Faces reuniting?

[Chris P.]

Somewhere in the late nineties Ian 'Mac' McLagan wrote in his more tha great book All The Rage that he wouldn't mind a Faces reunion. Last year Woody wrote the same in his nice biography. Now I read somewhere Rod the Mod is saying that they're 'willing' to come together again. That could be nice. But who could replace Plonk?

[gweimer]

Somewhere in the late nineties Ian 'Mac' McLagan wrote in his more tha great book All The Rage that he wouldn't mind a Faces reunion. Last year Woody wrote the same in his nice biography. Now I read somewhere Rod the Mod is saying that they're 'willing' to come together again. That could be nice. But who could replace Plonk?

Tetsu Yamauchi?

[uwe]

Given Herr Wood's uneven performance on the last Stones tour, shouldn't he switch to bass a la Jeff Beck Group and the Faces get Mick Taylor instead?

[dexter]

well  all the guys in the band acknowledge that the  Faces wasn't the Faces without Ronnie L. ,  his bass playiin , ...vocals ,( ...when he got to sing , ) songwriting and  stage presence were a huge factor in the groups sound and direction .
...his shoes are probably unfillable, ...maybe they could find Tetsu again , or maybe even Bill Wyman , he'd be fantastic with theses guys ,and was a close mate of Ronnies ..... .... or  maybe even Andy Fraser , ex FREE  bass player , .... he would sound great with these guys , and the members of the Faces all really dug Free....... just a thought .....

.... they will probably end up gettin that bloody Pino Paladino ....AGAIN !!! .... JEEZ ,  ..... ....... ....  P- L -E- A -S- E !     ...can he try to keep his nose outa somethin, ...FOR ONCE !     

i kinda hope it happens , .....  they were an INCEDIBLE band , my fave ,   ...along with Free from the 70's...   they didn't get the credit they deserved ....and  dear ol' Ronnie  L, ....  if ever there was a guy who had bad luck , it was him
...his stuff  after  The Faces was fabulous too , a wonderful musician , one of my faves of all, and a bloody decent bass player too !    ..

if you havn't checked him out , .. DO IT !!

dexter

[Basvarken]

I really like The Faces. And I'm a big admirer of Andy Fraser.

And I really like what Pino Paladino does with John Mayer Trio. Can't see what's so wrong about Pino. I think he's fantastic.

[Chris P.]

Of course no one can replace Plonk, but I hope they take a bass player with character. So not someone like Daryll Jones, but like someone above's suggesting someone like Bill Wyman.


@ Uwe:
A couple of years ago I saw the Stones live and I saw some live performances on DVD. I was impressed by the energy of Keith and Woody together. Their 'ancient form of weaving' their guitars, but also one taking the solo after a nod of the other. Really energetic, loose and easy lookin.
Some weeks ago I bought Shine A Light and I was a bit shocked by Keith. He didn't play that well, only some chords and even those chords didn't sounded as good as normally. He's really getting old now... Woody does almost all solos and he's really stealing the show. Almost like a young guy to an old Keith.

I also liked the performance of Jack White. It isn;t that good, but the way he just enjoys being in awe of being onstage with the Stones is nice to see.

But to come back to The Faces. Woody has to play guitar. His slide guitar makes The Faces sound like The Faces. Without Plonk I guess they don't do any of the Folk stuff, but just the good old rock 'n roll. I'll buy a ticket though...

[gearHed289]

.... they will probably end up gettin that bloody Pino Paladino ....AGAIN !!! .... JEEZ ,  ..... ....... ....  P- L -E- A -S- E !     ...can he try to keep his nose outa somethin, ...FOR ONCE !     
dexter

LOL! I was thinking the same thing before I even got to this paragraph. I just caught some the the VH1 Rock Honors thing for the Who last night before bed. Pino is GREAT, but it's hard to watch ANYBODY try to fill the Ox's shoes. It's a shame that they even cal the band the Who without Moon AND Entwistle. Again, Pino is great, he could easily play circles around Fraser or Wyman, but he's such a "hired gun" kind of guy. I would rather see more of a stylist with a band like Faces.

[nofi]

i don't get the whole pino thing. sure he is good but so are lots of other guys out there. he must be a master of self promotion. i find him boring and lackluster. they NEED blackie lawless.

[bobyoung]

Given Herr Wood's uneven performance on the last Stones tour, shouldn't he switch to bass a la Jeff Beck Group and the Faces get Mick Taylor instead?

Ron Wood was a great bass player, he should have stuck to it, take a listen to Beckola again of you haven't heard it lately. Ron Wood on bass, Mick Taylor on guitar, now that would be a good band.

Andy Frasier was also great, very different style from The faces though. I agree about Paladino, getting kind of sickening, he's in everything. The Who haven't been the same since Moon the Loon died though.

I saw Entwistle at a little club in Worcester MA with his own band a year or two before he died, was he great! Loud as hell too, Did Boris The Spider just like the record. I was about ten ft in front of him with my brother standing next to me, he flipped a pick out of his hand and it landed in my brothers folded hands, was he surprised, haha!

[bobyoung]

Given Herr Wood's uneven performance on the last Stones tour, shouldn't he switch to bass a la Jeff Beck Group and the Faces get Mick Taylor instead?

Oh missed that part: If wood can't play guitar what makes you think he'll do any better on a bass? Oh yeah they only have four strings  I forgot about that golden oldie.

[OldManC]

If Rod can handle the vocals I won't mind who they get on bass so long as he plays his parts correctly. Tetsu would be cool for historical sake. Anyone know where he is these days?

[uwe]

Oh missed that part: If wood can't play guitar what makes you think he'll do any better on a bass? Oh yeah they only have four strings  I forgot about that golden oldie.

If Wood plays sloppy bass, he actually sounds good, think of Maggie Mae where he is time- and notewise all over, yet his playing is art. (Or was that Ronnie Lane drunk?)

I was joking. Wood is no Mick Taylor, but he's a fine slide player and of course he gels well with Herr Richards who by all accounts wasn't in the best of forms on the last tour. But Herr Wood had alcohol issues too (not to mention Eastern European juvenile waitresses) and his performance is said to have been so shaky that there was someone (I forgot who) lurking behind the backline to take over if push comes to shove.

I notice you yanks' unadulterated enthusiasm for the Wood/Stewart era Faces. They never meant much in Europe, Stewart's work with the Jeff Beck Group and his solo years forever outshining together with Wood's Stones role what they did with The Faces. I have a boxed set (Four guys come into a bar ...) and let's put it this way: quality control wasn't always their forte. On their 1970/71 US tour they had a young hungry opening act with them that had just released an album called "In Rock". The Faces must have gotten slaughtered on a nightly basis by their opening act because as one DP member put it: "Partying with Rod and Ron was fun and they are great guys, but most nights - with the notable exception of Rod - they were too out of it to play properly and their performance suffered. The tour with them broke us in America." 

Other related DP trivia: Rod Stewart, when still with the Jeff Beck Group, was on DP's list as a prospective vocalist, but then they saw him live and decided he wasn't good enough, though they changed their judgement later. Oh yes, and Ron Wood and Jon Lord had a stint together in an instrumental group called Santa Barbara Machine Head, that's how DP probably got the job as opening act.

Uwe

[Basvarken]

I think the fact that The Faces were really "loose" is an important part of the charm of Faces.
If The Faces would have been a super tight and "in the pocket" band they would'nt have been as much fun.

[Chris P.]

+ 1, Basvarken.

Of course there are two, erm, faces to The Faces. On one hand the stadium rock like Stay With Me, which is great while driving. But I like the Foly Lane songs like Debris much too!



BTW: I can't get enough of this one. A Macca song. I believe there are two versions on that box set. Another one's on one of their albums. The fun they have, they have, the great Plonk basslines, his vocals and the vocals of Plonk en Rod together, the Zemaitis. Everything!

[uwe]

Quite loose, yes. 

I had a better recollection of Kenny Jones "time stability", but that must have been from The Who days when he was mostly drumming to a click (and sounded dead for it)! Ron Wood's choice of notes in his solos is adventurous too  . But it does have charm, though looking at this particular song you wonder what exactly Wood and Stewart did together for the band that Steve Marriott couldn't have done just as well or even better alone.

This sounds both grittier, more energetic and tighter:

Humble Pie in 68:



And having honed their skills in US stadiums and with Dave "Clem" Clempson (didn't know he was such a good slide player and no bum notes like Ronnie W. either) in 74:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKh2TBDu9L4&feature=related

But I guess it is also fair to say that The Faces' pop sensibilities were better developed and that Humble Pie inadvertently paved the way for this here:



Uwe