Between the summer of 1969 and the fall of 1975, a joyful noise emerged whenever Faces took the stage.  Ronnie Lane (bass), Kenney Jones (drums), and Ian McLagan (keyboards) had emerged from the ashes of pop's Small Faces, while Rod Stewart (vocals) and Ronnie Wood (guitar) were blues-rock veterans of the first iteration of The Jeff Beck Group in which Wood played bass.  When they came together, they created a sound unlike either of those earlier groups: rough-and-tumble, raw, ramshackle, powerful, and fun.  As one of their lyrics goes, "While I'm here, I'll have me a real good time."  That could have been the group's mantra.  The splendid new 8CD/1BD box set from Rhino, Faces at the BBC: Complete BBC Concert and Session Recordings 1970-1973, is filled with torrid blues and searing rock-and-roll, but the sense of a real good time permeates it all.

"It's really nice to see a group that enjoys playing," comments influential DJ John Peel in between songs on the July 5, 1970 set that opens this expansive collection.  This comprehensive set represents a major expansion of Faces' small discography (a mere four albums plus stray singles, outtakes, rehearsals, live tracks, and key contributions to Rod Stewart's first five solo records).  Faces actually recorded more for the BBC than they did for the Warner Bros. Records label.  Though many of these recordings had long been considered lost, compilation producer Rob Caiger tracked down nearly every song performed by Faces on BBC radio from the band members' own archives and private collections.  Only one 1970 session of three songs recorded for Sounds of the Seventies remains missing.  

Most of the box is previously unreleased in any form, including a first-time stereo mix of the band's May 13, 1971 Paris Cinema concert (originally broadcast only in mono) and a February 1973 show that was unaired as a result of the BBC's concerns over the raucous band's interactions with the unruly crowd.  The recordings span the period which yielded all four of Faces' studio LPs (First Step, Long Player, A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse..., and Ooh La La) as well as the early albums that the solo Stewart recorded with most of the band (Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story, Never A Dull Moment, and Smiler).

High energy is a constant on the more than 90 performances spread across eight CDs and one Blu-ray.  So is John Peel, one of the group's champions.  Faces appeared with Peel on both Sunday Concert and Top Gear, and his enthusiasm for Faces is contagious. All told, Peel is heard on all but one CD of the box (CD 3, with audio from the Sounds for Saturday show also included in video form on Blu-ray).

Though the solo Stewart would concurrently rack up hits, Faces could hardly be called a "singles" band, and so they had the freedom to perform a wide range of material.  In addition to such originals as the hit "Stay with Me," "Had Me a Real Good Time," and "Miss Judy's Farm," the discs also feature renditions of the Stewart chart-topper "Maggie May," "Gasoline Alley," "Every Picture Tells a Story," Rod's hit rendition of The Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (credited on its U.S. 45 to Rod Stewart with Faces) and sometimes-transformative covers of "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Memphis, Tennessee," "I'd Rather Go Blind," "Country Comfort," "Twistin' the Night Away," and more.  Faces took the music of their influences and broke it down to its most basic form; with McLagan's honky tonk piano replacing the original's famous guitar riff, Chuck Berry's "Memphis" was just one tune to gain newfound energy.

Numerous songs are heard more than once, but as Faces was essentially a down-and-dirty rock-and-blues jam band, no two versions here are exactly the same.  "You're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It)" - introduced by Little Richard in 1967 and recorded by the solo Stewart for Gasoline Alley, his 1970 sophomore album - runs a storming six-and-a-half minutes in its June 25, 1970 performance and almost twice as long almost a year later on May 13, 1971, but the tight band interplay never flags.  "(I Know) I'm Losing You" could be routinely stretched out far beyond its original length with a Jones drum solo.

What shines through again and again is the foursome's camaraderie and how well the bandmates complemented one another.  The set is a thrilling reminder of just how good Rod Stewart at his best is; he shouts, wails, and testifies his way through every lead vocal with urgency and deep soul.  Even when instrumental soloing is taking center stage, one can't forget Stewart's presence.  The pre-Rolling Stones Ronnie Wood's fiery guitar supports both the voices of Stewart and Ronnie Lane, deftly navigating the shifts from Robert Johnson blues to Motown and back again.  (Some Stones material is heard here, too, including "Street Fighting Man" and "Country Honk."  Faces frequently played Bobby and Shirley Womack's "It's All Over Now" which Stewart also recorded for Gasoline Alley; their arrangement was much less melodic than the Stones' chart-topping 1964 version.  Faces dedicate Robert Johnson's slow-burning "Love in Vain" to Mick Jagger during one show, introducing it as an "old Stones number.")  Lane's unflashy, gritty bass, McLagan's fleet touch on the keys, and Jones' in-the-pocket drums provided the backbone of the rootsy sound for which Faces was known; the rawness was the point.

