The Ronnettes - The Ronnettes FLAC

Baby I Love You/Be My Baby/(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up/Born To Be Together



The Ronettes were an American girl group from New York City. One of the most popular groups from the 1960s, they placed nine songs on the Billboard Hot 100, five of which became Top 40 hits. The trio from Spanish Harlem, New York, consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. Among the Ronettes' most famous songs are "Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up", and "Walking in the Rain", all of which charted on the Billboard Hot 100. "Walking in the Rain" won a Grammy Award in 1965, and "Be My Baby" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

The girls sang together since they were teenagers, then known as "The Darling Sisters". Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector's Philles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to "The Ronettes". In late 1964, the group released their only studio album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica, which entered the Billboard charts at number 96. Rolling Stone ranked it number 422 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004. The Ronettes were the only girl group to tour with the Beatles.

The Move - 1969 - Blackberry Way FLAC

Blackberry Way/Mist On A Monday Morning/Fire Brigade/Walk Upon The Water


"Blackberry Way" is a 1968 single by English band The Move. Written by Roy Wood and produced by Jimmy Miller, "Blackberry Way" was a bleak counterpoint to the sunny psychedelia of earlier recordings. It nevertheless became the band's most successful single, reaching number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1969. Richard Tandy, who later played keyboards with Wood's next band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), played harpsichord on "Blackberry Way". Despite the success of the single, the style of psychedelically tinged pop sat uneasily with bassist Trevor Burton. He left the group shortly after. It is cited as inspired by The Beatles' "Penny Lane", and the vocal line from the bridge is borrowed from "Good Old Desk" by Harry Nilsson.

"Fire Brigade" is a song written by Roy Wood and performed by The Move, with Wood on lead vocal B-Side was "Walk Upon the Water". The song contains a guitar figure straight out of Duane Eddy. Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols admitted some years later that this guitar had strongly influenced the opening riff of their single "God Save the Queen". "Fire Brigade" influenced "Firehouse" from the self-titled debut album by Kiss. Released as the group's fourth single in Britain in February 1968, it reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. 

New Link added 26.11.2018

Bobby Helms - 1958 - Bobby Helms @320

Jacqueline/Living In The Shadows Of The Past/Fraulein/(Got A) Heartsick Feeling


Robert Lee Helms (August 15, 1933 – June 19, 1997), known professionally as Bobby Helms, was an American country music singer who enjoyed his peak success in 1957 with the seasonal hit "Jingle Bell Rock". His other hits include "Fraulein" and "My Special Angel".

Helms was born in Helmsburg, Indiana, the son of Hildreth Esther (née Abram) and Fred Robert Helms. His family was musical. Helms began performing as a duo with his brother, Freddie, before going on to a successful solo career in country music. In 1956, Helms made his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a recording contract with Decca Records. The following year was filled with successes. Helms' first single in 1957, titled "Fraulein", went to No. 1 on the country music chart and made it into the Top 40 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart. Later that same year, he released "My Special Angel", which also hit No. 1 on the country charts and entered the Top 10 on Billboard's pop music chart, peaking at No. 7.

His song "Jingle Bell Rock," which was released in the late fall of 1957, was a big hit and was being played and danced to on Dick Clark's teen dance show American Bandstand by mid-December of that year. It also re-emerged in four out of the next five years, and sold so well that it repeated each time as a top hit, becoming a Christmas classic still played to this day. (In 2016, it was rated radio's third most played Christmas song, according to StationIntel.) It took five years for the song to become a second million-seller for Helms. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 21 weeks in the chart. The record gained gold disc status. Accounts that Helms wrote the song with Hank Garland, who played guitar on the original recording, seem to be apocryphal. At the end of a television performance of the song toward the end of his life, Helms said, “I didn’t want to do the song when they first brought it to me, but now I’m sure glad I did.”  ASCAP and Allmusic list the writers of the song as Joseph Beal, Joseph Carlton, James Ross and James Boothe.

Helms continued touring and recording for the next three decades. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Helms spent most of his later years living just outside Martinsville, Indiana, until his death from emphysema and asthma at the age of 63 in 1997. He was portrayed by actor Brad Hawkins in the 2007 film Crazy. Another record by Helms was "Schoolboy Crush", which was a hit in the UK. It was released in the USA on June 23, 1958 on Decca. The same song was then covered by UK teen star Cliff Richard about the same time as the UK release.

New link added 26.11.2018

Walker Brothers - 1966 - I Need You FLAC

Land Of 1000 Dances/Everything's Gonna Be All Right/I Need You/Looking For Me


The Walker Brothers Trio was formed in Los Angeles in 1964 by John Walker (lead vocals, guitar), Scott Engel (bass, harmony vocals), and drummer Al "Tiny" Schneider. Before then, John Walker—who had already been using that name professionally for several years—had performed and recorded several unsuccessful singles with his sister as a duo, John and Judy, and Engel had been bass player with instrumental band The Routers. Walker and Engel, with two other musicians, had also toured the Midwest in 1963 as "The Surfaris," although the group included none of the musicians who played on the Surfaris' records. Dropping the word "Trio," Walker and Engel were signed by Mercury Records, recorded a single, "Pretty Girls Everywhere," and became a leading attraction at Gazzari's Club in Hollywood. They also appeared on the Shindig! TV show, developed by Jack Good, and then on a weekly TV show, Ninth Street A Go Go.

Late in 1964, they met drummer Gary Leeds, previously of The Standells (Late 1962–1964). He had recently toured the UK with singer P.J. Proby. Leeds – along with club regular Brian Jones – persuaded them that the band's rock and roll and blues style would go down well in "swinging London," where Proby had already succeeded. Before leaving, they recorded their second single, "Love Her," overseen by Nick Venet and arranger Jack Nitzsche, with Scott Engel taking the lead vocal part for the first time—previously John Walker had been the lead vocalist. They also appeared in a film, Beach Ball, and sent demo recordings to record labels in the United Kingdom. With financial backing from Leeds' stepfather, Walker, Engel and Leeds traveled to the UK in February 1965 for an exploratory visit.

