Search - Small Faces :: Immediate Album Collection

Upon Further Review..It's Fantastic!

M. Poer | Dallas,TX | 07/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a collection of the three Immediate Small Faces albums (the second phase of their career) in a small box set. The packaging is nice and fairly authentic to the original LP versions. "Ogden's" replicates the round, multi-fold cover of the original LP. If you are a Small Faces fan this is nice set to have and relatively inexpensive for a 3 disc set with packaging this nice.



The Small Faces were one of the greatest bands of the British invasion. They were every bit as good as the Who or the Kinks during the same period. Too bad American audiences didn't give them the same attention those artists received.



This is an update to my earlier review where I said the packaging was first rate but the sound could be better. I have been collecting Small Faces material for many years and finally sat down and went through the multiple versions of their albums and compilations to decide which ones had the best sound. The final verdict is that there is no one collection that has the best sound for every track. But I must admit that I now think this set is one of the two best sounding Small Faces collections available. The other is also a Sanctuary label import titled "Ultimate Collection". (Yes, even better than the "Darlings of Whapping" collection. That collection has a thin and brittle quality to the music.)



For those not having the time to wade through the many Small Faces collections out there, I can give you a couple of short cuts to easily help you determine if a particular collection has good quality sound are not.

The two songs to sample are "Afterglow" and "Wham Bam, Thank You Mam". "Afterglow" is one of their best songs but was never recorded very well. I'm guessing it was recorded too loud and there are many layers so possibly the sound was degraded as they 'bounced' tracks to add the mulitple layers. On bad versions of this song the sound becomes a muddy mess with the organ, guitars and vocals all blending into a distorted mush. It ruins a song that while Rocking hard has a beautiful melody. The song appears twice on this 3 CD set (on "Ogden's" and "Autumn") are the clearest and cleanest available.

"Wham Bam" appears on many SM compilations and most have sub-par versions. Some have it drenched in echo, phasing or with Steve Marriott's voice buried in the background. The version on "Immediate Album Collection" is one of the best, but the clear winner is the version on "Ultimate Collection". The "UL" version is clear and crisp with Steve's voice solidly upfront. This song was a look into the future of what Humble Pie would sound like on "Rocking The Fillmore" and "Smokin'".

So, if you only buy one Small Faces set, get this one, the "Immediate Album Collection" for both the excellent packaging a great sound. And you get all three of their Immediate albums in their original versions. For more (and to get the best of both their earlier Decca recordings and Immediate recordings) also buy "Ultimate Collection".



I originally gave this 3 CD set 4 stars, now I think it is 5 stars all the way!"