« Back to Top Level | Small Faces, The

The Small Faces - Decca Anthology (1965-67)

Track listing:
Volume 1
  1. What'cha Gonna Do About It 1:59
  2. What's A Matter 2:56
  3. I've Got Mine 2:54
  4. It's Too Late 2:37
  5. Sha-La-La-La-Lee 2:56
  6. Grow Your Own 2:20
  7. Hey Girl 2:18
  8. Almost Grown 3:03
  9. Shake 2:55
  10. Come On Children 4:20
  11. You'd Better Believe It 2:20
  12. One Night Stand 1:50
  13. Sorry She's Mine 2:49
  14. Own Up Time 1:47
  15. You Need Loving 4:00
  16. Don't Stop What You're Doing 1:55
  17. E To D 2:59
Volume 2
  1. All Or Nothing 3:06
  2. Understanding 2:50
  3. My Minds Eye 2:04
  4. I Can't Dance With You 3:16
  5. Just Passing 1:14
  6. Patterns 2:06
  7. Runaway 2:46
  8. Yesterday Today And Tomorrow 1:56
  9. That Man 2:16
  10. My Way Of Giving 2:00
  11. (Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me 2:18
  12. Take This Hurt Off Me 2:18
  13. Baby Don't You Do It 2:02
  14. Plum Nellie 2:32
  15. You've Really Got A Hold On Me 3:19
  16. Give Her My Regards (Steve Marriott) 1:58
  17. Imaginary Love (Steve Marriott) 2:19
  18. Sorry She's Mine (Jimmy Winston And His Reflections) 3:01
  19. Its Not What You Do (Jimmy Winston And His Reflections) 3:03

Notes

Here is a the definitive 2 CD compiliation of The Small Faces's early work on the Decca label, it contains all the Decca singles A sides and B sides and LP tracks and as a bonus a couple of early singles from individual band members, leaving only alternative versions for die hard fans to seek out. It makes an obvious companion to The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette, a similarly definitive collection covering the Immediate years posted here last week.

Record Collector, May 1996

What's impressive about this two-disc set is the neat, definitive and, above all, authoritative way in which the band's entire Decca output is tastefully packaged.

Sleeve notes by the band's biographer, Paulo Hewitt, brighten up an already colourful inlay, part of a pop-art-influenced design which pays homage to the band's mod roots, condensing the Small Faces' story into a bite-sized chunk. Over four volatile years, they recorded for two record labels, Decca and then Immediate, as they progressed from East End mod heroes to becoming the objects of desire for hoards of screaming teenage girls, before burying themselves in the studio, Beatles-style, to create rock's most successful pre-Tommy concept album - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake.

The music speaks for itself, of course. For the first time, the band's recordings are heard in chronological order of release: both sides of the first four singles, from What'Cha Gonna Do About It to Hey Girl, followed by the Small Faces album on disc one: the rest of the Decca 45s on disc two, from All or Nothing to Patterns, followed by the exclusive material from Decca's cynical warts 'n' all collection, From the Beginning.

And, just to tidy up the loose ends, it finishes with Steve Marriott's Buddy Holly-styled pre-Small Faces single, Give Her My Regards, and original organist Jimmy Winston's recording of one of the more commercial songs on the first album, Kenny Lynch's Sorry She's Mine. To top it all, the sound quality on The Decca Anthology is stunning and far superior to PolyGram's earlier reissues of the two Decca albums or See For Miles' Singles As and Bs.