The Faces- You Wear It Well

What a beautiful mess... and I'm not talking about the hundreds of lbs of glitter covering the stage. Its the Faces tanked to the gills but still delivering an awesome rendition of "You Wear It Well".

Appearing on Rod Stewart's first solo album, the song, if not in name, was still basically the Faces even though original bass player Ronnie Lane had already split and Ron Wood was just about to leave for the Rolling Stones. Maybe thats why the abandon in this live version? Whatever reason, this "You Wear It Well" outshines the recorded version by a long shot.

Ron Wood's intro is terrific, Stewart is so drunk that you can see his eyes almost roll back in his head [0:06] and falls down trying to do a bow [0:27]. However Rod gets it together and does a great job, even deftly executing a fine backwards summersault at 2:15... so cool.

I've always been a huge fan of Ron Wood's guitar playing in the Faces and here is no exception. His unique style is simple but hard to cop, it took me a few years to get it right. I bumped into him here in New York awhile ago, I was with a friend at a high end store called Barneys. I went up to him and asked what he was doing and he said "buying jeans". He looked great, he'd cut all his hair off and he seemed really healthy; I remember thinking he looked a little like Robert DeNiro. He was really friendly and we talked for a few minutes and then said goodbye.

The next night I watched the stones perform live on HBO and was shocked to see him with a full head of hair- the haystack was back in full effect. You can imagine how bummed I was to realize that that thing is a wig. Come on, Ron you're Ron Wood! No need for that!

The Pretty Things- Sickle Clowns

Most people know The Pretty Things by their psychedelic masterpiece "SF Sorrow", a futuristic rock opera that predates The Who's "Tommy" by at least a couple of months. The band's next album saw them going in a slightly different musical direction. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, "Parachute" has a more straight forward, stripped down sound and reminds me of The Beatles at some of their heavier moments. It was chosen by Rolling Stone magazine as the Album of The Year in 1970, beating out Derek and The Dominos' first record, Van Morrison's "Moondance" and the Beatles' "Let It Be" among others. I'm not sure its that good, but it is really good- I highly recommend checking it out, especially the more recent re-release with bonus tracks left off of the initial pressings.

In this video usual Pretty Things front man, Phil May isn't around- its bassist Wally Waller who delivers the raspy lead vocal over a oddly accented and circular guitar riff. I particularly like tension set up by the slightly dragged drumming of Skip Alan and the guitar of the newly recruited, teen aged Pete Tolson. Notice how the band all falls back into the main riff after a cool drum break at 4:17.

David Bowie- Moonage Daydream

Here's an interesting moment in rock history- David Bowie playing his last show as Ziggy Stardust at London's Hammersmith Odeon Theater in 1973. The Farewell Concert, as it came to be known, was filmed by renown cinema verite director DA Pennebaker, also the man behind the famed Dylan documentary "Don't Look Back". Finally released nearly 10 years after being filmed, "David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" is a classic music document by any standard; you get to see Bowie at the height of his Ziggy Stardust fame, right before he sheds his famous alter ego in favor of a more serious stage persona. Because of his shrewd moves Bowie was one of the only glam musicians to cross over to mainstream acceptance and craft himself into a lasting music icon.

Here you can tell Bowie is enjoying this last performance, he's smiling and acting out the lyrics through out the song, it's one of those rare moments where audience and musician seem to be equally absorbed in the performance. But even though Bowie is amazing, don't overlook the brilliance of his guitarist and main collaborator Mick Ronson. Not sure about his Benjamin Franklin costume concept but Ronson's guitar playing on this song is astounding. After some weird coordinated stage moves with Ronson, Bowie leaves the stage and the guitarist has the spotlight to himself. Its an intense solo from the onset but at 4:07 Ronson kicks on the echo and creates a wave of sound that totally shocked me the first time I heard it. The audience is going nuts the whole time, notice that its pretty much all young girls, at one point Ronson makes his way over to the edge of the stage and they almost pull him into the crowd [4:32].

Rumor has it that for the encore Jeff Beck joins the band onstage and plays "Rebel, Rebel" and some other songs. It was recorded on film but Beck refused to sign an artist release because he reportedly objected to the outfit he wore that night. Hopefully the footage will see the light of day eventually, its got to be awesome.

