Ooh-la-la! Following a pair of well-received releases for Record Store Day, Rhino is doing a deep-dive into Faces' BBC sessions on an 8-CD/1-Blu-ray box set due September 6. Faces at The BBC - Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973 compiles all of the storied group's concerts and surviving studio sessions for the BBC in one package approved by Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones. The set will be available only via Rhino.com and select retailers including Amazon.
Though many of these recordings have long been considered lost, Rhino has tracked down nearly every song performed by Faces at the BBC from the band members' own archives and private collections. Only one three-song session remains missing.
The collection kicks off with the July 5, 1970 John Peel session. The influential DJ was key in bringing Faces to the BBC. Rod Stewart comments in the new liner notes, "If it wasn't for John Peel, the Faces would never have broken through." Ronnie Wood adds, "He gave the Faces our first break." Kenney Jones remembers, "John Peel helped the Faces so much in England, in the press, and on his show."
Most of the set is previously unreleased, including a first-time stereo mix of the band's May 13, 1971 Paris Cinema concert (broadcast only in mono) and a February 1973 show that was shelved as a result of the BBC's concerns over the raucous band's chatter with the unruly crowd. The recordings span the period which yielded four studio LPs from the group (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 Rod Stewart recorded with most of the band (Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story, Never A Dull Moment, and Smiler). In addition to such Faces favorites as the hit "Stay with Me," "Had Me a Real Good Time," and "Miss Judy's Farm," the set also features Stewart chart-topper "Maggie May," "Every Picture Tells a Story," Rod's hit rendition of The Temptations' "(I Know) I'm Losing You," and covers of "Maybe I'm Amazed," "It's All Over Now," "Memphis, Tennessee," "I'd Rather Go Blind," "Country Comfort," "Twistin' the Night Away," and more.
Faces' performances from John Peel's Christmas Carol Concert are also featured on this non-chronologically-presented set. Originally broadcast on Boxing Day 1970, this holiday show features Stewart's "Away In A Manger" and a Christmas carol medley sung by a choir that includes Peel, the Faces, their roadies, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, and others. The Blu-ray includes newly restored video footage of the band's April 1972 appearance on Sounds for Saturday.
The hardcover-style set includes a 48-page booklet with new commentary from the surviving bandmates and archival quotes from late members Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan, as well as John Peel. The booklet, featuring previously unpublished photos and new liner notes by the BBC's Gary Crowley, details every Faces BBC session, concert, and broadcast. Crowley's notes also include a new interview with Jeff Griffin, who produced all of the Faces' BBC concert appearances.
Look for this comprehensive collection of good-time rock-and-roll on September 6 from Rhino. As Rod Stewarts notes in the press release, "The picture of the band depicts and portrays what we all stood for...Five drunks who got away with murder under the guise of music!'"
Faces At The BBC - Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973 (Rhino, 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
(*) indicates previously unreleased
CD 1: John Peel's Sunday Concerts (broadcast 7/5/1970 (1-5) and 11/29/1970 (6-10))
- You're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It) *
- Wicked Messenger *
- Devotion *
- It's All Over Now *
- I Feel So Good *
- Country Comfort
- You're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It)
- Too Much Woman (for a Henpecked Man)/Street Fighting Man
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- Around the Plynth/Country Honk/Gasoline Alley
CD 2: John Peel's Sunday Concert (broadcast 5/23/1971)
- You're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It) *
- Cut Across Shorty
- Love in Vain
- Bad 'n' Ruin *
- It's All Over Now
- Had Me a Real Good Time *
- (I Know) I'm Losing You *
- I Feel So Good *
CD 3: Sounds for Saturday (broadcast 4/1/1972)
- Three Button Hand Me Down *
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- Too Much Woman (for a Henpecked Man)/Street Fighting Man
- Miss Judy's Farm
- Love in Vain *
- Stay with Me
- (I Know) I'm Losing You
CD 4: John Peel's Sunday Concert (broadcast 2/26/1972) *
- IntroYou're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It)
- Three Button Hand Me Down
- Miss Judy's Farm
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Give Me the Moonlight
- Too Bad
- Last Orders Please
- Devotion