 When they landed in England, record producer Johnny Franz was keen to sign them up. In a short time, Walker and Engel had secured a recording contract with Philips Records, an affiliate of Mercury, and had played several venues around the UK, with Leeds as drummer. Their first single, "Pretty Girls Everywhere," had little success, but radio stations picked up on the follow-up "Love Her" with Engel's baritone vocals, and it made the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1965. The song had originally been recorded by The Everly Brothers and released as B-side to their single "The Girl Who Sang The Blues" in 1963.

Philips then recorded and released the group's version of "Make It Easy on Yourself," a Burt Bacharach and Hal David ballad previously recorded by Jerry Butler. It was sung by Engel (by now called Scott Walker), arranged by Ivor Raymonde and produced by Johnny Franz, with a full orchestra augmented by session musicians. Session musicians on the record included Alan Parker and Big Jim Sullivan. By August 1965, "Make It Easy on Yourself" had entered the UK Top 10, eventually reaching the top of the record chart. Later in the year, it also reached No. 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100. The track sold 250,000 copies in the UK, and over one million copies globally, achieving gold disc status.

The number 3 UK hit "My Ship Is Coming In", originally recorded in 1965 by Soul singer Jimmy Radcliffe, followed. Then in March 1966, The Walker Brothers hit No. 1 for the second time in six months with "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." Their popularity in the UK – particularly that of Scott – reached a new high, especially among teenage girls, and their fan club in that country was said to have been larger than The Beatles.' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" also made the US Top 20, but had less success in the US.

The Walker Brothers continued to have chart hits in the UK in 1966 and 1967, with Scott taking a more prominent role in their song choices and arrangements, but with diminishing commercial success. They also had to leave the UK for six months in early 1967 because of work permit problems. As pop music moved on, the Walker Brothers began to sound dated. By the end of 1967, the pressures of stardom, internal tensions, and 'artistic differences' began to weaken the group. After a UK tour in late 1967, which also featured Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, and Engelbert Humperdinck, followed by a tour of Japan in 1968, the group officially disbanded.

All three continued to release solo records, with Scott (who first recorded solo in 1967) being by far the most successful and creating a large cult following. Late in 1974, Walker, Engel and Leeds agreed to reform The Walker Brothers. In 1975, they released the album No Regrets. The title track was released as a single and rose to No. 7 on the UK chart in early 1976. They recorded two further albums together, Lines (1976) and Nite Flights (1978), which were less successful, although the experimental style of Scott's tracks on Nite Flights laid the stylistic groundwork for his later solo career. The Walker Brothers undertook some cabaret performances, although Engel (by now more usually known as Scott Walker) was reluctant to sing live; the group's contract with GTO Records ended and, according to John Walker, the group "just drifted apart."

 

New Link Added  07.01.21

Booker T. And The M.G.'s - Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson/One Who Really Loves You/Soul Clap '69/Comin' Home Baby


Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, of which the best known is the 1962 hit single "Green Onions". As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of its era. By the mid-1960s, bands on both sides of the Atlantic were trying to sound like Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

In 1965, Steinberg was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn, who played with the group until his death in 2012. Al Jackson, Jr. was murdered in 1975, after which Dunn, Cropper and Jones reunited on numerous occasions using various drummers, including Willie Hall, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan and Steve Potts.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2008, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Having two white members (Cropper and Dunn), Booker T. & the M.G.'s was one of the first racially integrated rock groups, at a time when soul music and the Memphis music scene in particular were generally considered the preserve of black culture.

 New link added 26.11.1018

Bobby Sherman - 1971 - Julie, Do Ya Love Me

Julie, Do Ya Love Me/Two Blind Minds/Hey, Mister Sun/Spend Some Time Lovin' Me



Robert Cabot Sherman Jr. (born July 22, 1943) is an American singer, actor and occasional songwriter, who became a popular teen idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He had a series of successful singles, notably the million-seller "Little Woman" (1969). Sherman mostly retired from music in the 1970s for a career as a paramedic and later police officer, though he still performs and records occasionally.

Sherman graduated in 1961 from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California. He attended Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California. His interest in music began at age 11 when he learned to play the trumpet. He eventually progressed to playing 16 musical instruments. At Birmingham High School Bobby played football, joined a dance band, and discovered his love for singing. From the time he was in high school, Bobby knew that he wanted to be some type of performer, but wasn't sure how to make it happen.

In 1962 Sal Mineo took Sherman under his wing and wrote two songs for him as well as arranging for Sherman to record the songs, then in 1964 when Sherman was asked by Mineo to sing with his old band at a Hollywood party (there were many actors and agents in attendance) he made such an impression at that party he landed an agent and eventually a part on the ABC television show Shindig! as a regular cast member/house singer. The show ran for two years, from 1964 to 1966. During that time Bobby made several records with Decca and another smaller label, and landed in all the teen magazines, but it did not seem to catapult his career. Sherman's luck changed drastically early in 1968 when, out of hundreds of actors, he was cast in the role as the bashful, stammering logger, Jeremy Bolt, in the television series Here Come the Brides (1968-1970 ABC).

Sherman appeared on an episode of Honey West (1964) entitled "The Princess and the Paupers" as a kidnapped band member, The Monkees entitled "Monkees at the Movies", playing a pompous surfer/singer named Frankie Catalina in the vein of Frankie Avalon, performing the song "The New Girl in School" (the flip of Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve", co-written by The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, Jan Berry of Jan and Dean, songwriter Roger Christian and Bob Norberg, who was a roommate of Wilson at the time). 

