Small Faces – ”Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake” (1968)

This album is a little gem. A psychedelic creation that’s fun and enjoyable to listen to, even if it’s a little too funny and whimsical at times. Most people believe that Ogden's Nut Gone Flake was Small Faces’ best creation.

The A-side is of the traditional kind in that it is a set of individual songs, while the B-side consists of a cohesive theme where we hear the story of Happiness Stan, who embarks on the search for the answer to where half the moon has gone. As an additional plus, he also gets the answer to the meaning of life after an encounter with Mad John. The spoken story is interspersed with groovy music.

Personally, I like the A-side best, which consists of a row of fantastic songs. It opens up with the somewhat bombastic and instrumental title track and then continues towards even greater heights. At the moment the A-side belongs to one of my absolute favourites when it comes to music from the psychedelic era. Really great creations.

The B-side is also good, the songs are nice but I think the story of Happiness Stan is a little bit too whimsical. I probably would have liked it better if they had told the story with music only. The spoken narrative takes up a little too much time, also. But as I said, the songs are good when you finally get to hear them.

From the start, the cover of the LP was round as the tobacco tins it parodies. But it was too expensive, so after a while it was changed to an ordinary, quadratic, cover. I have of course a quadratic cover, when a LP with the original cover for once shows up it usually costs around 200 USD (here in Sweden), a vinyl record trader told me.

 

Small Faces could never play the whole Ogden's Nut Gone Flake live as the music was a bit too complex, especially the B-side with a lot of studio work and additions. 1969 Steve Marriott left the band and was later replaced with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart. The band then shortened its name to Faces.

Odgen's Nut Gone Flake is a record that can be recommended, especially if you like music from the 60s later half with a psychedelic touch. That it becomes a little too whimsical at times, one can survive. I had to look for quite a while before I finally found it in a vinyl record store in Uppsala, but surely it's quicker through the internet if you’re interested.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake 2:26
2. Afterglow Of Your Love 3:31
3. Long Agos And  Worlds Apart 2:35
4. Rene 4:29
5. Song Of A Baker 3:15
6. Lazy Sunday 3:05

Side B

1. Happiness Stan 2:35
2. Rollin’ Over 2:50
3. The Hungry Intruder 2:15
4. The Journey 4:12
5. Mad John 2:48
6. Happy Days Toy Town 4:17