First Step (Faces album)

First Step
Studio album by Faces
Released	March, 1970
Recorded	August 1969-January 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios, London
Genre	Blues rock, hard rock
Length	47:13
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	The Faces
Faces chronology
First Step (1970) Long Player (1971)
Singles from The First Step
"Flying" Released: 1969

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

First Step was the first album by the British group Faces, released in early 1970. (The album is credited to the Small Faces on all North American issues and reissues^[2])) The album was released only a few months after the Faces had formed from the ashes of the Small Faces (from which Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan hailed) and The Jeff Beck Group (from which Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood hailed.)

It is generally regarded as their weakest studio effort, recorded at London's famous De Lane Lea Studios too soon after the group's formation, and reached no higher than #119 on the Billboard charts.^[3] Highlights include "Stone", "Three Button Hand Me Down", "Shake, Shudder, Shiver" and the album's centerpiece, "Flying".

The album cover shows Ronnie Wood reading a copy of seminal guitar tutor "First Step" by Geoffrey Sisley.

On 28 August 2015, the album was reissued in a remastered and expanded form, including two previously unreleased outtakes, "Behind The Sun" and "Mona The Blues", although the latter was remade in 1972 for the Mahoney's Last Stand film soundtrack.

Track listing

Side One

1. "Wicked Messenger" (Bob Dylan) - 4:05
2. "Devotion" (Ronnie Lane) - 4:54
3. "Shake, Shudder, Shiver" (Lane, Ronnie Wood) - 3:14
4. "Stone" (Lane) - 5:38
5. "Around the Plynth" (Rod Stewart, Wood) - 5:56

Side Two

1. "Flying" (Lane, Stewart, Wood) - 4:15
2. "Pineapple and the Monkey" (instrumental) (Wood) - 4:23
3. "Nobody Knows" (Lane, Wood) - 4:05
4. "Looking out the Window" (Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan) - 4:59
5. "Three Button Hand Me Down" (McLagan, Stewart) - 5:44

2015 Reissue bonus tracks

1. "Behind The Sun" (Jones, Lane, McLagan, Stewart, Wood)
2. "Mona The Blues" (Lane, Wood)
3. "Shake, Shudder Shiver" [BBC Session] (Lane, Wood)
4. "Flying" [Take 3] (Lane, Stewart, Wood)
5. "Nobody Knows" [Take 2] (Lane, Wood)

Personnel

• Rod Stewart - lead and backing vocals, banjo
• Ronnie Wood - lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, harmonica
• Ian McLagan - Hammond organ, backing vocals, Wurlitzer electric and acoustic pianos
• Ronnie Lane - bass, backing and lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Kenney Jones - drums

• Martin Birch - engineer

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Faces: First Step > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
2. "Small Faces* – First Step". discogs.com. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
3. "First Step > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2014.

External links

• (The) First Step at Discogs (list of releases)