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Steve Marriott !!!


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Old 10-05-2009, 16:28
Mojo Pin
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Recently I listen to a lot of Small Faces and Humble Pie, both amazing and very underrated bands imo.
Being a foreigner I really wasn't that surprised that these two bands aren't well known in my country ( there are so many great English bands which aren't well known here) but OMG I'm very surprised how little people know about them in the UK.
I'm particularly sad and astonished about the late but GREAT Steve Marriott, arguably one of if not the best blue- eyed soul singer that UK ever produced. He should be cite along with Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant and Freddie Mercury.He also was imo one of the most talented musicians (guitar, keys, harp, harmonica, drums) songwriter and an excellent performer.
It seems that this is one of these guys who influenced really big names in rock'n'roll world but never received a well-deserved critical acclaim.
I've found very interesting facts about Steve.

Led Zeppelin
>Watching you now in The Song Remains the Same — the swagger, the posing, is still a great thing to see.
Robert Plant:But I didn't know it was posing. It's only now with an older head, I go, "Oh, God, did that actually work?" But of course it worked. It was as genuine as the day is long. I didn't preen in front of a mirror. My mother said, "You shouldn't pout, it looks stupid." But I pouted because I wanted to be like, "Come on!" I wanted to be Steve Marriott, for ****'s sake.
The Small Faces, and especially Marriott, were one of many influences on the formation and musical style of premier British hard rock group Led Zeppelin. Marriott is also reputed to have been one of Jimmy Page's top choices when selecting a lead singer for Led Zeppelin (the other being another rowdy-voiced Brit, Terry Reid), and there are certainly clear stylistic and timbral similarities between the voices of Marriott and Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant. The legend goes that Marriott's crime-connected manager threatened Page with broken fingers if he tried to steal Marriott away, leading to one of the great "what-ifs" of rock.
Whole lotta love
"Whole Lotta Love" opens Led Zeppelin II. As mentioned earlier, Steve Marriott and the Small Faces figure into the Led Zeppelin saga. That mod foursome were known for a killer live version of the Muddy Waters "You Need Love."

The following paragraph is from Small Faces: The Young Mods' Forgotten Story by Paolo Hewitt (1995, Acid Jazz Books).

'A few years later, one of the LP's outstanding tracks, the Marriott/Lane 'You Need Loving,' cropped up again to create rock history, albeit in a different format. '"Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin was nicked off that album,' Marriott pointed out. 'Percy Plant was a big fan. He used to be at all The Small Faces gigs. We did a gig with The Yardbirds which he was at and Jimmy Page asked me what that number was we did. "'You Need Loving'," I said, "it's a Muddy Waters thing" which it really is, so they both knew it, and Percy used to come to the gigs whenever we played in Kidderminster or Stowbridge, where he came from. He was always saying he was going to get this group together. He was another nuisance. He kept coming into the dressing room, just another little Mod kid. We used to say, "That kid's here again." Anyway we used to play this number and it became a stock opener after that album. After we broke up they took it and revamped it. Good luck to them. It was only old Percy who'd had his eyes on it. He sang it the same, phrased it the same, even the stops at the end were the same, they just put a different rhythm to it.' He laughs. 'For years and years I would hear it come on the radio while driving in America, and I would think, "Go on, my son," until one day I thought, "****ing hell, that's us, that is. The bastards!"'

Here's the proof!!!! SF- you need loving

"In a 1977 interview with Ray Coleman, Robert Plant referred to Steve Marriot, the lead singer for the Small Faces, as "the master of white contemporary blues." Perhaps competing with Marriot, Robert Plant sounds very much like the Small Faces' vocalist during the climactic vocal break ("Way down inside, woman, you need... lo-o-ove"). The Small Faces' "You Need Loving" included a similar vocal break, but Robert Plant draws out this line even more than Marriot had. Still, Plant expressed humility in the Coleman interview, "I could never be compared with Steve Marriot because he's too good, unfortunately! He's got the best white voice, for sheer bravado and balls."
Jerry Shirley(HP's drummer) told a story about Robert Plant, who used to drop
into his local club in Birmingham regularly about once a month on a Friday
night. Inevitably, Percy would join the live band for a couple of numbers
at the end of the night.
>One night as he arrived - the barman said "got a great surprise for you
tonight, Robert. Steve Marriott is appearing. We're looking forward to
seeing you sing with him !" To which Plant replied "If you think I'm going
to follow Steve Marriott onto a stage, you've got another think coming!"
Rolling Stones