 Sherman released 107 songs, 23 singles and 10 albums between 1962-76. In his recording career he earned seven gold singles, one platinum single, and five gold albums. He had a career total of seven top 40 hits. In 1969, he signed with Metromedia Records, the new recording arm of Metromedia. In May 1969 they released the single "Little Woman", which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (#2 in Canada) and spent nine weeks in the Top 20. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in October 1969.

His other hits were "Julie, Do Ya Love Me" (US #5/AC #2) (Canada #3) (Australia #3) (written by Tom Bahler), "Easy Come, Easy Go" (US #9/AC #2) (Canada #6), "Jennifer" (US #60/AC #9) (Canada #32), "La La La (If I Had You)" (US #9/AC #14) (Canada #7), and "The Drum" (US #29/AC #2) (Canada #7) (written by Alan O'Day). Some of these songs were produced by Jackie Mills, a Hollywood record producer, who also produced the Brady Bunch Kids. In Canada "Hey, Mister Sun" reached #19, "Cried Like a Baby" reached #10, and "Waiting At The Bus Stop" reached #31. "La, La, La," "Easy Come, Easy Go," and "Julie, Do Ya Love Me" all sold in excess of a million copies and garnered further gold discs for Sherman. "Julie, Do Ya Love Me" was Sherman's sole excursion in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #28 in November 1970. The song competed there for chart space with White Plains' cover version, which eventually placed higher at #8.

 Sherman toured extensively through the United States and the world in support of his many records and albums. He gave many concerts to sellout crowds of mostly screaming young women from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. The screaming by the young women was so loud that Sherman to this day has experienced hearing loss.

Sherman was a frequent guest on American Bandstand and Where the Action Is. He made local and regional TV performances. A March 1971 episode of The Partridge Family featured Sherman, serving as a back-door pilot for the ABC TV series Getting Together, which aired starting in September 1971. The show competed with All in the Family on Saturday nights and was canceled after 14 episodes.

Sherman was a guest star on television series such as The Mod Squad, Ellery Queen, Murder She Wrote and Frasier. He has also been a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, KTLA Morning News, Visiting with Huell Howser on PBS, Good Day LA, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Good Morning America, and The Tonight Show with both Johnny Carson and later with Jay Leno. He was featured on 20/20, VH1, Entertainment Tonight, and Extra, among other television shows. Sherman was a regular cast member on the television show Sanchez of Bel Air in 1986.

In 1998, after a 25-year absence, eager fans flocked to see him in concert as part of "The Teen Idol Tour" with Peter Noone, and Davy Jones. Fellow Monkees member Micky Dolenz replaced Davy Jones on the tour in 1999. He did his last concert as a solo performer in Lincoln, Rhode Island on August 25, 2001. Bobby has retired from public life; however, he still does corporate events occasionally as well as his ongoing charities. He was ranked #8 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 25 Greatest Teen Idols" (January 23, 2005 issue).

New link added 26.11.2018

Blood Sweat And Tears - 1969 - Spinning Wheel

Spinning Wheel/A House In The Country/You Made Me So Very Happy/More And More


 No American rock group ever started with as much daring or musical promise as Blood, Sweat & Tears, or realized their potential more fully -- and then blew it all as quickly. From their origins as a jazz-rock experiment that wowed critics and listeners, they went on -- in a somewhat more pop vein -- to sell almost six million records in three years, but ended up being dropped by their record label four years after that. Blood, Sweat & Tears started as an idea conceived by Al Kooper in July of 1967. An ex-member of the Blues Project, Kooper had been toying with the notion, growing out of his admiration for jazz bandleader Maynard Ferguson, of forming an electric rock band that would include horns and use jazz as the basis for their work. He planned to pursue this in London, but a series of New York shows involving some big-name friends didn't raise enough money to get him there. He did, however, find three players who wanted to work with him: bassist Jim Fielder, Blues Project guitarist Steve Katz, and drummer Bobby Colomby. Kooper agreed, as long as he was in charge musically. The horn section featured Fred Lipsius (saxophone), with Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss on trumpets and flügelhorns, and Dick Halligan playing trombone. The new group was signed to Columbia Records, and the name "Blood, Sweat & Tears" came to Kooper after a jam at the Cafe au Go Go, where a cut on his hand left his organ keyboard covered in blood.

 That first version of Blood, Sweat & Tears played music that roamed freely through realms of jazz, R&B, soul, and even psychedelia in ways that had scarcely been heard before in one band. The songs were bold and challenging, and the arrangements gave Lipsius, Brecker, et. al room to solo, while Kooper's organ and Katz's guitar swelled in pulsing, shimmering glory. Their debut, Child Is Father to the Man, was released in February 1968, and seemed to portend a great future. The only thing it didn't have was a hit single to get AM radio play and help drive sales.

Disagreements about repertory grew into doubts about Kooper's ability as a lead singer, and soon split this band. Kooper left in March of 1968, and Brecker followed him out. That might've been the end of the story, except that Colomby and Katz decided to salvage a band of their own band out of this debacle. The lineup was reshuffled and expanded, and for a lead singer they found a Canadian national named David Clayton-Thomas.

The new Blood, Sweat & Tears recorded their album in late 1968. Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in January 1969, was smoother and more traditionally melodic than its predecessor. Equally important, the singles from the album were edited, removing the featured spots for the jazz players. "You've Made Me So Very Happy" rose to number two and lofted the album to the top of the LP listings. "Spinning Wheel" b/w "More and More" and "And When I Die" followed, and when the smoke cleared, the album had yielded a career's worth of hits. The LP also won the Grammy as Album of the Year, selling three million copies in the bargain.

