1970-1975: YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING

The Faces albums were scheduled for expanded reissues in 2008, roughly four years after the release of the definitive rarities-laden box set Five Guys Walk into a Bar..., but those plans were scrapped and the albums remained untouched for the next seven years. After that long wait came You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything: 1970-1975, a five-disc box that contains expanded versions of the four Faces studio LPs -- 1970's First Step, the twin 1971 masterpieces Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse, 1972's Ooh La La -- along with a disc of non-LP singles. These aren't quite the track listings from 2008 but they're close enough and, more importantly, they offer a bunch of songs that were not on Five Guys. While A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... is expanded by two BBC Sessions also heard on the box, the rest are given substantial additions. First Step has outtakes of "Behind the Sun" and "Mona: The Blues," alternates of "Flying" and "Nobody Knows," plus a BBC Session of "Shake, Shudder, Shiver"; Long Player has outtakes of "Whole Lotta Woman" and the instrumental "Sham-Mozzal," an alternate of "Tell Everyone," and two selections from a November 1970 show at the Fillmore East ("Too Much Woman [For a Henpecked Man]" and "Love in Vain"); Ooh La La has rehearsal versions of "Borstal Boys," "Silicone Grown," and "Glad and Sorry" along with a live version of "Jealous Guy" from the 1973 Reading Festival; finally, "I Wish It Would Rain (With a Trumpet)" from 1973's Reading Festival is added to the fifth disc. Part of the appeal of Five Guys Walk into a Bar... was how it captured the rangy, rowdy mess of the Faces at their peak and, to its credit, this box doesn't attempt to replicate the sound of a never-ending party. Instead, it offers good-sounding copies of the canon, supplemented by tracks that can't be heard elsewhere. That's good bang for the buck and a good enough reason for the die-hard fans to pony up for this music one more time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine