Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Facing the music


I’ve picked up a lot of new music recently including the new albums by the Rolling Stones (A Bigger Bang), Paul McCartney (Chaos and Creation), and Bruce Springsteen (Devil in Dust). I also finally picked up the latest U2 album that won all of the Grammy Awards.
But even with all this new music, I find myself turning everyday to listen to a long-gone band from the early ‘70s that I discovered recently when perusing the record section at my local public library.

I found a four-disc compilation of The Faces, a short-lived British band that featured frontman Rod Stewart and lead guitarist Ron Wood, and I’ve been completely blown away. The music is fun, catchy and rocks harder than I expected when I first picked it up.
I already had a copy of Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells A Story” which was recorded about the same time with many of the same band members, so this collection is like finding a treasure trove of material in that same vein.

The Faces could be described as the second-best bluesy early 70s English rock act - after the Rolling Stones, of course. It’s given me renewed respect for Rod Stewart and especially for Ron Wood, who I had previously only known as the latter-day replacement with the Rolling Stones.

It’s a shame they didn’t stick together longer, but sometimes the creative spark only lasts a short time and then everyone has to go their separate ways to find new inspiration.

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