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The Small Faces second single for Decca and the follow-up to their top twenty hit, What'Cha gonna do about it, was the excellent I've Got Mine penned by Steve and Ronnie.
The number was a brooding piece of blue-eyed soul which the music press loved. However, the record buying public inexplicably ignored it.
It was because of I've Got Mine's failure that manager Don Arden lost faith in the Marriott/Lane songwriting team, prompting him to bring in Kenny Lynch to pen their next single. Which was to be Sha La La La Lee.
The Small Faces were always fond of I've Got Mine and actually went on to use its backing track for the Instrumental Ogden's Nut Gone Flake from the album of the same name. I've Got Mine's failure to chart adds to its rarity value with Steve delivering a gruff vocal on the single.
The flip side, It's Too Late, was another band original, which was similar in style and content to The Who's The Good's Gone (which turned up a month later on their debut LP My Generation) and also had flashed of Booker T and the
MGs. The hybrid of these two bands showed firmly where the Small Faces influences were coming from at the time.
Footnote: I've Got Mine was also featured in the 1965 film Dateline Diamonds which saw the Small Faces (including Jimmy Winston) miming the song in front of a happy crowd of dancers.
(Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette)
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