Faces: Memphis
[purchase]
I joined Star Maker Machine in its fourth week, just in time for the City Songs theme; somewhere in the vast wasteland that is a blogger and audiophile's iTunes playlists I still have a huge set of songs whose titles mention various cities from Tokyo to Timbuktu. The songs seem to cluster around cities from the American South, which probably says more about my musical tastes than anything else -- heck, I could do a whole week on Memphis alone. But I picked this song up for the first time a few months later, via "New Orleans based music thing" Captains Dead, and I've always wanted the opportunity to share it.
I don't know much about short-lived Ronnie Lane/Rod Stewart/Ron Wood side project Faces, or indeed about that whole 1969 - 1975 time frame, except what I read on the blogs, but this song really makes me appreciate both classic rock and Rod Stewart, and that's saying a whole lot. John Alroy, of Wilson and Alroy ("we listen to the lousy records so you won't have to"), has this to say about the Faces canon:
My ratings of all these records are low, and there are plenty of good reasons such as the Faces' lack of originality, instrumental virtuosity, lyrical substance, and quality songwriting (did I leave anything out?). However, Stewart and company have a way of getting under your skin, kind of like drunken, partying, good-for-nothing high school buddies you can't resist hanging out with. These are the records I reach for when I'm in the mood for sheer fun.
