From the Beginning by Small Faces

From the Beginning was Decca's parting shot at the Small Faces: a 1967 compilation the label put out after the band had already walked out the door, stitching their hit singles for the company together with recordings nobody had heard. It catches the London mod outfit as they had been, Steve Marriott on guitar and lead vocals, Ronnie Lane on bass, Kenney Jones on drums and Ian McLagan on keyboards, just as they were turning into something else.

The hits are the draw, and "All or Nothing" still lands like a haymaker, Marriott's voice big and raw, British R&B pushed about as hard as it would go. The unreleased material fills in the corners of a band that ran hot and fast. By the time the record reached the shops the Small Faces were off chasing psychedelia, and it still climbed to number 17 on the Record Retailer album chart in the UK.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.