Vault Release: Faces Release “Stay With Me (Live From Sounds Of Saturday BBC 4/1/72) From Upcoming ‘Faces At The BBC’ Box Set

This may sound strange, but 2024 has been a fabulous year for music from the 1970s… or perhaps better said, a great year for fans of music from the 1970s. From Alice Cooper and Deep Purple earlier this year to the more recent sets from Little Feat and the Grateful Dead, we’ve gotten some great 70s music – from outtakes to unreleased concerts, all sorts of goodies – to listen to this year. And I haven’t even mentioned the unreleased “live in the studio” gem we got from Paul McCartney & Wings a few weeks back. The good news continues as the Faces, one of my all time favorites, has announced the upcoming release of an 8-CD, 1-Blu-ray box set that gathers all of their live appearances on the BBC from 1970 to 1973. To herald this august occasion, the Faces have released a live version of their only real “hit,” the lusty track “Stay With Me.” This version hails from a BBC show apparently named Sounds Of Saturday and was recorded on April Fool’s Day, 1972. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this Faces’ box set. It doesn’t come out until September 6th but yes, I have already placed my order…please don’t tell the Rock Chick.

I’m not sure the Faces ever got their due, at least in America. As a wedding gift, my friends bought me and the Rock Chick a 2-hour spot on a public radio station where we could program whatever music we wanted. I played “Bad And Ruin,” one of the Faces greatest rockers and afterward I had several people ask me, “So who were these Faces Rod Stewart used to sing for?” Admittedly, before I became a serious collector I may have though Faces were to Rod what the aforementioned Wings were to Paul, merely a backup band. But oh, I was mistaken. After Ronnie Wood was fired from the Jeff Beck Group, he was recruited by the remnants of the Small Faces: Ronnie Lane (bass/vocals), Ian McLagan (keyboards) and Kenny Jones (drums) to join as lead guitarist. Rod soon quit the Jeff Beck Group and recorded his first solo album. Eventually he began to hang around at the Small Faces rehearsal studio…and eventually made that walk from the control room to the studio and suddenly the Small Faces, were the Faces.

The Faces were around from ’69 through ’75 but were always seemingly in the shadow of Stewart’s solo career, especially after Every Picture Tells A Story and Maggie May. Rod did struggle between being in a band and curating a solo career. Often times members of the Faces would play on Stewart’s solo albums, just to make it more confusing. It’s no coincidence that Stewart’s most revered solo work was when he was still in the Faces. The Faces had a loose boozy nature that fit Stewart’s personality and songwriting to a tee. One of the first guys to really fall in love with the Faces was BBC disc jockey John Peel and he started putting them on the BBC and really helped break these guys. It seems only fitting that the Faces would finally follow other groups like Zeppelin, the Stones and the Who (not to mention the Beatles) and put out their Live At The BBC type box set.

Personally, I was hoping the Faces – well, the surviving members (Rod, Ronnie & Kenny) – would reunite and put out new music. There were rumors they were working on that during Covid, but I think with the passing of keyboardist Ian McLagan a few years back, who had consistently pushed for a reunion, that dream is gone. Faces have put out two superb box sets prior, with everything from live stuff to studio outtakes. Both are worth checking out: Five Guys Walk Into A Bar and later You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything 1970 – 1975. The latter box collects all of their studio albums and all are definitely critical to any collection. While some of the BBC stuff came out on Five Guys Walk Into A Bar, overlap was inevitable, there is a lot of previously unreleased stuff on the new box.

This live version of “Stay With Me” is just killer. Ronnie’s guitar is just feral, a big fuzzy riff. I hear that riff and I just get goose bumps. Rod’s vocal is spot on, if rough and ready. You have to remember when the Faces played live, they had a full bar with bartender set up on the stage (some people just know how to live). Ian’s keyboards stabs through the feedback to keep the proceedings light and rollicking. If you close your eyes you can almost see Rod dressed in all brightly colored silk and flinging a boa around. Oh man, the 70s…

I urge everyone – especially fans of the Faces or of live rock n roll albums in general – to check out this song post haste. It’s the precursor to a great late summer explosion of rock n roll over 8 CDs! of Faces. I hear one of the concerts included in the set was recorded but never broadcast because the BBC thought the on stage banter with the crowd was a little too saucy. Deal me in! “Cause tonight you’re gonna stay with me…” if only to listen to this song!

Cheers!