The Faces

The London rock and blues band of Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones, whose 1971 album Long Player carries "Had Me a Real Good Time".

From the Small Faces

Faces formed in London in 1969, after Steve Marriott left the Small Faces to start Humble Pie. The bassist Ronnie Lane, drummer Kenney Jones and keyboardist Ian McLagan recruited Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, both from the Jeff Beck Group, and shortened the name. In May 1969 Wood, Stewart and others had already recorded four songs and played shows as Quiet Melon. The first album, First Step, came out on Warner Bros. on March 27, 1970 (some sources say March 21), made at De Lane Lea Studios in London with engineer Martin Birch, and reached 45 in the UK. In the United States it was credited to Small Faces as a compromise with the record company. John Peel secured their first BBC session, on March 9, 1970, after the band was considered not serious enough for airplay.

Long Player followed in February 1971, then A Nod Is As Good As a Wink... to a Blind Horse on November 17, 1971, with "Stay with Me" (UK 6, US 17); the album reached 2 in the UK and 6 in the US and is generally regarded as the band's definitive statement. Ooh La La (March 1973, produced by Glyn Johns) was their only UK number one, in April. Lane left in June 1973 and Tetsu Yamauchi took over on bass. The live album Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners, recorded at Anaheim on October 17, 1973, came out on January 10, 1974. The final group single, "You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything", reached the UK top 20 in 1974. Wood began working with the Rolling Stones, and the split was announced in December 1975.

Reunions

Reunions followed at Wembley in 1986, with Bill Wyman on bass and Lane singing, and in 1993. A 2009 charity show at the Royal Albert Hall and an official reform in 2010 featured Mick Hucknall on lead vocals and Glen Matlock on bass. Faces entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Small Faces on April 14, 2012. Ian McLagan died on December 3, 2014 and Ronnie Lane in 1997. Stewart, Wood and Jones played together at the BRIT Awards at The O2 on February 18, 2020 and recorded together in 2021; in April 2025 Jones told The Telegraph that about eleven tracks had been recorded at RAK Studios in north London.

A 2004 Rhino box, Five Guys Walk into a Bar..., a five-disc expansion of the four albums in 2015 (1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything...) and an eight-disc set of BBC recordings (September 6, 2024) document them. Their back-to-basics approach influenced punk bands including the Damned and the Sex Pistols, though Wikipedia notes they had only modest success next to the Who and the Rolling Stones.