Today we begin with a tip of the cap to the late Mr. Ronnie Lane, bass player and singer for the Small Faces pop group, who would have been 55 today.
Lane wrote some amazing songs, not only with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood in the Faces, but on his own with his band Slim Chance and in collaboration with Pete Townshend. Stone. Tell Everyone. Ooh La La, Debris, Annie, and many more. If you've never heard any of these, start with the best of Faces, then pick up one of the Slim Chance-era compilation, then look for Rough Mix, the album he did with Townshend and on which the sublime "Annie" appears. I'm tellin ya, if that song doesn't break your heart there's no hope for you.
One of my biggest regrets in life is that I was too young to knock back a few and see the Faces in their 1971-'72 prime.