In the spring of 1970, however, the group lost a huge amount of momentum with its core audience, college students, when they undertook a tour of Eastern Europe on behalf of the U.S. State Department. The Vietnam War was still raging, and anything to do with the government was potentially poisonous on college campuses. It was on their return to America, amid this dubious career move -- which was done to overcome the problem of Clayton-Thomas' shaky immigration status -- that Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 was released. It briefly topped the LP charts, and the single "Hi-De-Ho" reached number 14, but both sold only a fraction of what their earlier releases had done. Additionally, the group was now criticized in the rock press, which felt that Blood, Sweat & Tears were either a pretentious pop group that dabbled in horn riffs, or a jazz outfit trying to pass as a rock band. The group's decision to perform at a Las Vegas casino -- which even upset the head of Columbia Records, Clive Davis -- did nothing to defuse these doubts.

Clayton-Thomas exited after the fourth album to pursue a solo career. Most of the group's original and second-generation players were gone by then as well, though the playing standard remained consistently high. The lineup became a revolving door -- even Jaco Pastorius passed through their ranks, briefly -- and the group's record sales imploded, squeezed as they were by Chicago on the pop side of jazz-rock, and outfits such as Weather Report and Return to Forever on the more musically ambitious side of the spectrum. Clayton-Thomas returned in 1974, to what was billed officially as "Blood, Sweat & Tears Featuring David Clayton-Thomas." They released New City (1975), which did well enough to justify an ambitious tour that yielded the double-LP Live and Improvised. Columbia Records dropped the group in 1976, and even Bobby Colomby, who had trademarked the group's name, gave up playing with them. Clayton-Thomas has kept the group name alive in the decades since, fronting various lineups.

New link added 26.11.2018

Bill Lee Riley - 1966 - At The Whisky A-Go-Go

Tobacco Road/Dimples/Baby Please Don't Go/Geraldine


Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009) was an American rockabilly musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. His most memorable recordings include "Rock with Me Baby" and "Red Hot".

Born in Pocahontas, Arkansas, the son of a sharecropper, Riley learned to play guitar from black farm workers. After four years in the Army, Riley first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1955 before being lured to Sun Studios by Sam Phillips. He recorded "Trouble Bound" for Jack Clement and Slim Wallace. Phillips obtained the rights and released "Trouble Bound" backed with "Rock with Me Baby" on September 1, 1956 (Sun 245). His first hit was "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" backed with "I Want You Baby", released February 23, 1957 (Sun 260), with backing piano by Jerry Lee Lewis, after which he recorded "Red Hot" backed with "Pearly Lee", released September 30, 1957 (Sun 277).

"Red Hot" was showing a lot of promise as a hit record, but Sam Phillips stopped promoting it and switched to promoting "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. Riley felt that his own chances of chart success were compromised when Phillips diverted resources to Lewis's career. He had other Sun recordings, and they likewise did not have a lot of sales, as his promotion had stopped. Like other artists such as Sonny Burgess, Hayden Thompson, Ray Harris, and Warren Smith, chart success largely eluded him.

Considered good looking and with wild stage moves, Riley had a brief solo career with his backing band the Little Green Men. Riley and his Little Green Men were the main Sun studio band. They were Riley, the guitarist Roland Janes, the drummer J.M. Van Eaton, bassist Marvin Monroe Peppers, and Jimmy Wilson, later joined by Martin Willis.

In 1960, he left Sun and started Rita Record label with Roland Janes. They produced the national hit record "Mountain of Love" by Harold Dorman. He later started two other labels, Nita and Mojo. In 1962, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician with Dean Martin, the Beach Boys, Herb Alpert, and Sammy Davis Jr. among others, as well as recording under various aliases.

Riley appeared in a Scopitone performing the song High Heel Sneakers filmed live at the Whiskey A Go Go 1965. That same year Mercury Records released the LP Whiskey A Go Go presents Billy Lee Riley, recorded live at the Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood.

 In the early 1970s, Riley quit music to return to Arkansas to begin his own construction business. In 1978 "Red Hot" and "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll" were covered by Robert Gordon and Link Wray, which led to a one-off performance in Memphis in 1979, the success of which led to further recording at Sun Studio and a full-time return to performing.

Rediscovered by Bob Dylan in 1992, who had been a fan since 1956, Riley played rock and roll, blues, and country blues. His album Hot Damn! (Capricorn, 1997) was nominated for a Grammy Award. He was injured falling on a slippery department store floor in 2005, requiring two surgeries as a result. In 2006, he released a country CD, Hillbilly Rockin' Man.

The Rockabilly Hall of Fame reported in summer 2009 that Riley was in poor health, with stage four colon cancer. His last public performance was in June 2009 at the New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street in Memphis, when he took part in Petefest 2009, honoring the historian Pete Daniel, who had befriended Riley while helping launch the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. Supported by a walker, Riley rocked out on "Red Hot" and other of his old hits. He died of colon cancer on August 2, 2009, in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Hermans Hermits - 1966 - Listen People FLAC

Leaning On The Lamp Post/This Door Swings Both Ways/Bidin' My Time/Listen People



 "Listen People" is a song written by Graham Gouldman and performed by the Herman's Hermits. The theme is based on the traditional hymn "Jesus Let Us Come to Know You." It reached #1 in Canada, #3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Australian charts, and #7 on both the New Zealand and Swedish charts in 1966. It was featured on their 1966 album, Volume 2: The Best of Herman's Hermits.

The song was also released in the United Kingdom as the B-side to their 1966 single, "You Won't Be Leaving". The song was produced by Mickie Most.

Verdelle Smith - 1967 - Tar And Cement

(Alone) In My Room/I Don't Need Anything/I Don't Need Anything/Tar And Cement




    Verdelle Smith is a female pop singer from America who was a one-hit wonder with the song "Tar and Cement" in 1966. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. 

