Ooh La La

Faces: Rod Stewart (vocals); Ronnie Lane (bass instrument); Kenny Jones (drums); Ron Wood (background vocals); Ian McLagan. Personnel: Ron Wood (guitar); Ian McLagan (keyboards); Kenney Jones (drums). Recording information: Olympic Studios, London, England. By the time the Faces' fourth album came out in 1973, Rod Stewart had already become a solo superstar, causing stresses within the band. Stewart and founding member/bassist Ronnie Lane reportedly fought throughout the making of OOH LA LA, particularly when Stewart's solo commitments kept him from attending Faces recording sessions. That tension is perhaps evident in the grooves of OOH LA LA--it's probably not a coincidence that the folksy, acoustic title track sounds more like "Maggie May" than any previous Faces effort, even though guitarist Ron Wood sings lead. Lane takes lead vocals on his own "Flags and Banners" and wrote the majority of the album's latter half. The remaining parts of OOH LA LA include Stewart and Wood's boogie-fried "Silicone Grown" and two songs spotlighting the inimitable keyboardist Ian McLagan--the atypically poppy, almost Elton John-like "Cindy Incidentally" and the stomping rocker "Borstal Boys," one of the Faces' finest tunes. