Amazingly, this is the first collection to reach a publishing truce allowing the Faces’ early R&B work on Decca to sit alongside their later Immediate recordings of pastoral, psychedelic white soul. An obvious concept, a great coup and one hell of a 50-track, two-CD set. From 1965’s opening “What’ cha Gonna Do About It?” (covered by The Sex Pistols) to the blues explosion of “You Need Loving” (a blueprint for Led Zep’s “Whola Lotta Love”) and “Tin Soldier” (Paul Weller’s magna carta), the pioneering influence on display here almost goes without saying. If life really is “just a bowl of All-Bran”, these two discs hold the fibre.
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