Small Faces

One of the most popular and influential bands of the 1960s, the Small Faces were heroes of the mod culture, tribal fashion leaders for a youth movement riding around on motor scooters, wearing parka jackets sporting the Union Jack as their emblem of choice. They strongly influenced later bands like The Jam and Brit pop groups such as Oasis but, with an unusually soulful singer in Steve Marriott and a penchant for irreverent, upbeat soul-pop, they also released some of the best singles of the decade, including Itchycoo Park, Lazy Sunday, All Or Nothing and Tin Soldier. In 1968 the band released one of Britain's first - and most successful - concept albums, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake; a Number 1 UK album with a groundbreaking circular sleeve design marking their ambitious move into psychedelia with a bizarre musical fairy tale, narrated by Stanley Unwin. The album was hailed as a masterpiece, but the Small Faces found it impossible to perform it live, causing friction in the band, and resulting in Marriott's departure the following year. The rest of the band recruited Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood and evolved into the Faces while Marriott launched Humble Pie. Later attempts to reunite the Small Faces in the mid-1970s proved short-lived.