The Small Faces

After only six weeks together, London's second successful Mod band, The Small Faces, achieved their first hit with Whatcha Gonna Do 'Bout It? when it entered the UK charts on September 2 1965.

Carnaby Street clothes-horses to a man, The Small Faces were actually Mods before they formed their group (unlike The Who), and by mid-1966 they were bona fide pop stars. But their world of screaming teenage girls, a remorseless gigging schedule and tough manager Don Arden felt like a straitjacket.

Within a year that all changed - They moved to Andrew Oldham's Immediate Records to enjoy a creative freedom beginning with a second LP, titled (like their first!) Small Faces. Marriott and Lane's song writing partnership matured rapidly, and though the LP shunned the psychedelia of that summer (with the exception of Green Circles and Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire) it updated their Brit-Soul sound with a more sophisticated edge. Get Yourself Together (which was later covered by The Jam) was the perfect example.

Relishing the creative freedom afforded them by the Immediate label, Marriott and Co set about recording a concept album following the exploits of Happiness Stan and his quest for the missing half of the moon. A compelling mix of psychedelia, music hall, pop, soul and hard rock punctuated by Stanley Unwin's surreal narration - "are you all sitting comftybold two-square on your botty?" - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake became one of the most inspired creations of 1968.

Ogden's reached Number 1 but its innovative round cover and "concept" saga gave it novelty status. 1968 also turned out to be The Small Faces final year as a band, but Ogden's Nut Gone Flake is not a bad epitaph! 

TRIVIA NOTE
Singer Steve Marriott had started his showbiz career in the London stage production of Lionel Bart's Oliver! which might go some way to explaining his gift for the vernacular and fondness for a knees-up round the old joanna.