This ‘Number One’ week’s news and gossip

Number One

Lets start this weeks where we left off last week with Rod and Jools riding high at the top of the album charts

Speaking to BBC News, Jooles Holland joked: “I think the last big band record that was number one was probably in 1946.”

Sir Rod admitted that he started the celebrations on Thursday, the night before the chart was officially announced, after playing at a Prince’s Trust dinner.

“I stayed at the event and had continual Martinis until one o’clock in the morning with the three girls in my band,” adding “It was lovely.”

Jools added “I shall be celebrating tonight. I will be overdoing it. I can’t believe it. It can’t be happening to me,”

“As my life has gone on, particularly playing a lot of swing music, it’s not the mainstream music. So for me, the idea that you would have a huge hit with this had gone years ago. That’s why this does mean more to me.

“That’s why it’s so wonderful that Rod has shone the light on this type of music. None of it would have been possible without Rod thinking of it and then bringing his amazing vocals.”

Elena Ehrhart from The Oswegonian is not sure..https://www.oswegonian.com/2024/03/01/rod-stewarts-tribute-to-vintage-music-artful-yet-incohesive/?fbclid=IwAR11QGIToVfXo7LILoq5ZVuH5Al2BOscfGkGvjxCWiLSCtMkoYKGZ8aDNBw

Have I Told You Whisky That I Love You

At the end of last week Rod dined at GLASCHU in the Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square.

Announcing his visit, the eatery said Rod was an ‘esteemed visitor’ to the venue.

Rod also met up with old mate Tam Cowan who he treated to some Wolfie’s whisky, A spokesperson for the venue said: “We welcomed an esteemed visitor to GLASCHU this week, Sir Rod Stewart was a fan of our Appletini featuring his very own Wolfies whisky, his parting words: ‘I wouldn’t ever change a thing’.

While talking to Tam Rod backed under-fire Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers, who was labelled a “misogynist” and a “dinosaur” after an exchange with a female journalist.

There was a furious reaction to a post-match interview with the BBC’s Jane Lewis last weekend where he called her a “good girl” after cutting short a tetchy exchange following his side’s 3-1 win at Fir Park

.Rod said the incident was nonsense. “He’s not like that, he’s an absolute gent. But we all have to be careful these days.”

SPL Title Race

After both Celtic and Rangers lost at the weekend an unimpressed Rod warned pundit Graeme Souness to “stop kidding himself” over any notion the champions lack the ‘b******s for a title fight.

The Rangers hero wants the club he loves to test their rivals’ mettle with nine games to go with the Blues still two points clear, Rangers were spared after the stunning defeat to Motherwell when the 10-man Celtic came unstuck in Gorgie.

But Rod told the pundit Celtic do have the minerals to stick around and reign supreme for a 12th season out of the past 13 seasons. Texting into talkSPORT,He stated: “If we had kept 11 men on the field Celtic would have won comfortably at Tynecastle. Stop kidding yourself, Graeme.”

Later on talkSPORT Rod told of a big bet between the two: “Unfortunately Graeme said something very nasty about Celtic in the papers over the weekend. He said Celtic haven’t got the ‘b*‘ for the title fight.

“I have said to Graeme that he knows as well as I do if that penalty (against Hearts) and Celtic kept 11 men on the field, we would probably have won. If you look at the stats when we had 10 men we still had more possession and plenty of shots on goal.

“So I am going to start by saying you are wearing blinkers Graeme, Celtic are going to win the league. It started up at £1000, but now it’s a £10k bet that will go to charity. Graeme’s charity being DEBRA and my charity being the St Andrew’s hospice – but I am going to wind him up and say we have got to go up to £20k now. I am going to test his resolve.”

This week’s Rod Art

This week we feature the work of Petra Herrmann from Munich, Germany who did this fantastic charcoal painting of Rod

Petra told SMILER this week “It was inspired by my love for Rod Stewart songs. It is done in charcoal, the size is 60×80 on untreated canvas. So I wanted to show the artist in a classik way, I did it in 19th century style”.

To see more of Petras work go to  www.petra-herrmann-kunst.de

Very, Very Rare Memorabilia

Here is another chance to get your hands on [Or even in] some very rare Faces memorabilia

One of our members is selling some very ,very rare memorabilia and wants a true Rod/Faces to own it.

First up is one of Rods white gloves that he threw into the crowd at the Edmonton Sundown on the Angel tour. 1970s.

And second is 4 very rare Faces concert tickets

If anyone wants to make an offer on any of the tickets or the glove please contact me and I will pass your offers on [email protected] 

Wolfie’s Winner

The winner of our Wolfie’s merch is Dave Wyatt

Well done Dave ..Let me know what size T-Shirt you want and the address you would like it sending to and our good friends at Wolfie’s will get your prize delivered to you.

Official Faces News 

As revealed in our last Faces remaster series news, the next release will be a Record Store Day exclusive, gathering all the surviving sessions the Faces recorded for the BBC from 1970 – 1971.

