faces - A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse
Release Date: March 1971
Date I Got: 26 March 2005
Best Track: Debris
Other Notable Tracks: Stay With Me, Miss Judy’s Farm, That’s All You Need, Memphis
Historicity, I believe, is a key component in determining "good" music. This makes new music reviews exercises in prognostication, guesses at the direction of popular and not-so-popular trends. It’s much easy to write and think and deal with a thirty-six year old album than a six month old one. Writing and thinking and approaching, say, The Beatles or The Eagles, carries a certain amount of baggage, but you know where they stand in history. So, you don’t like the Beatles, but it hardly changes the fact that they’re the predicate for a whole bunch of modern music.
Historicity cuts both ways. Time has that habit if cutting and discarding the chaff as being unimportant or unnecessary. Today’s second-tier band is still worth listening to, but will that be true for my kids? Is a second-tier band from my parents’ generation worth spending time with? Not all that is cut away is bad, but not every hidden gem shines.
I am assuming Faces–and early Rod Stewart in general–to be second-tier, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fuckin’ amazing, because it is. My point is this: age doesn’t make a whole lot of things better and music isn’t one of them.
But whatever. If I’d been around with this came out, it’d probably be counted among my favorites. Even so, I do have friends that count it as such. I find it hard to really get into this album despite how great it is. I think age has a lot to do with it. It’s an album that has, if you will, potential contextual energy while a lot of newer music (and the great old stuff) has more of a kinetic contextual energy. What I mean is: no one cites Faces or Rod Stewart as influence. Maybe this is sad–I’m willing to hear arguments–but it doesn’t worry me all that much.
This is the only Faces/Rod Stewart I have, which probably is sad. If you’re looking to get into it, this is a great start, as every track is excellent. The production isn’t great, but that’s a personal issue I have with a lot of late 60’s/early 70’s rock albums.
Still, I’m not going to crank this in order to enlighten the neighbors as I do some other music.
Addition: You really have to love youtube. Watch both of these live versions, then tell me I’m wrong about all the above, because I am. Right now I’m adding "Seeing a Faces Show" to the list of things I’m going to do when I build a time machine. Were the 70’s really this fun?
Get a Second Opinion!![allmusic]
[Live - Stay With Me] [Live - Miss Judy’s Farm] [Live - Memphis]
i never realized rod stewart was in faces. he actually put out some great music early on in his career. i have every picture tells a story and think it’s a great album. anyone else have recommendations of other good early rod stewart stuff?
Comment by mike d. — 12 December 2007 @ 8:06 pm
I think the general consensus is all four Faces albums are good, as are the first four solo albums –anything before “Never a Dull Moment”, including that album.
IIRC, my friend who loves Rod Stweart loves this album, the one you mention, and Never a Dull Moment best. I have none of these, though, so I can’t say.
Comment by Quarter Flipper — 13 December 2007 @ 6:59 am
The first 4 Rod Stewart albums (The Rod Stewart Album, Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story, Never a Dull Moment) are all really amazing. I prefer them to the Faces (who I also like).
My love of Rod’s voice makes it all the more ironic that my favorite track on this album, Debris, is sung by Ronnie Lane. Rod shows up in the background, though.
Comment by Brian — 13 December 2007 @ 7:41 pm