First Step - THE FACES***

Wicked Messenger/Devotion/Shake Shudder Shiver/Stone/Around The Plynth/Flying/Pineapple & The Monkey/ Nobody Knows/Looking Out The Window/Three Button Hand Me Down

First Step was the debut album form The Faces. They grew out of the successful sixties mod group The Small Faces after they were joined by Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. (US:119 UK:45)

"Steve Marriott's out, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood are in, and hey presto, a brand new band with a brand new sound is born from the ashes of The Small Faces. Now simply The Faces, the group's debut album offers a melange of Americanainfluenced rock - there's blues-rock, country-rock, and some plain old rock besides. What's particularly notable is how much Rod Stewart isn't dominating the band during these proceedings - indeed, on some cuts he's simply providing backing vocals - and just what a low and dirty blues morass The Faces could conjure up. Few really strong songs per se, but some real nice jamming nonetheless, and all in all this is a decent opening album."

"First Step establishes the revamped Faces' change of direction with a set of woozy, laid back blues rock. It ends up a little underwritten and jammy, but is ripe with the band's signature brand of dishevelled rock."

"Rod Stewart and Ron Wood join the post Marriott Small Faces and produce a complete change in the bands sound. The mod soul and psychedelia of the past is replaced by a heavy blues rock sound built predominately around Wood's slide guitar and MacLagan's keyboards .Clearly fantastic musicians with Rod's raw vocals, they should have been as big as Led Zeppelin. What prevents them is the lack of quality songwriting. Only Flying, Three Button Hand Me Down and the cover of Dylan's Wicked Messenger stand out in this set though."

"Small Faces lose Steve Marriott to Humble Pie, things look bleak. They recruit Ron Wood who then suggests vocalist extraordinaire Rod Stewart. The result is this awesome first record, bluesy and whiskey soaked. I love this record, probably my favourite of The Faces stuff."

"A somewhat entertaining debut featuring Rod and Ronnie, this album's main flaw is that it's far too bluesy for its own good. The album starts off decently, with the first few numbers ringing true. After that, First Step begins to rely on a repetitive formula for the rest of its duration. Still, a sign of better things to come for the band."