On Record Store Day, Saturday, 20 April 2024, Warner/Rhino will release a strictly limited edition of 4,000 double LPs worldwide of Faces – ‘The BBC Session Recordings’ (Rhino RCV1 725821/603497829088)

The 2-LP will be pressed on “crystal clear” vinyl and housed in a single, wide spine sleeve with an illustrated 4-panel insert with full session details and sleeve notes by Faces remaster series producer Rob Caiger.

The cover, insert and labels photos are taken by legendary BBC photographer Harry Goodwin. According to Rod: “The picture of the band depicts and portrays what we all stood for …. ‘Five drunks who got away with murder under the guise of music’”

Rob has given SMILER an exclusive heads up that the information provided by Rhino Records to Record Store Day and reproduced worldwide is incorrect, as he says:

“A big apology to Faces fans for the confusion. I’m buried in Faces tapes at the moment in my studio so I’ve no idea how it happened but the information and track listing on the websites and retail stores is totally wrong. This is a collection of all the surviving studio sessions the chaps recorded for BBC programmes like John Peel’s Top Gear. There is NO LIVE CONCERT RECORDINGS on this release. But what we have on this double album is something very special. 

For me, the sessions the Faces recorded for the BBC were vital in starting their career in the UK. Most probably won’t remember the BBC did not take the Faces seriously and refused to add their debut single ‘Flying’ to the playlist for Radio 1.To get around the lack of airplay, John Peel and his producer John Walters championed the Faces to the BBC so the band could record a session for his massively popular Top Gear programme. Within weeks, the duo had the Faces in the BBC studio at the Playhouse Theatre in Craven Street, London, to record their first session on March 9, 1970 – almost a month before their debut LP for Warner Bros was released.

The Faces six BBC sessions ran from 1970 to 1971. Once broadcast, individual songs or whole sessions were wiped – unless songs were taken and later compiled by DJ Brian Matthew for use in his Top Of The Pops radio show, pressed on BBC Transcription Services LPs and sent to overseas broadcasters who had licensed his programme. It is why certain Faces session recordings exist, as many of the broadcast-quality LPs survive. But for sessions not used by Transcription Services, these were lost forever. Unless kindly engineers spirited away tapes or copies were made for band members. I’ll say no more…

For the first time, all the Faces surviving sessions recorded for the BBC have been newly remastered for vinyl and compiled on one album. Tracks have been restored from the best available sources, taken from the Faces, BBC, BBC Transcription Services, Warner Bros. & private collectors’ archives. ‘Devotion’ is the rarest Faces BBC recording on the album. Wiped soon after broadcast, it existed purely as an off-air recording, not circulated amongst fans or bootleggers and was only discovered during 2023. Only one Faces session of three songs remains missing, for Sounds Of The Seventies recorded in 1970.”

SIDE ONE

TOP GEAR — JOHN PEEL 

Broadcast: March 28, 1970 

Wicked Messenger 

Devotion
Shake, Shudder, Shiver 

Pineapple And The Monkey

DAVE LEE TRAVIS SUNDAY SHOW
Broadcast March 15, 1970 

Three Button Hand Me Down

SIDE TWO

DAVE LEE TRAVIS SUNDAY SHOW (continued from side 1) 

Flying
Wicked Messenger

TOP GEAR — JOHN PEEL 

Broadcast September 19, 1970 

Had Me A Real Good Time 

Around The Plynth/Gasoline Alley

SIDE THREE

TOP GEAR — JOHN PEEL (continued from side 2) 

Country Comfort

SOUNDS OF THE SEVENTIES — BOB HARRIS *
BBC Studio 1 (Transcription Studio)

Broadcast May 3, 1971

Had Me A Real Good Time

Love In Vain
Oh Lord I’m Browned Off

SIDE FOUR

SOUNDS OF THE SEVENTIES — BOB HARRIS (continued from side 3) 

Maybe I’m Amazed

TOP GEAR — JOHN PEEL

Broadcast October 6, 1971 

Stay With Me 

Miss Judy’s Farm 

Maggie May

*SOUNDS OF THE SEVENTIES — BOB HARRIS Broadcast May 3, 1971 is the mono broadcast version. The test transmission version in stereo is exclusively available on ‘Faces – Had Me A Real Good Time at the BBC In Session & In Concert 1971–1973’ (Rhino RCV1 725872 / 603497828906) released on Record Store Day Black Friday in November 2023.

Tell Everyone

Tell Everyone: A People’s History of the Faces By Richard Houghton has been nominated for the 2024 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. …Good Luck!

This Week’s Album Chart

Liam Gallagher and John Squire came in at Number 1 with their first collaborative album but Rod and Jools pulled back the number 2 spot after slipping to number 6 mid week

And Finally..

Don’t forget the new time for your Sunday Rod fix with DJ Kenny Stewart is 9pm

See you next week..