After the departure of Mick Taylor in 1975 from the Rolling Stones, Marriott was considered as his replacement; however, Mick Jagger allegedly blocked the move after Marriott upstaged him during the audition. According to Ronnie Wood in his autobiography "Ronnie", Marriott was Richards' first choice to replace Mick Taylor.
"Steve told me, I was good and stood at the back for a while but then Keith would hit this lick and I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. Keith wanted him in but there was no way that once Steve opened his mouth Mick would have him in the band. He knew Steve would never stay in the background. They were the one band in the world that Steve would have loved to have been in. He just wanted to work with Keith." - Pam Marriott

------

"He (Marriott) was certainly the most talented person I ever worked with. He was like a brother to me and I was devastated when he died. He always lived on the edge and I was always waiting for a 'phone call to say that he had died but I never dreamed it would be under those circumstances. He's never got the credit he deserves. He should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because he was the greatest white soul singer that England ever produced. I'm certain that if you caught the likes of Rod Stewart and Paul Rodgers in a private moment and asked them who was the main man, they would say, Steve Marriott." - Jerry Shirley
“He had a great voice,’ raves Kiss’s Paul Stanley. “Steve Marriott was unbelievable. He was one of my heroes. I saw Marriott perform live with Humble Pie and it was like being at a church revival. And that to me is the coolest thing you can do, turn it into an evangelical event.”
“One of my favourite vocalists was Steve Marriott,” attests former Journey frontman Steve Perry. “I remember going to the Sacramento Auditorium to watch Humble Pie perform and Marriott would just throw his voice out into the audience in just the most R&B and rock way. I really, really loved his voice. What an amazing singer. It was a tragedy that we lost him, but he was something else.”

Steve didn't like his time doing stadium gigs, and turned down opportunities later in his career from Jimmy Page and from Free which would have pointed him in that direction again.

He didn't want his face on the front of magazines. He didn't want that "level" of success - and of course he realised that was exactly what the "suits" wanted.
As his lyrics say "You don't need money to be wise."

Other people who also were big fans either Small Faces or Humble Pie:
Bon Scott(ac/dc)
Paul Weller
The Black Crowes
Oasis
Blur
Glen Matlock (sex pistols)
The Jam
Supergrass
The Charlatans

Now, I know these are only words so here are some beautiful songs from both bands.

Small Faces (a definitive mod band)
Tin Soldier
Itchycoo Park
All or Nothing (live)
Lazy Sunday
Rollin' Over
Afterglow of your love

Humble Pie (R&B, hard rock, heavy rock)
Black Coffee
The Sad Bag Of Shaky Jake/I Walk On Guilded Splinters <3
I Don't Need No Doctor

So what do you think?
Is he vastly underrated or am I talking bulls**** ?
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Old 10-05-2009, 19:15
SILLY SUE
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Steve Marriott = .

I'd personally recommend 'The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette' CD. Fab stuff!
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Old 11-05-2009, 07:45
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...... indeed a great vocalist and possibly overlooked. tracks like 'lazy sunday' were equal to the more fashionable kinks tracks in terms of being the original 'britpop.

i liked the small faces.

unfortunately marriot died in a house (cottage) fire back in the early (?) 90's
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Old 11-05-2009, 08:20
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I've always believed Stevie to be extremely highly rated by his fans and fellow musicians, but never got the media attention he deserved.

To this day I'm gutted about his death and the way it happened.