The Sweet- Solid Gold Brass

Since things seem to be headed solidly in the Glam direction at the moment, I'll just roll with it and put up this clip sent by my man Ned Brewster in Majorca, Spain. Its British Glam heavyweights The Sweet doing "Solid Gold Brass" on the short lived BBC show Geordie Scene in 1974. The Sweet were a great band but tragically underrated because of their pop hits "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox On The Run". Its obvious they just wanted to be Led Zeppelin but got trapped in the bubblegum pop scene by their initial success with younger audiences.

The way they do "Solid Gold Brass", though, is evidence of something more going on beneath the surface. The song is full of contradictions- heavy but laid back, detached but aggressive, the tough sounding opening guitar riffs then Andy Scott's angelic voice and the spoken, menacing lyrics by bass player Steve Priest. What about the oddly jazzy guitar and bass at 2:20? To the band's credit, though, somehow all the disparate parts come together and they make it work.

Slade- Look Wot You Dun

Without Slade would there be any Quiet Riot? Or Prince's phonetically spelled song titles? Kiss's whole schtick? OK, maybe those are bad examples but certainly Rock N Roll would be worse off not having had the band around.

Actually Slade is one of my favorites and also highly regarded by Paul McCartney, Ritchie Blackmore, Alice Cooper, Angus Young, Paul Weller and pretty much every one who grew up in England in the 1970s. Its hard to believe that Slade sold more singles in the UK then any other group of the 70s and yet remained virtually unknown here in America. It wasn't until Quiet Riot covered "Cum on Feel the Noize" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" in the mid 80s did Slade have anything approach the top of the US music charts.

With this version of "Look Wot You Dun" you see the genius of Slade at work. Loud catchy anthems, crazy costumes, the raucaus stage antics all made a perfect antidote to the staid performances and musicianship that were the status quo of the UK music scene at the time [ie, prog rock]. Slade doesn't hold anything back here, just listen to how distorted the audio gets when the bass and then the vocals kick in. The kids just wanted to party and Slade definitely knew how to deliver the goods.

The MC5- Tonight

Here are the MC5 on their first tour of England in early 1972. Having already established themselves in the United States, the Motor City Five were poised to take over the very music scene originated by their UK rivals. Although beloved in their native Detroit, the band’s hard-rocking, radical image and call for “dope, guns and fucking in the streets” for some reason didn’t resonate with main stream American radio djs and record shop chain owners. With an audience already primed to their sound, however, the 1972 tour had huge potential for success and must have been an exciting time for the band.

Technically the tour was a hit, garnering acclaim from fans and critics alike—including English disc jockey Ronan O'Rahilly and Rolling Stone Mick Jagger—but even in the midst of success the seeds were being sown for the band’s decline and total collapse wasn’t far off. Heroin addiction and the rigors of touring took its toll on the members and they dropped out one by one, until only the two original guitarists remained.

But forget all that for the moment and enjoy this clip of a seminal band in its prime. Evidence of the group's evolution from their start as a high school cover band, this version of "Tonite" has all the energy of early MC5 live performances but with a sophistication and nuanced musicality that comes from years of constant touring. Guitarist Wayne Kramer's solo is a perfect example, frenetic but well tempered- it’s practically a complete and separate song on its own.

After the solo, the transition is so smooth that without the vocals you'd almost miss the band's slip into a cover version of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen." Fred Smith, Patti Smith's future husband, stands stage left in his silver space costume inspired by Sun Ra, another Detroit musician, whose experimental jazz found its way into the MC5's music—particularly their last studio album "High Time." Unfortunately, the clip fades out before the band has a chance to transition back into the original song for a great ending that can be heard on several bootleg recordings of the time.





I almost hate to show you this but here is the band on its last legs just 9 months later; back in Europe but with a new bassist, lead vocalist and drummer doing a painful version of "Louie Louie". After you're done watching you might want to go back and watch the first clip again just to cleanse the palette.

Suzi Quatro- Breakdown

Remember when Suzi was a character on Happy Days? It was towards the end of the show's run and I think she was supposed to be the Fonz's little sister or something. Its too bad thats how most Americans got to know her, her records are cool but never did very well here in the US. I think she might be out there still doing music, a few years ago I heard she had a new album or radio show, but even if thats not the case at least she still gets to go around saying she's Suzi Quatro.

This is her doing a live cover of Tom Petty's "Breakdown" and she kills it! She takes the original version and kicks it up a few notches just based on her attitude alone. Wonder what Petty would think of this?