Crackle and Pop 2

The Small Faces have sometimes been overlooked as one of the premier mod bands of the sixties, but they have been given their dues in this recent NME Originals on Mods. (For all things mod visit here!)
After The Who they were my favourite mod band and were a particular favourite of teenage girls everywhere due to there boyish good looks. (Steve Marriots trademark centre parting hairstyle was requested in many gents barbers!)
They had a string of excellent hits, fab clothes and groovy shoes, but were plagued by label problems that didn’t help their career and led to Steve Marriot leaving to join Peter Frampton in Humble Pie (bad, bad, move). The rest of them joined up with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood (both pinched from Jeff Becks group, he was not amused) to form The Faces, the ultimate good time band.
The Small Faces don't have much of a web presence, but a decent fan site can be found here, and Ian McClagan has his own website with stories pictures etc.
There is now at long last a cd collection that does them justice. “The Ultimate Collection” available from Amazon.uk, and (at a price) Amazon.com.

A favourite of mine is "I Feel Much Better” the “b” side to 1967's “Tin Soldier” Both tracks benefiting from the backing vocals of P.P. Arnold. (Who had a major hit of her own with “First Cut is the Deepest”). I think this was bought cheap after it had charted from the bargain bin of the local department store, the way I obtained most of my vinyl!

I Feel Much Better (mp3/vinyl rip/mono)

The ambient life - David Sylvian

David Sylvian has been one of the great survivors of the early eighties. The goldfish bowl of life in his early band Japan became intolerable and they split and he started a solo career that has seen a wealth of fine music produced over numerous albums.
Spike magazine has an interesting article on how his spiritual quest has affected his music. Over at the BBC there is a Japan/David Sylvian RR Buyers Guide. Mainly for the early solo stuff. A good starting point would be the two anthologies "Everything and Nothing" (vocal) and "Camphor" (instrumental). I rate him (along with Scott Walker) one of my all time favourite vocalists.

His recent album "Blemish" has now been followed by a remix version of the album. And an album with his brother and ex-Japan drummer Steve Jansen is also in the pipeline.

MP3s can be found on his official site (a bit flash heavy), they are added to regularly and include live and remixed or revised versions of tracks. Many other music and video downloads are available at the main fan site.