He was a little genius.
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Old 11-05-2009, 15:33
Mojo Pin
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Thanks for the response, it's always nice to hear some positive feedback

I also have found this article
http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/mus...led_by_the.php
I read on several sites how Small Faces were totally ripped off by their managers and record labes but this article just sums everyting up really, why this genuine talented man chose pubs route and wanted to be left alone. Anyway the guy have earned my respect really, a truly passionate musician.
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Old 12-05-2009, 13:11
mushymanrob
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Thanks for the response, it's always nice to hear some positive feedback

I also have found this article
http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/mus...led_by_the.php
I read on several sites how Small Faces were totally ripped off by their managers and record labes but this article just sums everyting up really, why this genuine talented man chose pubs route and wanted to be left alone. Anyway the guy have earned my respect really, a truly passionate musician.
ripping off your artist was common in the 60's though...not right, just very common.
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Old 12-05-2009, 13:56
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Has been in my top 5 male vocalists for some years now.

All Or Nothing is a particular favourite.
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Old 12-05-2009, 14:32
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ripping off your artist was common in the 60's though...not right, just very common.
yeah, I know but he was ripped off also in the 70's when he was in Humble Pie. Although it was very common I don't think that every musician was threatened by the mob!
Cocaine and booze addiction didn't help him either ( and I do think that this was the reason why I find Humble Pie's material somehow unequal) but things might have been very different if he wasn't screwed by music industry to the unbelievable level.

This song is from his solo album, recorded in 1976. I do think Steve had strokes of genius as a songwriter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZL8cS7Dp0
Vocal in this song is amazing! I think he also plays lead guitar in it.
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Old 12-05-2009, 15:24
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another person that musicians rate and who isn't anything like as famous amongst the general public as he deserves is Steve Winwood - formerly of Traffic etc.

Winwood was part of the same social scene as Marriott, but didn't own hotels...

if you like the Small Faces, you'll love Traffic.

(I saw Winwood a few months back - still brilliant)
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Old 13-05-2009, 00:18
SILLY SUE
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Has been in my top 5 male vocalists for some years now.

All Or Nothing is a particular favourite.
He's one of my favourite singers. My personal faves include 'Tin Soldier', 'Autumn Stone', 'Rene', 'Itchycoo Park' and 'Red Balloon'. I love the diversity of Small Faces - quirky songs like 'Rene' and 'I Feel Much Better' to ballads like 'Autumn Stone'. I don't know too much about Humble Pie so I guess I should really investigate them.

'Autumn Stone' tugs at my heartstrings. Gorgeous song, beautifully sung by Steve.
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Old 13-05-2009, 01:49
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He's one of my favourite singers. My personal faves include 'Tin Soldier', 'Autumn Stone', 'Rene', 'Itchycoo Park' and 'Red Balloon'. I love the diversity of Small Faces - quirky songs like 'Rene' and 'I Feel Much Better' to ballads like 'Autumn Stone'. I don't know too much about Humble Pie so I guess I should really investigate them.

'Autumn Stone' tugs at my heartstrings. Gorgeous song, beautifully sung by Steve.
I'm not an expert either but from what I've heard I have a mixed feeling. I think some songs are really great (especially the rocky/R&B oriented but I don't like their more country/bluegrass material- just not my cup of tea) so none of their albums hit me in 100%.
I think I like 'Rock on' album the most, songs like Stone cold Fever , Rollin' Stone, The light, Strange Days

Other songs which I like are: Black Coffee, Wrist Job, I Believe To My Soul, The Fixer, I Wonder, For Your Love
Humble Pie have imo very good live album 'Rockin' the Fillmore' - Particularly I love Dr. John's 'I Walk on Gilded Splinters' and 'I don't Need no Doctor'

I think the small faces' 'Wham Bam Thank You Mam' is the closest to HP sound. Steve wrote that song after 'Ogden's' (btw brilliant album ) and it was a direction he was heading... HP is much more heavy and not so hit
at that point he was fed up with the 'pop' image and 'screaming girls' at their gigs etc. He didn't want to be a 'pop star'. He wanted to rock on
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Old 13-05-2009, 14:21
mushymanrob
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another person that musicians rate and who isn't anything like as famous amongst the general public as he deserves is Steve Winwood - formerly of Traffic etc.

Winwood was part of the same social scene as Marriott, but didn't own hotels...

if you like the Small Faces, you'll love Traffic.

(I saw Winwood a few months back - still brilliant)
...and spencer davis group! 'keep on running' is possibly my favourite single of all time, being imho the perfect pop song.