The sound of these performances is the real deal, with the immediacy they (and, later, producer Glyn Johns) strove to bring to the studio on their four LPs.  "We spend more money in the boozer than in the studio," went a 1973 NME headline about the group.  But that debauched reputation - however well-earned, as a drink was usually in hand or at arm's length only - often sells short the music which still crackles with the joy of playing and distills rock and roll to its essence.  "Under all of the camaraderie and joviality," Stewart noted in 2004, "we took the music extremely seriously."  Indeed, it's serious fun listening to the band in the Sunday Concert set of February 17, 1972 (CD 4) playing a string of original songs ("Too Bad," "Last Orders Please," "Devotion") that sound every bit as classic as the surrounding "Memphis, Tennessee" or "(I Know) I'm Losing You."  ("Last Orders," written and sung by Ronnie Lane, is a particular treat.)

There's a joyful music hall feel as the well-lubricated bandmates launch into impromptu singalongs of "Underneath the Arches" or "Give Me the Moonlight," and the box even offers the treat of hearing Faces sing Christmas carols!  Stewart robustly leads "Away in a Manger" at John Peel's Christmas Carol Concert, aired December 26, 1970 on Top Gear.  Then Stewart and his mates join in with "The Top Gear Carol Singers" for a reverent, almost nine-minute medley of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Good King Wenceslas," "Silent Night," and "O Come All Ye Faithful."  What they lack in precision, they make up for in ample holiday spirit.

The Blu-ray is an essential part of the package.  The 44-minute Sounds for Saturday show recorded on October 26, 1971 and aired on April 1, 1972 is presented both on Blu-ray and in audio form on CD, but it's hard to beat the video version in vibrant, living color.  Throughout the seven-song set, Stewart is every inch the frontman, a cock of the walk strutting his stuff.  He dances, jumps, twirls his mic stand, and plays to the camera as well as to the audience at the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush.  It's a well-shot show with its share of psychedelic effects, preserving all five bandmates doing what they did best.  The camera favors Stewart, Lane, and Wood, as they're unencumbered by their instruments, but it's a thrill to see the way the fivesome played, moved, and interacted.  There's no rote going through the motions here, and truth to tell, they don't even come off as particularly hellraising during this set.  Instead, they're visibly feeling the music - and so is the viewer - as the concert builds to a storming climax with "(I Know) I'm Losing You."  The Blu-ray, with 16:9 video and a PCM Stereo track, has been authored by Craig Anderson and David Dieckmann with restored audio courtesy of Nick Robbins.

As expected for a set of this nature, sound quality is variable from show to show on the CDs, but Robbins has expertly restored and mastered all audio to its best effect. (Completists should note that the April 20, 1971 Sounds of the Seventies session originally broadcast on May 3 and included on CD 8 is presented in mono; it was issued in stereo as a test transmission, and the stereo mix is exclusive to the Had Me a Real Good Time at the BBC vinyl LP.  All other tracks released on vinyl have been included on this box.)

Faces at the BBC is housed in the oversized format familiar to those who've purchased Rhino's recent Fleetwood Mac, Ramones, and Yes box sets.  The CDs are held on spindles, while an inner pocket holds the thick, 48-page booklet with commentary from Faces, a note from producer Caiger, liner notes by Gary Crowley, an interview by Crowley with original BBC producer Jeff Griffin, and a BBC sessionography.  This exhaustive (but not exhausting) chronicle been attractively designed by Rachel Gutek with copious photos.

Faces had performed their final BBC session prior to Ronnie Lane's 1973 departure from the band he co-founded, so his replacement on bass, Tetsu Yamauchi, is not heard on this collection.  The group pressed on for a while before disbanding permanently in fall 1975.  (Ronnie Lane passed away in 1997 after a valiant battle with multiple sclerosis.  Ian McLagan died in 2014 after experiencing a stroke.)  Their influence has lasted, though; members of Sex Pistols, The Replacements, Wilco, and Black Crowes have all cited Faces' impact on their records.  Faces at the BBC is an ideal companion to the still-definitive 2004 box set Five Guys Walk Into a Bar... and a pure shot of much-needed rock-and-roll adrenaline.  Belly up to the bar!

Faces at the BBC is available now from Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada.