This book takes a different approach to other books about Small Faces. It
is a short book that can be read in an evening and it focuses on one aspect of
the Small Faces story. The book starts with the assumption that interest
in the career and music of Small Faces was reignited with the advent of
YouTube. Some would argue that the renewed interest in the East End Fab Four
came earlier than this. However, there are plenty of videos on YouTube of
promotional films, studio performances, live and mimed, as well as a couple of
live performances. In the 1960s, there was far fewer performances captured to
film or tape. There was no-one shooting videos on their phones. Furthermore,
many studio performances were simply taped over so the tapes could be reused and
the performances were lost for ever. This was not just the case with Small
Faces. Even bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had
much of their output wiped.
So this books analyses Small Faces videos on YouTube with backgrounds
about the programmes and performances. Ideally, it should be read while watching
the videos. It is not complete as there are quite a few YouTube videos that are
not covered. There is more than one version of Tin Soldier, Lazy
Sunday and Itchycoo Park (not Itchykoo Park as spelt in the book).
There is a Swedish version of Talk To You, the Morecambe & Wise clips,
the live Marquee footage, two of the Beat Beat Beat clips that are also not
included. However, the videos that are covered are certainly of interest and it
makes an enjoyable read.
This book will not provide much new information about Small Faces but it
is fun to read and it is an inexpensive addition to the Small Faces bookshelf.
