May 24, 2013

THE ALBUM OF THE DAY
THE SMALL FACES...Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
Released: May 25, 1968 
Label – Immediate
Producer – Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott
Art Direction – Ronnie Lane
Nationality – UK
Running Time – 38:27
Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
2. Afterglow Of Your Love
3. Long Agos And Worlds Apart
4. Rene
5. Song Of A Baker
6. Lazy Sunday
7. Happiness Stan
8. Rollin' Over
9. Hungry Intruder
10. Journey
11. Mad John
12. Happy Days Toy Town

“Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake” was a concept album by the English rock band Small Faces. Coming after the success of "Itchycoo Park" this album was a mix of all the popular albums being released at the time. It’s a variety show, it’s a storytellers album and it’s a actor/performer piece. The Small Faces tried a little bit of all of these approaches on this record. Side one's material would not have been out of place on any other Small Faces release, and it is top notch. "Afterglow (Of Your Love)", "Rene", "Song of a Baker." and "Lazy Sunday," are all guitar crunching bass and drum pounding anthems the Small Faces were known for. Side two – the story side - is more elaborate, with overdubbed harps and light orchestration here and there, all linked by a narration about a character called "Happiness Stan." The core of the sound is still the pounding beats on tracks like "Rollin' Over".
This was a very enjoyable album to listen to and it’s not surprising that the record went to number one spot on the U.K. charts for six weeks in 1968. Although the core of the group would go on to greater success as simply the Faces – this was the Small Faces crowning achievement. The album was originally released on vinyl in a circular novelty package of a metal replica of a giant tobacco tin inside which was a poster created with 6 connected paper circles with pictures of the band members. The title and the design of the distinctive packaging was a parody of Ogdens' Nut-brown Flake, a brand of tobacco which was produced in Liverpool from 1899. In 2000 Q magazine placed Ogden's Nut Gone Flake at number 59 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever
It is recommended.



ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MAY 24
Bob Dylan is 72; Albert Bouchard, formerly with Blue Oyster Cult, is 66; Jimmy Ashhurst of Buckcherry is 50; Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes is 44; Cody Hanson of Hinder is 31;

ON THIS DATE
1963 Blues great Elmore James dies in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 45
1991 Gene Clark of the Byrds dies of a heart attack at the age of 46 in Sherman Oaks, California
1994 Bret Michaels of Poison crashes his Ferrari into a telephone pole in Burbank, California
2005 Motley Crue files a lawsuit against NBC for banning the band after Vince Neil slipped in a cuss word on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno
2005 'Out Of Exile' by Audioslave is released
2005 'Karma And Effect' by Seether is released
2006 Elton John is awarded $188,000 in damages from The Daily Mail after the UK newspaper claimed that John told guest not to approach him at one of his charity ball. That same day the Rolling Stones cancel 15 shows due to a head injury Keith Richard suffered
2010 Paul Gray of Slipknot died in Urbandale, Iowa at the age of 38
2013 The members of the Stone Temple Pilots file a lawsuit in Los Angeles against their former lead singer Scott Weiland.   The band wants Weiland to stop using the bands name to further his solo career and they want Weiland stripped of the right to perform STP songs, use their name or to even call himself a former member
2013 Another lawsuit filed in Los Angeles has Kathy Valentine, formerly with the Go-Go's,  suing her 4 former bandmates, claiming they have created a new entity, GoGoCo Corp., in order to use their majority control of Ladyhead to “license the band’s name, brand and trademark” to GoGoCo and "dilute the Plaintiff’s share of band revenues.”