"The Autumn Stone" by SMALL FACES – November 1969 UK 2LP Set of Studio And Live Recordings on Immediate Records (April 1997 UK Castle Communications/Essential Records Expanded Edition Reissue – 2LP Set Plus 3 Bonus Tracks Remastered onto 1CD) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Yesterday Is Dead...But Not My Memory..."

 

Even 53 years after the event (1969 to 2022), the history of "The Autumn Stone" double-album remains somewhat murky. Recorded in 1968 after the "Ogdens' Nutgone Flake" sessions – Steve Marriott had teamed up with Peter Frampton of The Herd and were busy building Humble Pie while Ronnie Lane would join hips and lips with the vocals of Rod Stewart and the guitar of Ron Wood and continue as the Faces (their initial album in early 1970).

 

So by March 1969, the Small Faces band of old had effectively broken up leaving behind some finished original songs (the title track is beautiful) and tantalizing fragments of another masterpiece in the likes of the fabulous Brass-Funky instrumental "Collibosher" and the driving Northern Soul feel to "Wide Eyed Girl On The Wall" over on Side 4 (another instrumental).  With their big earner gone and needing to follow up the UK No. 1 "Ogdens'..." album from 1968, Immediate Records cobbled this mishmash of a double together for market release in November 1969, by which time Humble Pie already had 2 albums out on the same label.

 

Amidst the odds and sods were formerly stand-alone singles on both Decca and Immediate, some "Ogdens'" cuts, two Tim Hardin covers (their sheer Soulfulness and inventiveness shines through on the fantastic "Red Balloon"), while three of the others were crudely recorded live songs done in City Hall, Newcastle in full-on screaming Beatles mode that would test the patience of even diehard fans (the second of the Tim Hardin covers "If I Were A Carpenter" is jammed into the centre of that 11-minute live Soul-Rock medley that opens Side 3).

 

Complete with crappy artwork and zilch info inside apart from track titles, "The Autumn Stone" has always been a Raggle-Taggle Gypsy-O, Mess Of The Blues, Urge To Splurge 2LP misfit - but I love it to bits. Unreleased in the USA and uncharted in Blighty, technically 'TAS' is referred to as a compilation set and not an album - but that hasn't stopped fans from worshiping at its bedraggled feet. Which brings us to digital and despite its age, I keep coming back to this Essential Records CD Reissue and Remaster of 1997 because of its fantastic blasting audio. Here are the nice boys...

 

UK released April 1997 - "The Autumn Stone" by SMALL FACES on Castle Communications/Essential Records ESMCD 478 (Barcode 5017615847826) offers 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD Plus Three Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (75:37 minutes):

 

1. Here Comes The Nice [Side 1]

2. The Autumn Stone

3. Collibosher

4. All Or Nothing (Live)

5. Red Balloon

6. Lazy Sunday

7. Call It Something Nice [Side 2]

8. I Can't Make It

9. Afterglow Of Your Love

10. Sha La La La Lee

11. The Universal

12. Rollin' Over (Live) [Side 3]

13. If I Were A Carpenter (Live)

14. Every Little Bit Hurts (Live) - Tracks 12, 13 and 14 are described as a Medley

15. My Mind's Eye

16. Tin Soldier

17. Just Passing

18. Itchycoo Park [Side 4]

19. Hey Girl

20. Wide Eyed Girl On The Wall

21. Watcha Gonna Do About It

22. Wham Bam Thank You Mam

Tracks 1 to 22 are the double-album "The Autumn Stone" - released November 1969 in the UK on Immediate Records IMAL 01 IMAL 02 in Stereo (Tracks 12, 13 and 14 recorded live at City Hall in Newcastle). Released in Holland and Germany (but not in the USA) - many copies on the UK market came from these European imports. It would be eventually be released as a 2LP set in Canada in 1973 on Daffodil Records SBAB 16203 using different artwork (this CD reissue follows the original UK artwork).

 

BONUS TRACKS:

23. Donkey Rides, Penny A Glass

24. All Or Nothing (Live)

25. Tin Soldier (Live)

 

The JOHN REED liner notes from February 1997 pump up the 8-page functional booklet as much as info allowed at that time. Here's a rough breakdown. The Marriott/Lane penned Side 1 opener "Here Come The Nice" had turned up on the American "There Are But Four Small Faces" LP so was new to UK fans on vinyl (that same US LP also bore "Itchycoo Park"). "All Or Nothing" (not credited as being a 'live' version on the Autumn Stone LP) with the 3-track live medley that opened Side 3 had all showed on the "In Memoriam" album issued May 1969 in Germany by Immediate in the wake of the band's breakup. "I Can't Make It" and "Just Passing" had been a stand-alone A&B-side British 45-single - while the Ogdens' track "Afterglow Of My Love" uses the single mix and not the album cut (its non-LP B-side "Wham Bam Thank You Man" ends Side 4.

 

With regard to the audio - the sticker on the jewel case announces these are Remastered Recordings and they do leap out you. But as long-time fans will know - there is incongruous dips in the overall sound as tracks leap from 1968 back to 1967 and 1966. But overall, I love the whack that comes off goodies like "Collibosher" and those other unreleased cuts like "Call It Something Nice". For sure you can literally hear the 'unfinished' nature of the new stuff, but like most SF fans I'll take their doodles over someone else’s finished art come what Piccanniny may.

 

We've been promised the Definitive Version of "The Autumn Stone" by the remaining Small Faces Group - something akin to the "Here Come The Nice" 4CD Box set - but I think that promise has been ongoing some five or six years as I type this in early 2022.

 

Still, I'll bosh their collie any day of the week. And I'd love to know just who was that girl on that wall that inspired "Wide Eyed..." Love it...