Although this would prove to be the last recording by the original Small Faces, they go out on an extremely high note within this much celebrated and lauded release in Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. The Small Faces originally began as a mod group and were primarily singles oriented until they eventually evolved into a more dynamic and stronger songwriting unit as well as developing a tighter and deeper performance quality. Led by the swagger and charm of Steve Marriott, along with the assertive talents of bassist/singer Ronnie Lane culminating in the driving force of Ian Maclagan's keyboard style and Kenny Jones' propulsive backbeats, the music contained within Ogden's has a central theme throughout its duration and every number on here exhibits an unbelievable correlation and continuity that is unsurpassed and has touches of folk/rock, psychedelia, blues and borderline hard rock tendencies that all of them would later refine and become successful within their charter bands Humble Pie and the Faces respectively.

 

With numbers like Rene, Lazy Sunday, Afterglow(Of your Love), Song of a Baker and the proceeding mini-story fable tale of "Happiness Stan" that ends the record on its conceptual 2nd half, the Small Faces create a piece of recorded history that retains its very British roots within attitude and interpretation, whilst also achieving a broader and wider reach of universal acceptance among their appeal within the US and other bordering territories. Stanley Unwin whom was a british comedian and actor is featured within the "Happiness Stan" story fable that rounds out the second half of this record and narrates in between the numbers with his craft of "gobbledy-gook" aka "Unwinese", displaying his self-proclaimed new language he created, its quite a treat to listen to, nonetheless.

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In hindsight, one can hear the obvious progressions among the band members, in particular, Steve Marriott and in future musical endeavors with their prospective bands that would see a change of growth and seasoned perfection of their crafts that ultimately flowered into marvelous results. The edition I purchased is a 2007 remaster that is chock full of a further 14 songs as a bonus feature and include some of their popular mid-era singles in "Here Come the Nice", "Tin Soldier" and the famous, "Itchycoo Park". Its truly a nice, condensed overview of some of the other sonic qualities that the group were capable of achieving and I highly recommend this edition as a result. When Marriott left the band, he hooked up with Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley for what became Humble Pie and the remaining trio of MacLagan, Lane and Jones replaced him with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, formerly of the Jeff Beck Group and dove off into harder-edged pastures of rock and roll that were influential and ultimately sealed their roles within the pantheons of British rock history. I absolutely love this record and feel this is the apex of the Small Faces and anyone whom loves 60's British rock with a tinge of psychedelia interspersed, should not go without listening or owning this album. Essential listening. 

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Grade Rating- A+

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