    "Tar and Cement": Verdelle Smith recorded "Tar and Cement", an English-language version of the 1966 Italian song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" by singer Adriano Celentano. Her English version was written by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance. "Tar and Cement" made it to No. 1 in Australia and to No. 38 in the United States It was also No.6 on "Keener 13" from Detroit radio station WKNR for the week ending June 27, 1966.
    "(Alone) In My Room" was originally a Spanish song written by Joaquin Pieto, and was later recorded by the Walker Brothers on their second LP, Portrait (1966); by Nancy Sinatra, also in 1966, for her debut album Boots; and by Marc and the Mambas for their 1983 album Torment and Toreros. The English lyrics were also written by Pockriss and Vance.
    She also recorded "I Don't Need Anything", which was later a minor UK hit in 1966–67 for Sandie Shaw.

James Brown - 1967 - It's A Man's Man's Man's World FLAC

It's A Man's Man's Man's World/I Got You/Lost Someone/Night Train



James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, organist and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul". In a career that spanned six decades, he influenced the development of several music genres.

Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He joined an R&B vocal group, the Gospel Starlighters (which later evolved into the Flames), in which he was the lead singer. First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of the singing group The Famous Flames with the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". 

During the late 1960s he moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record until his death from congestive heart failure in 2006.

Brown recorded 16 singles that reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts. He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which did not reach number one. Brown has received honors from many institutions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn's analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists. He is ranked seventh on the music magazine Rolling Stone's list of its 100 greatest artists of all time. Rolling Stone has also cited Brown as the most sampled artist of all time.

Tommy Roe - 1967 - Hooray For Hazel @320

Hooray For Hazel/Pretty Flamingo/Where Were You When I Needed You/Wild Thing



 Thomas David "Tommy" Roe (born May 9, 1942, Atlanta, Georgia) is an American pop music singer-songwriter.

Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" (1962) and "Dizzy" (1969), Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late 1960s, but cut some pretty decent rockers along the way, especially early in his career", wrote the Allmusic journalist Bill Dahl.



Roe was raised in Atlanta where he attended Brown High School. After graduating, he landed a job at General Electric soldering wires.

Following a more successful tour of the United Kingdom by his friend Roy Orbison, Roe toured there and then moved to England where he lived for several years. In 1964 Roe recorded a song written by Buzz Cason entitled, "Diane From Manchester Square." It was a story in song about a girl called Diane, who worked in an upstairs office at EMI House, when it was based in London's Manchester Square. Sales of this single in the UK were poor, and it failed to chart. During the 1960s, he had several more Top 40 hits, including 1966's number 8 "Sweet Pea" (number 1 Canada) and number 6 "Hooray for Hazel" (number 2 Canada). In 1969, his song "Dizzy" went to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, number 1 in Canada, as well as number 1 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. This transatlantic chart-topper sold two million copies by mid-April 1969, giving him his third gold disc award.  

Roe guest-starred in an episode of the American sitcom, Green Acres, called "The Four of Spades", which first aired on 8 November 1969, one week to the day before the Hot 100 debut of his final Top 10 single, a track co-written with Freddy Weller, "Jam Up and Jelly Tight", which became his fourth gold record, peaking at number 8 in the U.S. and number 5 in Canada.

Although his style of music declined in popularity with the 1970s mass market, Roe maintained a following and continued to perform at a variety of concert venues, sometimes with 1960s nostalgia rock and rollers such as Freddy Cannon and Bobby Vee. In 1986 Roe was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Blues Band - 1980 - Blues Band

Maggie's Farm/Ain't it tuff/Diddy Wah Diddy/Backdoor Man



 The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and vocalist/slide guitarist Dave Kelly, who had previously played with the John Dummer Blues Band, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. The band’s first line-up also included bassist Gary Fletcher, guitarist Tom McGuinness (also of Manfred Mann) and drummer Hughie Flint, (the two had previously formed McGuinness Flint). In 1982 Flint left and was replaced by former Family drummer Rob

Their first album The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, a mixture of blues standards and original songs featured the Jones and McGuinness composition "Come On In" and their long-standing stage favourite "Flatfoot Sam". This album initially attracted no interest from major record companies, so the band pressed a limited run of 3,000, hand-stamped their logo on the cardboard sleeve and signed them all. After unqualified endorsement from BBC Radio 1 presenter Simon Bates and others, media interest resulted in a recording contract with Arista Records, who re-released the album under the same title. After that they released Ready, Itchy Feet and Brand Loyalty albums and regularly toured through Europe.

They briefly disbanded after recording a live album Bye Bye Blues (1983), but reformed soon afterwards. In the new millennium they recorded albums such as Stepping Out (2002) and Thank You Brother Ray (2004), which paid tribute to Ray Charles. Now in their thirty seventh year as a band, they still perform across Europe with the same line-up.

Tin@ Ch@rles - 1988 - Four Play Volume Eight FLAC

Dance Little Lady Dance/Dr. Love/I Love To Love/Rendezvous



Tina Charles (born 10 March 1954) is an English singer who achieved success as a disco artist in the mid to late 1970s. Her most successful single was the no. 1 hit "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" in 1976. 

Born Tina Hoskins in Whitechapel, London, to Charles Hoskins who worked in a box making factory in Bow, London, England and his wife Hilda, she recovered from meningitis as a newborn. She has a brother, Warren, who was her tour manager for a time during the height of her career.

On launching her music career, she did not use her real name, Hoskins, since this might have caused confusion with Mary Hopkin, better known at the time. She chose "Charles", as it was her father's name.

Charles began her career as a backing singer and session musician, and recorded her first solo single in 1969 with a then-unknown Elton John playing piano. During the early 1970s she supplied vocals for the Top of the Pops album series of cover versions of contemporary hits. In 1971 she made appearances in the first series of The Two Ronnies, the BBC1 sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, performing songs such as "River Deep - Mountain High" and "Ruby Tuesday".

In 1975 Charles and her friend Linda Lewis were backing vocalists on the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chart topping song, "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)". She provided the lead vocals for 5000 Volts' 1975 disco hit single "I'm on Fire". Although not publicly acknowledged as a group member at the time due to contractual problems, Charles was considered to have a stronger voice than the group's later official lead singers. The song reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, and 26 in the Billboard Hot 100.

