The notorious sloppiness of
the Faces was apparent on their debut, almost moreso on the cover than on the music, as the group was stilled billed as
the Small Faces on this 1970 debut although without
Steve Marriott in front, and with
Rod Stewart and
Ron Wood in tow, they were no longer Small. They were now larger than life, or at least mythic, because it's hard to call an album that concludes with a riotous ode to a hand-me-down suit as larger than life. That was the charm of
the Faces, a group who always seemed like the boys next door made good, no matter where next door was. Part of the reason they seemed so relatable was that legendary messiness -- after all, it's hard not to love somebody if they so openly displayed their flaws -- but on their debut, it was hard not to see the messiness as merely the result of the old
Faces getting accustomed to the new guys. Fresh from their seminal work with
Jeff Beck,
Rod and
Ron bring a healthy dose of
Beck's powerful bastardized blues, bracingly heard on the opening cover of "Wicked Messenger," but there's a key difference here; without
Beck's guitar genius, this roar doesn't sound quite so titanic, it hits in the gut. That can also be heard and
Rod and
Woody's "Around the Plynth," or "Three Button Hand Me Down," which is ragged rocking at its finest. Combine that with
Ronnie Lane and
Ian McLagan finding their ways as songwriters in the wake of
the Small Faces' mod implosion, and this goes in even more directions.
Lane unveils his gentle, folky side on "Stone,"
McLagan kicks in "Looking Out the Window" and "Three Button Hand Me Down." All these are moments that are good, often great, but the record doesn't quite gel, yet that doesn't quite matter. The Faces is a band that proves that sometimes loose ends are as great as tidiness, that living in the moment is what's necessary, and this
First Step is a record filled with individual moments, each one to be savored. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine