From The Beginning was released in 1967 as a spoiler by Decca, the Small Faces' old label, to coincide with the release of their new album on the Immediate label entitled Small Faces (confusingly, the only album they made for Decca was also self-titled). The Small Faces did not especially appreciate the gesture, and made a point of specifically discouraging people from buying From The Beginning in the advertising for their new album.
From The Beginning contained all the hits they had had with Decca (What'cha Gonna Do About It, Sha-La-La-La-Lee, Hey Girl, All Or Nothing and My Mind's Eye), available on any number of compilations, alongside a number of previously unreleased recordings. These and are now the chief attraction of this album.
The Small Faces had one line-up change while they were with Decca, when in October 1965 Jimmy Winston left and was replaced on keyboards by Ian McLagan. Although the Decca album Small Faces depicted Ian McLagan on the cover when it was released in May 1966, Jimmy Winston played on five or six of the tracks, recorded before his departure, and largely comprising their stage act of the time.
Unfortunately, it seems not to be known when these outtakes were recorded but the stage favourite Baby, Don't You Do It (a Marvin Gaye cover) has Jimmy Winston on lead vocals and guitar so some others may well have been recorded before October 1965, possibly the bizarre but interesting version of Runaway and the excellent takes on Don Covay's Take This Hurt Off Me and the Miracles' You've Really Got A Hold On Me. Both of these demonstrate what a fine band they were, and what a great vocalist Steve Marriott was. Indeed one wonders why space could not be found for some of these recordings on their first album. After Ian McLagan joined, they began to put Booker T-style instrumentals on their B-sides, so the cover of Plum Nellie here probably features him rather than Jimmy Winston on keyboards.
The album also included earlier versions of songs they re-recorded for Immediate, including My Way Of Giving, which they had handed over to Chris Farlowe for a single, and (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me...
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8 comments:
Wonderful mod piece!
Thanx a lot.
all small faces´s stuff is a must, thanks for spreading it!!
Pelase, if you have Art of Lovin' non-LP 1968 single 'You've Got the Power' b/w 'Good Times' (Mainstream catalog number 687)!!!
Like ithe Immediate CDs, I also have these Decca releases in their remastered US counterparts, but figured there may be some hidden gems on these that I didn't have...and they did not disappoint. I thought I had pretty much everything from the Small Faces, but I apparently was still missing a couple of tracks, so thank for posting these Japanese versions. Don;t know why we can't put CDs like this out in America...the imports always seem to have a few extra things. And then they wonder why the music industry is falling apart.
I also thought I had all the songs on "From the Beginning" on my other Small Faces albums (mostly the two self-titles ones). I really appreciate these Japanese versions.
I remember in the 1990s that the record stores would have Japanese-import CD singles with B-sides not available on any American releases. Stupid record companies.
You have a nice blog that meets a cool niche.
sweet spot you have here friend. i was about to post this very fine album but here it lives, in robust bits no lesscccc. just found you so i felt obligated to hute & letcha know i added ya to me own 'bloggy roll'. must harvest more treasures now. be seeing you :)
The Small Faces got screwed out of their deserved royalties for many decades.
It wasn't until around 2000 they started seeing the paycheques they deserved, which isn't a pleasant thought when you consider the cirmcumstances of Ronnie's passing.
It's great to see someone publicising the band, but for the aforementioned reason alone I personally don't feel comfortable seeing anyone providing links to free copies of their albums.
I would say to anyone that followed the download link and enjoyed what they heard, PLEASE consider buying a copy of the album and giving the last couple of remaining living band members a little payback in the way of thanks for their work.
It's the least they deserve for the financial shafting they suffered over the years, surely?
Thanks.
I still have a couple of these albums on vinyl purchased back in the day.
Thanx for sharing the updates/remasters.
Al
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