Tuesday, April 13 2010

Breakbeat Tuesday – Break-Face

So it was a great week and weekend. Thanks to everyone that came out to see me and Eli rock on Saturday – that was a lot of fun, and I got a chance to play all vinyl again, which is such a special treat for me. And apologies to everyone that came to see me rock at Santos – unfortunately there was a scheduling and time slot mix-up and I didn’t get a chance to play, but will be back there soon. In the meantime I will be in Zihuatanejo, Mexico this weekend but back next week with a full schedule of events. So I hope to see you all out. Okay, now off to the races, or better yet… The Breaks!

So Rod Stewart is one of them dudes that was just way too corny for me growing up, like he was the antithesis of “cool” for people my generation. I know that he had a pretty potent musical pedigree, but by the the time I was really exposed to him he had really gone the way into faux-crooner mode, completely schmaltzy and lame. Now I kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt because my mom and them liked him, and even as a kid I dug his disco-crossover “Do You Think I’m Sexy” which is a guilty pleasure (even though it’s directly lifted from Jorge Ben’s “Taj Mahal” for reals…)

But like I said, I knew there was more to dude and I never really knew how bad-ass Rod was until I started peeping Faces, his original band with Ronnie Wood. Dudes were really on their schitt. Stewart and Wood came over from The Jeff Beck Group so they were already well-versed in that British Blues style. These 2 dudes, complete with the rest of the band (originally called Small Faces) gelled like glue and rocked like crazy. And attitude, they got that attitude in spades.

So in the short time span of less than 4 years these dudes put of 4 incredible albums and made their mark, only for everyone to go there separate ways and careers, most notable Stewart as a solo artist and Tony Bennett imitator, and Wood joining The Stones for further fame, glory and excess decadence. But About The Breaks, this one is off the 1971 “Long Player” album. “Bad ‘n’ Ruin” is a really great bluesy number that just moves, and when it gets to about the 3 1/2 minute mark, drummer Kenney Jones just lays in for 4 bars of hard-hitting, straight ahead openness. Nothing fancy or intricate, but just smacking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Sometimes, simpler is much better.

Faces “Bad ‘n’ Ruin” (Warner Brothers, 1971)

Bonus YouTube Beat: Check out Faces performing Bad ‘n’ Ruin on Britain’s Top Of The Pops in 1971.  Super ill performance and dudes go off on it. A really great video, and when Jones’ drum solo comes on he smacks it even harder than he does on the actual recording. Plus, check out Ronnie’s toilet seat guitar. Nasty…