Charles' big break came soon after in 1975, when Indian-British composer/producer Biddu, who had just enjoyed massive success worldwide with the disco hit "Kung Fu Fighting" for Carl Douglas, produced the singles "You Set My Heart on Fire" and "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" for her. The latter single spent three weeks at number one on the UK chart in March 1976, and was a major hit around the world. It won a Juno Award in 1977.

Biddu's collaboration continued on a future album and another song hit: "Dance Little Lady Dance". In total, Charles spent 42 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1976 alone, mainly due to these two records. During this time, her touring band included Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, who would later go on to find success as the Buggles, then as members of Yes, and later as a top record producer (Horn) and founding member of Asia (Downes).

Further hits like "Love Me Like a Lover", "Dr Love", "Rendezvous" and "Love Bug" made her a pop star in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, but she was never able to achieve success in the US. Her only solo recording to chart significantly in the US was "You Set My Heart on Fire," which reached number 3 on Record World's 'Disco File Top 20' chart in the autumn of 1975.

In 1978, Charles was a joint winner at the World Popular Song Festival held in Tokyo, performing the tune, "Love Rocks". Charles represented the UK, and shared the top prize with Japan's own entry.

By 1980 her career was in decline, and disco music generally was losing some of its public appeal. She attempted to change her disco style for her 1980 album Just One Smile for a more hard edge rock electronic style but the album was virtually ignored. Charles married and had a child, and devoted herself for some years to her family life, putting her singing career on hold. In the mid-1980s she had a resurgence with a remix of "I Love to Love" which was produced by Sanny X.

Since 2000, Charles has performed throughout Europe where disco music and her hit singles have been reappraised, and she has become a popular live performer. Charles featured in the Top 5 of the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Higher" in 2006. The song was produced by longtime friend and associate Sanny X. She made a guest appearance with The Producers at their 2007 concert, singing "Slave to the Rhythm". In October 2007, Charles recorded "Hide and Seek" with producer Ian Levine for the album Disco 2008. Her latest album, Listen 2 the Music was released in March 2008.

In 2010, Charles was signed by the British writer and producer Carl M Cox to his PMG Music production and record label. Other notable acts that have been signed by Cox's label are Sinitta and Amanda Lear. Charles' first single with PMG, "Your Love Is My Light", was released physically on 7 November 2011 and digitally on 14 November 2011. The track was both co-written and produced by former PWL record producers Dave Ford and Ian Curnow, plus Carl M Cox. The single was remixed by Pete Hammond. Hammond, like the aforementioned Ford and Curnow, was another of the studio engineers and producers at PWL.

It has also been announced that Charles is set to embark on a live tour with 5000 Volts, the band with which she experienced her first hit record.

@dam @nd The @nts - 1988 - Four Play Volume Twelve FLAC

 'Antmusic'/Stand And Deliver/Prince Charming/Goody Two Shoes



 One of the seminal figures of new wave, Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) had several distinct phases to his career. Initially, he explored jagged, guitar-oriented post-punk with his group Adam and the Ants before giving way to a more pop-oriented, glam-tinged musical direction that brought him to the top of the charts. After that had run its course, he refashioned himself as a mainstream singer, which enabled him to stretch his career out for a couple of years. Once it seemed like his musical career had evaporated, he made an unexpected comeback in the early '90s as an adult alternative artist. During all this time, he recorded several great pop singles and had a surprisingly large impact on alternative rock.

 Adam Ant formed Adam and the Ants with guitarist Lester Square, bassist Andy Warren, and drummer Paul Flanagan in London in 1977. The group's approach was more theatrical than most punk groups, incorporating sadomasochistic imagery into their concerts. During this time, the group's lineup was fairly unstable, with Square being replaced by Mark Gaumont. The band released their debut, Dirk Wears White Sox, on the independent label Do It in 1979. Dirk was an ambitious and somewhat dark album, filled with jerky rhythms and angular guitar riffs, and elements of glam rock crept into Ant's vocals; Ant re-acquired the rights to the record in 1983, reissuing it in a re-sequenced and remixed form, with the tracks "Catholic Day" and "Day I Met God" replaced by "Zerox" and "Kick," as well as including a new version of "Cartrouble."

At the time of its release, Dirk Wears White Sox wasn't a critical or a commercial success and the band felt the need to rework their image. Ant hired Malcolm McLaren, the manager of the Sex Pistols, to help redefine their image. McLaren dressed the band in pirate outfits and suggested a more accessible and pop-oriented rhythmic variation on punk. Adam and the Ants followed his advice, preparing material for a new album. However, McLaren persuaded all of the Ants to leave Adam, using them as the core members of Bow Wow Wow. Adam Ant immediately formed a new version of the Ants, adding guitarist Marco Pirroni, bassist Kevin Mooney, and drummers Terry Lee Miall and Merrick (born Chris Hughes). Pirroni, in particular, became very important in the band's musical direction, co-writing the majority of the songs with Ant, thus beginning a collaboration between the duo that would continue into the '90s.

 Driven by a relentless beat and chanting melodies, the new band's first album, 1980's Kings of the Wild Frontier, became an enormous hit in the U.K., launching three Top Ten hit singles, including the number two "Ant Music." The band's success was helped by a series of visually enticing videos, prominently featuring the skinny, handsome Adam Ant decked out in pirate gear. Prince Charming, released the following year, retained the same formula as Kings of the Wild Frontier, spawning two number one singles, "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming." Even though the album was a commercial success, the formula was beginning to wear thin.


After Prince Charming, Adam Ant ditched the Ants for a solo career, retaining Marco Pirroni as a songwriting collaborator and a supporting musician. Ant's first solo album, Friend or Foe, was released in 1982 and featured the number one single "Goody Two Shoes" and the Top Ten title track. Although his next album, 1983's Strip, had some highlights and hit singles, it marked the end of his reign as one of Britain's top pop stars.

