by Robert Wilkinson
Today and tonight we celebrate April Fool music! Yes, Ronnie is one of my favorite musicians and we share a birthday. If you don’t know who the Small Faces were, well, they rocked, and rocked hard! We're dancing to the Faces!
Ronnie Lane (1 April 1946 – 4 June 1997) was the bass player, as well as played both rhythm and lead for the Small Faces, later to become simply The Faces, after Steve Marriott left and Rod Stewart and Ron Wood were added. The Faces launched Rod Stewart as a frontman, and after his stint with the Faces Ron Wood moved into being a Rolling Stone.
The Small Faces were one of England’s most rocking mod groups of the 60s. Known mainly in the US for the song “Itchycoo Park,” the Small Faces actually rocked a lot harder than many knew at the time. And I can assure you, after Steve left and they became “the Faces,” they rocked just as hard behind Rod Stewart. I saw them live in July 1971 (Deep Purple opened!!), and they were very tight and gave me one of my memorable concerts!
Ronnie Lane died way too young of MS, and the world was deprived of a great talent. Still, he left us a treasure trove of music, so tonight we dance to celebrate another April Fool!
We’ll begin with one I found that jumped out! From his album with the great Peter Townshend of the Who, here’s Ronnie giving us “April Fool”
From 1966, I found 3 clips of an entire set of the Small Faces performing live on the German tv show Beat Beat Beat. We'll begin with their first big hit, also made big by Manfred Mann! Cranking it up, here's Steve and the Faces belting out "Sha La La La Lee" In past years I’ve had the entire show on one clip, but this will have to do for now.)
“Hey Girl” “All Or Nothing” "Watcha Gonna Do 'Bout It"From 1967 at the Beat Club, here are the very MOD Small Faces doing the psychedelic rocker "Green Circles. (The camera work is as psychedelic as the song!)
Also from 1967 at the Beat Club, the Small Faces crank out their smash hit “Itchycoo Park”
Again at the Beat Club, "I Can't Make It"
From Germany and the Beat Club in 1967, a live performance by my personal favorite by the Small Faces, “Tin Soldier”
Back at the Beat Club in 1968, a live performance by the Small Faces of one of their early hits, “Lazy Sunday”
From 1968 on the Color Me Pop BBC television series, here the Small Faces rock hard performing "Song of A Baker."
Here’s the entire 26 minute show! Small Faces on Color Me Pop – 1968
Here’s a live performance on French TV in 1968 of Steve taking Jimi's "Foxey Lady" riff and turning it into something else entirely! "Rollin' Over." Also from that show, a fantastic live performance with PP Arnold of “Tin Soldier”
We'll close his Small Faces section with a great rocker on Swedish television in 1967! The performance of “Tin Soldier” is gone, but we still have "Talk to You"
Now from his time with the Faces, we begin with a great 1970 live 28 minute video performance! The Faces Live At the Marquee Club
I found it again! It’s a 1971 French TV video of the Faces live doing the whole set, including two of my favorite tunes! ”Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Flying,” “Around the Plynth,” “Gasoline Alley,” “Love in Vain,” and “It’s All Over Now.”
And here’s the fantastic original studio version of “Around the Plynth”
Here’s a 1971 Top of the Pops video featuring Rod and the Faces with Ronnie taking the lead on “Richmond.” This year “Maggie May” is gone.
From Sept 1971, here’s an audio-only version from the Peel Tapes! “Maggie May”
From 1971 on the BBC, Rod and the Faces live grinding out a very danceable version of "I Know I'm Losing You"
Their 43 minute show at the BBC Crown Jewels Sounds for Saturdays on April 1, 1972 is gone, but I found this 30 minute show from the same era. The Faces At the BBC Crown Jewels
From 1971, an audio-only full hour at the Fillmore East! The Faces at the Fillmore East - 1971
Here are four albums from their peak period! In 1970 they released their first album which rocks hard! First Step
Later that year they backed Rod Stewart’s second album! Gasoline Alley
In 1971 they backed Rod’s third album! Every Picture Tells A Story
In 1973, Rod and the Faces gave us the album Ooh La La,
We close this brief tribute with a live performance from the BBC Sounds for Saturday show from April 1, 1972! “Stay With Me” and from there into another 1972 performance by Rod and the Faces on Top of the Pops of “You Wear It Well”
For our encore, from May 1972, a live video of Rod and the Faces cranking out “Maggie May”
From 1973, Ronnie and Slim Chance keeping us dancing with “How Come”
From 1974, here’s Ronnie Lane live on the BBC performing ”Debris” and “Ooh La La”
Also from 1974 on the BBC, here’s Ronnie and Slim Chance performing “Done This One Before” and “Flags and Banners”
From 1974 on the Old Grey Whistle Test, Ronnie and Slim Chance doing their take on the Chuck Berry classic “You Never Can Tell”
From 1977, here’s Ronnie and Pete Townshend with guests Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, and Charlie Watts in Rough Mix
From Rockpalast in 1980, a full one hour 20 minute show! Ronnie Lane in Concert - Rockpalast
This is a find! In 1981 Ronnie teamed back up with Steve Marriott, Zoot Money, and other A list UK musicians for the album Majik Mijits, wrote all the songs in a bunch of different styles, and I found clips!
We’ll close this tribute with a show from 1987, offered up by Ronnie Lane and the Tremors with the great Bobby Keys on Sax! 34 minutes of greatness!
Ronnie Lane and the Tremors Live at the Mason Jar – Phoenix 1987
Oven though we led off with this, in honor of the birthday April Fools, for the second encore we return to the original Rough Mix studio album version of “April Fool”
Last year I had a great 22 minute documentary on the Small Faces, but it’s disappeared, as has the 15 minute gem titled Without Walls - The Small Faces. The 1996 radio documentary about the Small Faces and the British Invasion called The Small Faces Documentary – All or Nothing has entirely vanished.
This is a strange find. While the 2006 hour documentary The Life and Music of Ronnie Lane can’t be found as a whole work, here’s 22 clips, including parts 2 and 3 of The Life and Music of Ronnie Lane followed by part 1 of a BBC documentary, and interview with Ronnie and Pete Townshend, and some concerts, so enjoy!
This year for documentaries, I found on this hour and 7 from the Amplified titled The Small Faces Under Review – Was it Really All or Nothing
From two April Fools, I hope you had fun this past week and the weeks to come!
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
ps – April 1 is also "Cheap Trick Day" in Illinois. They're one of my favorite bands going these days, so Happy belated Cheap Trick Day to us all!
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