There’s always that back and forth about who was better: the Stones or the Beatles. And really, the answer to that nonsense is that it’s personal preference. While I can’t get down on the political schtick that the Beatles tried to hip folks to, some of their stuff easily beats out latter day releases from the Stones. Regardless of one’s choice in that absurd debate (second only to John Coltrane vs. Miles Davis) a band that gets forgotten amidst discussions like that are the Faces. Or Small Faces. Or both. Either one will due, although there is a stark difference each group was able to rank along side the best Brit Invasion groups in musicality if not popularity.

Being formed during the mid ‘60s, Small Faces were a group that fell somewhere between the blues of early Stones and the upper addled rock of the Who. Although, the group wouldn’t ever reach an audience comparable to those larger acts, a few singles and even an album from the ensemble rates up there with any of the other memorable Brit fare from the era. While Small Faces (Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Ian McLagan) would only manage one foray into the charts in the States – with the lame “Itchycoo Park” – the embittered managerial relationship that they struck with one time Stones’ affiliate, Andrew Loog Oldham, would eventually lead to the dissolution of the group.

Folks came and went, forming Humble Pie and working with some other forgettable acts, but with the acquisition of Rod Stewart, the Faces were able to again compete with the folks stalking the charts. With a new line up in place, the band effectively laid out what the Black Crowes would need to know in order to function two decades on. And while the Faces only met with a modicum of success, it was an album released under the band’s original name that would be its most enduring legacy.

Ogdens Nut Gone Flake, released in 1968, was an odd affair with the disc being devoted to two clearly separate endeavors. Side one of the disc sported a slew of tracks released as singles preceding the proper dissemination of the album. Side two, though, was a truncated rock opera focused on a dude named Stan and his quest to find the portion of the moon that was missing. The concept itself isn’t necessarily the most sensible – but most concept albums don’t really make any sense anyway. During the narrative, though, Stan gets stoned, hallucinates and abides as Small Faces crank up some of its strongest beat and psych fare.

“The Journey,” after its elongated, spoken word introduction, moves into a huge rock riff that eventually eschews any vocal contributions and just swings on a bass line until some of the psych tendencies laying low in the track take over around the half way mark.

Whether beat stuff or psudeo country rock and soul is your choice of listening, both versions of this band will do. And while Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is easily the most cohesive effort from Small Faces, there’s probably other work out there that’ll sate everyone’s desires.