'im a man' was a very brave track too, saying it was released months before homosexuality was de-criminalised.
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Old 13-05-2009, 19:56
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All Or Nothing is a particular favourite.
.

What a little gem of a track that was .

Along with Steve Winwood, Kieth Relf and maybis Roger Daltrey, 4 0f the best vocalists of that era......
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Old 13-05-2009, 20:12
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I love the Small Faces and this is a great clip of them doing 'I Can't Make It' on Eric & Ernie.

Check out Stevie's vocals (live) at the end...an amazing talent who I was lucky enough to see several times when he played pub gigs in the 80s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uBFdkp5oG4
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Old 13-05-2009, 22:02
revolver44
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I wouldn't say not many people know about The Small Faces. Humble Pie granted, but anyone who has a pasisng interest in "proper" music will know of the SF.
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Old 15-05-2009, 14:26
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He's one of my favourite singers. My personal faves include 'Tin Soldier', 'Autumn Stone', 'Rene', 'Itchycoo Park' and 'Red Balloon'. I love the diversity of Small Faces - quirky songs like 'Rene' and 'I Feel Much Better' to ballads like 'Autumn Stone'. I don't know too much about Humble Pie so I guess I should really investigate them.

'Autumn Stone' tugs at my heartstrings. Gorgeous song, beautifully sung by Steve.
yeah The Autumn Stone is beautiful and actually Steve wrote this song.
I've found a very good .Ian Mclagan's stite where you can read THE STORY OF THE SMALL FACES IN THEIR OWN WORDS. Very insightful imo.

the quote from this site about songwriting.
STEVE MARRIOTT: To be honest with you, me and Ronnie didn't write
an awful lot together. We wrote apart, just like McCartney and
Lennon, Jagger and Richards, they didn't write together, they
just heaped it together. "Rene (the Docker's Delight)"
is probably the one me and Ronnie laughed at the most, and a thing
called "HappyDaysToysTown" [from an idea of McLagan's]
on "Ogdens. Nut Gone Flake," we wrote that together,
oh and "Itchycoo Park." We actually wrote those together.
Well nigh on all the rest were written apart. I wrote "Tin
Soldier," "Lazy Sunday," "All or Nothing,"
stuff like that. Ronnie wrote the more obscure stuff -- really
great songs, good songs. I tended to write the hits, as it were
or a quote about Led Zeppelin.
KEN SHARP: I was going to ask you about "You Need Lovin'"
(from the first Decca album). Supposedly Robert Plant was a huge
fan and would come to all the shows, did you remember him from
those days?

IAN MCLAGAN: Oh yeah, he was a little kid, used to go out and
get us cigarettes and drinks. Steve was doing Muddy Waters, we
were doing "You Need Lovin'," Zeppelin got it from us.

KEN SHARP: When you hear "You Need Lovin'," Steve did
his own innovations vocally on that, all the vocals Plant copied
lock, stock, and barrel. How did you feel about that, were you
flattered, because I don't think it ever bothered Steve too much
that Zeppelin copied it?

IAN MCLAGAN: I think it's great, I think it's fine with me, it's
not like they owe the Small Faces any money, if anything they
should pay Muddy Waters, so should've we, you know.