Released in 1985, the Tony Visconti-produced Vive le Rock had some fun moments, but the performance was too studied and the record didn't earn any hit singles, so Adam Ant pursued a surprisingly successful career in acting. In 1990, Ant made a comeback with the catchy hit single "Room at the Top" from the Manners & Physique record, but the album failed to produce another hit single. For the next five years, Ant concentrated on acting.


By the time Ant returned to recording in 1995, echoes of his music could be heard in the spiky singles of Elastica, the neo-goth industrial rock of Nine Inch Nails, and the pseudo-glam of Suede. Instead of capitalizing on the burgeoning new wave revival, Adam Ant's 1995 comeback, Wonderful, had little to do with the stylish, intensely rhythmic sound he made in the early '80s. Instead, the album repositioned him as a more mature pop/rocker, with crafted songs that featured acoustic guitars as prominently as electrics. The album was a moderate hit in the U.S. and the U.K., as was the single "Wonderful."

New link added 26.11.2018

Juniors Eyes - 1970 - Star Child FLAC

Star Child/Sink Or Swim/Playtime/I'm Drowning



Junior's Eyes was a British group led by guitarist Mick Wayne (born Michael Wayne, 1945, Kingston upon Hull - died 26 June 1994), which recorded one album and is notable for acting as David Bowie's backing band during 1969.

Mick Wayne's first group was 'The Outsiders', with Jimmy Page on guitar. After recording one single for Decca Records in 1965, the Outsiders broke up the following year at which point Wayne joined Hull musicians 'The Hullaballoos', replacing Ricky Knight briefly before they too broke up. He made an attempt to form a new line-up in Hull with drummer John Cambridge but soon returned to London (Cambridge later joined Hull band 'The Rats', with guitarist Mick Ronson). Wayne next joined the 'Bunch of Fives' (including ex-Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince) during 1966 and this band evolved into 'The Tickle', with band members Mick Wayne (guitar), Mike Docker (vocals), Dave Williams (keyboards), Richard Dowling (bass) and John Beckerman (drums). The Tickle's only single - "Subway (Smokey Pokey World)" - has appeared on many psychedelic compilation albums, including Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers: Psychedelic Confectionery.

 After the break-up of the Tickle, Mick Wayne formed Junior's Eyes in early 1968, initially with drummer John 'Candy' Carr and then with John 'Honk' Lodge (ex-Graham Bond Organisation) (bass) and Steve Chapman (drums). They recorded a debut single with the help of pianist Rick Wakeman and producer Tony Visconti. The trio added singer Graham 'Grom' Kelly and (briefly) organist John Redfern in late 1968 and began work on an album. Battersea Power Station was released in June 1969.

That same month, Mick Wayne and Rick Wakeman were among the guest musicians who recorded David Bowie's breakthrough hit "Space Oddity". For the follow-up Space Oddity album recorded between June and September 1969, Bowie and producer Visconti were backed by a new line-up of Junior's Eyes comprising Mick Wayne (guitar), John 'Honk' Lodge (bass), John Cambridge (drums) and Tim Renwick (guitar, flute, recorder). The same band backed Bowie on a BBC Radio Dave Lee Travis Show session in October 1969, and (without Wayne) on single B-side "Conversation Piece", recorded in January 1970. Wayne had also helped record James Taylor's debut album between July and October 1968, and Honk had played on the album Think Pink (track "Rock and Roll the Joint") by Pretty Things drummer Twink in July 1969. These recording session for other artists disrupted the progress of the band, and the new line-up recorded only one single. They played their final gig on 3 February 1970, supporting Bowie. At this gig Cambridge introduced Bowie to his former 'Rats' bandmate Mick Ronson, and within days Cambridge, Ronson and Visconti (playing bass) were Bowie's new backing band 'The Hype', but Cambridge departed at the end of March.

New link added 26.11.2018

Paul Mauriat - 1968 - Love Is Blue WAVE

Love Is Blue/Puppet On A String/Love In Every Room/The Spring (La Source)


Paul Mauriat 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006) was a French orchestra leader, conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, who specialized in the easy listening genre. He is best known in the United States for his million-selling remake of André Popp's "Love is Blue", which was #1 for 5 weeks in 1968. Other recordings for which he is known include El Bimbo, "Toccata," "Love in Every Room/Même si tu revenais," and "Penelope."

 

Mauriat was born and grew up in Marseille, France. His father was a postal inspector who loved to play classical piano and violin. Mauriat began playing music at the age of four and enrolled in the Conservatoire in Marseille at the age of 10, but by the time he was 17, he had fallen in love with jazz and popular music. During World War II, Mauriat started his own dance band and toured concert halls throughout Europe. In the 1950s, he became musical director to at least two well-known French singers, Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier, touring with them respectively.

In 1957, Mauriat released his first EP Paul Mauriat, a four track RGM release. Between 1959–1964 Mauriat recorded several albums on the Bel-Air record label under the name Paul Mauriat et Son Orchestre, as well as using the various pseudonyms of Richard Audrey, Nico Papadopoulos, Eduardo Ruo, and Willy Twist, to better reflect the international flavour of his recordings. During this period, Mauriat also released several recordings with Les Satellites, where he creatively arranged vocal backing harmony for such albums as Slow Rock and Twist, (1961), A Malypense (1962) and Les Satellites Chantent Noel (1964).

Mauriat composed the music for several French movie soundtracks (also released on Bel-Air), including Un Taxi Pour Tobrouk (1961), Horace 62 (1962) and Faites Sauter La Banque (1964).