- That's All You Need/Country Honk/Gasoline Alley
- (I Know) I'm Losing You
- Stay with Me
- Had Me a Real Good Time
- Underneath the Arches
- Every Picture Tells a Story
CD 5: In Concert (recorded 2/8/1973 - not originally broadcast) *
- Silicone Grown
- Cindy Incidentally
- Angel
- Memphis, Tennessee
- True Blue
- I'd Rather Go Blind
- You're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It)
- Twistin' the Night Away
- It's All Over Now
- Miss Judy's Farm
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- Three Button Hand Me Down
- (I Know) I'm Losing You
CD 6: In Concert (broadcast 4/21/1973)
- Silicone Grown *
- Cindy Incidentally *
- Memphis, Tennessee *
- If I'm on the Late Side *
- My Fault *
- The Stealer
- Borstal Boys
- Angel
- Stay with Me
- True Blue
- Twistin' the Night Away
- Miss Judy's Farm
- Jealous Guy
- Too Bad
CD 7: Top Gear (broadcast 3/28/1970) (1-4), Dave Lee Travis (broadcast 3/15/1970) (5-7), Top Gear (broadcast 9/19/1970) (8-10) and Top Gear: John Peel's Christmas Carol Concert (broadcast 12/26/1970) (11-12)
- Wicked Messenger
- Devotion
- Shake, Shudder, Shiver
- Pineapple and the Monkey
- Three Button Hand Me Down
- Flying
- Wicked Messenger
- Had Me a Real Good Time
- Around the Plynth/Gasoline Alley
- Country Comfort
- Away in a Manger - Rod Stewart *
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Good King Wenceslas/Silent Night/O Come All Ye Faithful - Faces & Choir *
CD 8: Sounds of the Seventies (broadcast May 3, 1971) (1-4) and Top Gear (broadcast 10/6/1971) (5-7)
- Had Me a Real Good Time
- Love in Vain
- Oh Lord I'm Browned Off
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- Stay with Me
- Miss Judy's Farm
- Maggie May
Blu-ray: Sounds for Saturday (broadcast 4/1/1972) *
- Three Button Hand Me Down
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- Too Much Woman (for a Henpecked Man/Street Fighting Man
- Miss Judy's Farm
- Love In Vain
- Stay with Me
- (I Know) I'm Losing You
Disc 2, Tracks 2-3; Disc 3, Tracks 2, 4, 6 and 7; Disc 6, Tracks 6, 8 and 12; Disc 8, Track 7 released on Five Guys Walk Into a Bar... - Warner Bros./Rhino R2 78233, 2004
Disc 2, Track 5; Disc 3, Track 3; Disc 5, Track 13; Disc 6, Track 11; and CD 8, Tracks 1-4 released on Had Me a Real Good Time At The BBC (In Session and In Concert 1971-1973) - Rhino RCV1 725872, 2023
Disc 7, Tracks 1-4 and Disc 8, Tracks 5-6 released on 1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything... - Warner Bros./Rhino R2 550009, 2015
Disc 7, Tracks 5 and 7-10 released on The BBC Session Recordings - Rhino RCV1 725821, 2024
NOTE: Our research indicates some discrepancies in previously unreleased material. Some tracks noted in the press release as unreleased appear to have turned up on the recent RSD sets, and it's difficult to place several "released" tracks from the In Concert session broadcast of April 21, 1973.
BILL says
Hope there is a smaller version of this release!
james johnson says
I will buy this for sure!!!! I do already have the previous 2 Boxes but my strategy for selling this purchase to wife is state the cost in terms of cost per song. So this set has a total of 92 songs. So this implies that we are paying a mere $1.30 cents per song. That is a really good deal for sure. What I do not want to disclose that 32 of the songs appear on other collections. If you net it out you get 60 new songs which gets you closer to $2 per song. It usually works just fine.
Michael Grabowski says
I like how the packaging and your article all meticulously refer to the band as Faces while band members Stewart, Wood, and Jones are all quoted calling themselves "the Faces." Some fans can get touchy when the singular article is misused in referring to their favorite band's name.
Gerbrand says
Some corrections to your tracklisting :
Disc 6, Track 2, Disc 7, Track 3 and Disc 8, Tracks 5-6 released on 1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything... - Warner Bros./Rhino R2 550009, 2015
Disc 7, Tracks 1-10, Disc 8, Tracks 1-7 released on The BBC Session Recordings - Rhino RCV1 725821, 2024
Rob Caiger (liner notes) states : The vinyl for RSD will be the only breakouts from this CD collection. The ‘Had Me A Real Good Time With Faces’ 1-LP had a stereo mix of Sounds Of The Seventies recorded April 20, 1971 which was test transmitted in stereo. The CD contains the mono broadcast version.
And yes, the press release seems to be a mess regarding the indicators of previously unreleased material.
zally says
here we go again with a rhino were only it for the money release. the last 2 rsd of the faces have sum of this material. so those who bought those now have it again complete. thats double dipping. ppls income for spending on music is a big choice. now as what to by.nice package but for sum fans to late in coming.then theres the 20 cd bbc of rory gallagher on its way.