First Step (Faces album)

First Step, (in the USA initially miscredited to the Small Faces (Warner Bros. WS 1851^[2]) due to a miscommunication with the label), was the first album by the British group Faces, released in early 1970, a few months after they 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 too soon after the group's formation, and reached no higher than #119 on the Billboard charts^[3] - though there was, of course, minimal sales expectations as this was a debut album. Highlights include "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.

Track listing

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
6. "Flying" (Lane, Stewart, Wood) - 4:15
7. "Pineapple and the Monkey" (Wood) - 4:23
8. "Nobody Knows" (Lane, Wood) - 4:05
9. "Looking Out The Window" (Kenney Jones, Ian McLagan) - 4:59
10. "Three Button Hand Me Down" (McLagan, Stewart) - 5:44

Personnel

• Kenney Jones: drums
• Ronnie Lane: bass, rhythm guitar, lead and harmony vocal
• Ian McLagan: piano, organ, harmony vocal
• Rod Stewart: lead and harmony vocal, banjo
• Ronnie Wood: lead and rhythm guitars, harmonica, harmony vocal
• Martin Birch: engineer

References

External links

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