He wrote his first song with André Pascal. In 1958, they were prizewinners in the le Coq d'or de la Chanson Française with Rendez-vous au Lavandou. Using the pseudonym of Del Roma, Mauriat was to have his first international hit with Chariot, which he wrote in collaboration with friends Franck Pourcel (co-composer), Jacques Plante (French lyrics) and Raymond Lefèvre (orchestrator). In the United States the song was recorded as I Will Follow Him by Little Peggy March and became #1 on the Billboard charts in all categories for three weeks in 1963. In 1992, the song was featured prominently in the film Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg. More recently, Eminem included an extract in his song, Guilty Conscience.

Between 1967 and 1972, he wrote numerous songs with André Pascal for Mireille Mathieu; Mon Crédo (1,335,000 copies sold), Viens dans ma rue, La première étoile, Géant, etc.—to name but a few—and contributed 130 song arrangements for Charles Aznavour.

In 1965, Mauriat established Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, and released hundreds of recordings and compilations through the Philips label for the next 28 years. In 1994, he signed with Japanese record company Pony Canyon, where he re-recorded some of his greatest hits and wrote new compositions. Mauriat recorded many of these albums in both Paris and London, utilising several English classical musicians in these recordings.

In 1968, his late 1967 cover of the André Popp/Pierre Cour tune “L’amour est bleu” (“Love Is Blue”) became a number 1 hit in the US. The song spent five weeks at the top of the charts. Two other Mauriat singles also made the charts in the US —“Love in Every Room/Même si tu revenais” (recorded in 1965; charted in 1968) and the title theme from the movie "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang". “Love Is Blue” was the first instrumental to hit number 1 on the Billboard charts since the Tornados hit with “Telstar” in 1962 and the only American number-one single to be recorded in France. The success of the song and the album on which it appeared, Blooming Hits, established Mauriat as an international recording star.
In 1969, Mauriat started his first world tour with his Grand Orchestra, visiting countries like the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and other Latin American countries.

 In 1970s and 1980s Mauriat released the entire albums that paid homage to his musical roots. "Paul Mauriat joue Chopin", "Classics in the Air" (volumes 1,2,3) features classical music, like Chopin's "Grande valse brillante", Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”, and Pachelbel’s “Canon”, given the “Mauriat” spin.

Paul Mauriat's phenomenon in Japan started in beginning of 1970s. He is only international artist who played two sold-out shows in one day at the famous arena Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.

For several decades, some of Mauriat's compositions served as musical tracks for Soviet television programmes and short movies, such as the 1977 animated Polygon (film), "In the world of animals" (V mire zhivotnykh) and "Kinopanorama", among others.

Mauriat retired from performing in 1998. He gave his final performance in the Sayonara Concert, recorded live in Osaka, Japan, but his orchestra continued to tour around the world before his death in 2006. Mauriat's former lead pianist, Gilles Gambus, became the orchestra's conductor in 2000 and led successful tours of Japan, China, and Russia. Gambus had worked with Mauriat for more than 25 years. In 2005, classical French Horn instrumentalist, Jean-Jacques Justafré conducted the orchestra during a tour of Japan and Korea.

Paul Mauriat died on 3 November 2006 in Perpignan, France, age 81.. After his death, The Paul Mauriat Grand Orchestra also ceased to exist.

Faces - 1971 - Many FLAC

Sweet Lady Mary/Had Me A Real Good Time/Memphis/Wicked Messenger



 Faces were an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of Small Faces after lead singer/guitarist Steve Marriott left that group to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (bass guitar), and Kenney Jones (drums and percussion)—were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from The Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed Faces.

The first collaboration among the future Faces was in a formation called Quiet Melon, which also featured Wood's older brother Art Wood and Kim Gardner; they recorded four songs and played a few shows in May 1969, during a break in Ronnie Wood's and Rod Stewart's commitments with The Jeff Beck Group. Later that summer Wood and Stewart parted ways with Beck and joined Lane, McLagan and Jones full-time. Prior to any releases by the new Faces lineup, Wood and McLagan appeared on Stewart's first solo album in 1969, An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (known as The Rod Stewart Album in the US). The rest of the backing band on the album included drummer Micky Waller, keyboardist Keith Emerson and guitarists Martin Pugh (of Steamhammer, and later Armageddon and 7th Order) and Martin Quittenton (also from Steamhammer).

With the addition of Wood and Stewart, the "small" part of the original band name was dropped, partly because the two newcomers (at 5'9" and 5'10" respectively) were significantly taller than the three former Small Faces. Hoping to capitalise on the Small Faces' earlier success, record company executives wanted the band to keep their old name; however, the band objected, arguing the personnel changes resulted in a group very different from the Small Faces. As a compromise, in the US their debut album was credited to the Small Faces, while subsequent albums appeared under their new name.

The group regularly toured Britain, Europe and the United States from 1970 to 1975, and were among the top-grossing live acts in that period, in 1974 their touring also encompassed Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Among their most successful songs were "Had Me a Real Good Time", their breakthrough UK hit "Stay with Me", "Cindy Incidentally" and "Pool Hall Richard". As Rod Stewart's solo career became more successful than that of the group, the band became overshadowed by their lead singer. A disillusioned Ronnie Lane left the band in 1973 one reason given later for his departure was frustration over not having more opportunities to sing lead vocals.

Lane's role as bassist was taken over by Tetsu Yamauchi (who had replaced Andy Fraser in Free). Released just months before Lane left the band, the Faces' final studio album was Ooh La La.

The following year a live album was released, entitled Coast to Coast: Overture and Beginners; it was criticised by reviewers for being poorly recorded and thought out. It featured selections from their late 1973 tour, the first featuring Yamauchi. They recorded a few tracks for another studio album, but had lost enthusiasm and their final release as a group was the late 1974 UK Top 20 hit "You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything". In 1975 Wood began working with the Rolling Stones, which brought differences between Stewart and the others to a head, and after a troubled fall US tour (with Jesse Ed Davis on rhythm guitar), in December the band announced that they were splitting.

New link added 26.11.2018