STEVE MARRIOTT: Willie Dixon wrote it, called it "Woman,
You Need Love" or something like that. It was fantastic,
I used to love it! Muddy Waters recorded it, but I couldn't sing
like Muddy Waters, so it wasn't that much of a nick. Whereas Robert
Plant could sing like me. That's basically where it's at. I had
to make up a lot of my own phrasing -- I couldn't sing like Muddy
Waters, Long John Baldry had that down. I was a high range and
Muddy was a low range, so I had to figure out how to sing it.
So I did, and that was our opening number for all the years we
were together, unless we had a short set. That's where Jimmy Page
heard it. He asked about it, and Robert Plant used to follow us
around at the time -- he was like a fan, a very nice chap. That
was one of his favorites. Page, when he was playing bass with
the Yardbirds at a gig in Paris, and Jeff Beck was with them --
they wanted to form a group and they asked me to come with them.
[The original 'Led Zeppelin' was to have been formed in 1966
with Beck and Page leaving the Yardbirds and Moon and Entwistle
leaving the Who, with Marriott as the singer, and the band name
supplied by Entwistle. When Arden allegedly threatened to break
Marriott's arm if he left, the group never happened, although
the instrumental track "Beck's Bolero" was cut with
John Paul Jones filling in for an absent Entwistle on bass.]
I was very tempted but said "Nah that's bullshit" and
didn't. But I thought they were great musicians. When I heard
"Whole Lotta Love" I couldn't believe it. I was astounded,
quite astounded. The phrasing was exact. I thought "Go on
my son, get on with it!" I couldn't believe it, but I was
glad someone took it and did something with it. It was always
a good song, but the phrasing was direct. As I said, he could
sing like me -- he could sing a lot higher than me but he got
a bit screechy -- but he took that note for note, word for word.
It's terrible, innit? It's funny -- you gotta laugh.
or The Beatles were a huge fans
KENNEY JONES: McCartney was a big, big fan. In fact, all the
Beatles were big fans. I only saw John Lennon walk through Olympic
studios once, sort of said hello and walked out. After the fact,
I'm good friends with Ringo and Paul, and see George here and
there and say hello, whatever. I've had the opportunity to play
with Paul, did the Rockestra with Paul and John Bonham, one of
the last things he did before he died. The Beatles were great
fans, they thought we were stunning, without a doubt. They gave
us a lot of encouragement, you see, because they'd had three years
head start on us. Giving mainly Steve and Ronnie advice on what
to do, how to cope. They were mixing because they used to go to
the same clubs -- I never used to go. They were quite nice, you
know

I wouldn't say not many people know about The Small Faces. Humble Pie granted, but anyone who has a pasisng interest in "proper" music will know of the SF.
Yeah but I can bet that most people know only Lazy Sunday , the song that was written and recorded as a joke, the song which is great but by no means shows diversity of this band and a range and powerfulness of Marriot's voice.
They probably even dont know singer's name. And it's a shame really.
Also an overwhelming amount of people posting in this thread suggests that they are a really well known band


-------------------------------------
There is imo a very good documentary on youtube about The Small Faces. Good stuff to watch for the fans but also for people who don't know much about them. It also shows a little bit of a climate of that era and shows how musical industry functioned back then. The documentary includes band members , Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher's interviews.
part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Enjoy
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Old 16-05-2009, 00:54
revolver44
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They probably even dont know singer's name. And it's a shame really.
Also an overwhelming amount of people posting in this thread suggests that they are a really well known band
I agree with your post about not many knowing Marriots name. That is indeed a shame, the guy was the greatest British singer EVER.
However, your point about the ammount of posts in this thread shouldn't be a indication of the SF popularity... DS only has a small percentage of "good" music fans. The majority of posts in the music section are about Lily Allen or the X-factor dullards.
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Old 22-05-2009, 17:28
Mojo Pin
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I agree with your post about not many knowing Marriots name. That is indeed a shame, the guy was the greatest British singer EVER.
However, your point about the ammount of posts in this thread shouldn't be a indication of the SF popularity... DS only has a small percentage of "good" music fans. The majority of posts in the music section are about Lily Allen or the X-factor dullards.
yeah, maybe you're right, maybe it's not the best place to talk about Steve's greatness
but even if only couple of people unfamiliar with his stuff check this thread out and like the songs , well then it's worth posting here

Anyway bump
on youtube there is so many cool stuff.
I really like this one. Steve on ukulele and Clem on acoustic guitar. This is Humble Pie for people who don't like noisy boogie driven hard rock music
Say No More

and also this soulful acoustic rendition of The Yardbird's 'For Your Love' (not much similar to the original song btw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A3Zy...eature=related shows a softer side of this band.
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Old 22-05-2009, 21:27
Mojo Pin
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lol, now this is funny discovery hehe
Did you know that UFO did a cover of All or Nothing?
F****** Michael Schenker played Steve's song

This is live version. There is also studio version but I think this is better but still doesn't hold a candle to the original song. Especially vocals are weak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtBEv6xCqf0
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