In Memoriam (Small Faces album)

By mid-1968, the Small Faces had begun to fall apart despite their popular success in the UK. "Lazy Sunday", which was released by Immediate records without the band's knowledge or consent, had reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart,[4] and according to drummer Kenney Jones, this was considered a "nail in the coffin" for the band by lead vocalist and guitarist Steve Marriott, since Marriott wanted to distance himself from the frivolous image of 'boy band idol' which he had grown to detest, and to be seen as a more serious musician.[5][6][7]

Marriott's own choice of follow-up to "Lazy Sunday" was "The Universal", which was largely recorded on a portable tape recorder in Marriott's backyard.[8] Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan did not play on the recording, as he had lately become exhausted by Marriott's mercurial creative temperament.[9] Despite its whimsical charms however, "The Universal" proved to be a relatively disappointing chart 'failure' for the band, reaching only number 16 on the UK chart.[4]

Marriott had considered "The Universal" the best song he had written so far, and was crushed by its lukewarm reception. However the band had also recently released their third studio album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake to both critical and commercial acclaim (it reached number 1 in the UK, staying on top of the charts for six weeks).[10] As a consequence of enduring such opposing fortunes in quick succession, Marriott suffered a crisis of confidence and developed writer's block which left him unable to compose music completely for a while afterward.[11][12] Despite the immense success of the "Ogdens" album, by July 1968 the Small Faces seemed at a sudden loss to consolidate it and started to drift apart even more. By September Marriott wanted to invite guitar player Peter Frampton, a fellow disaffected teen heart-throb, into the band's lineup in order to beef up the band's sound and focus more on his singing.[13][14] Much to Marriott's dismay, however, this idea was vehemently opposed by Bassist and co-writer Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan. As a result Marriott now began to grow sour on the band's future prospects. At the behest of their producer/engineer Glyn Johns and with Frampton in tow, the Small Faces performed as a five-piece backing band for the sessions of a new Johnny Hallyday album in early December, where tensions grew even worse as Lane and McLagan resisted what they must have considered an attempt to engineer a Fait_Accompli.[15] Tensions finally came to a head on 31 December 1968 at a Small Faces performance at the Alexandra Palace where Marriott stormed off stage during (perhaps tellingly) set-closer Lazy Sunday, yelling "I Quit!" and leaving his bandmates and guest performer Alexis Korner to conclude the show as best they could.[2]

As In Memoriam was a compilation of outtakes and unreleased tracks and not a standard studio album that was recorded toward an intended goal, it is by definition something of a compromise. All of the songs on side one are live tracks, recorded at the Newcastle City Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne on 18 November 1968 by Glyn Johns.For reasons best known to Immediate records, the tape was overdubbed with additional screaming and audience hysteria in February 1969.[16] "The Universal" was also performed during this concert, but this portion of the tapes is thought to be wiped or lost.[16]

Side two of the album is a compilation of studio outtakes, and the earliest of these hails from 21 October 1967 when the song "Call It Something Nice" was recorded in 9 takes at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London.[17] This song was possibly one of the earliest numbers considered for the Ogdens Nut Gone Flake album of 1968, but it is an uncharacteristically heavy and dour piece, and if it ever was part of the proposed tracklisting then the contrast in both the genre and sound must have led its exclusion later (it is a remarkable track however-a little too far ahead of its time for 1967 perhaps, it indicates the heavier musical direction that Marriott would pursue later with Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am and then with Humble Pie). Another outtake from the Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake sessions, a song titled "A Collibosher", was recorded in four takes on 3 April 1968.[18] Previously thought to be from the sessions for their unfinished studio album 1862, this punchy, horn section-driven instrumental is now thought to be an orphaned backing track which never reached the stage of having vocals added to it. It was recorded on the same day as "Mad John", which appeared on Ogdens'.[18]

The day before Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake was released, on 23 May, the band entered Trident Studios in Soho, London to record "Red Balloon", a song which was written and originally recorded by Tim Hardin on his album Tim Hardin 2 the previous year.[19] The band recorded 6 takes of this song, and the final mix is a combination of takes 4 and 6.[20] The final studio track recorded by the band, on 11 September 1968, was "The Autumn Stone", a song which is credited solely to Marriott.[21]

Shortly after the Small Faces breakup was officially announced in April 1969, Immediate Records began compiling various outtakes and oddities together for a projected English album release titled In Memoriam. However, this release was opposed by former members of the band (particularly McLagan, who thought that the proposed title implied that they were dead).[22] Not all of the tracks were originally intended to appear on an album, however. "The Autumn Stone" was originally slated for single release as a double A-side with "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am", but this was cancelled by Immediate Records when label boss Andrew Loog Oldham expressed his dislike of the song.[20] Marriott later noted the irony of rejecting this single, but later naming an album after it.[20] The material was still packaged together despite the bands objections however and the final result, In Memoriam was first released in West Germany on 1 May 1969 without their consent.[1] All of the material on In Memoriam would later receive a British release on 14 November when it was released on The Autumn Stone,[1] a double album that also compiles most of the Small Faces singles, and their B-sides.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[23]

The album received mostly mixed to positive reviews. In a retrospective review by AllMusic's Bruce Eder, he states that In Memoriam was a hastily-conceived album, rush-released in order to capitalize on the Small Faces' recent breakup. Noting the oddity of combining outtakes along with five live tracks, he nevertheless concludes that the collection isn't that bad, and takes pleasure in hearing the Small Faces perform live on side one, considering Marriott one of Britain's best singers. He finds the studio material on side two more mixed but notes that "The Autumn Stone" is an interesting track, commenting on its similarity with the music of Syd Barrett. His review ends by stating that while In Memoriam was not the best farewell, it was not the worst either.

All tracks written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane unless noted.

Small Faces

• Steve Marriott – lead and backing vocals, harmonica, acoustic and electric guitars, piano
• Ronnie Lane – lead and backing vocals, bass guitar
• Ian McLagan – backing vocals, keyboards
• Kenney Jones – drums, percussion

Other personnel

• Eddie Thornton – trumpet
• Harry Beckett – trumpet
• Derek Wadsworth – trombone
• Lyn Dobson – flute
• Unknown studio musicians – tenor and baritone saxophone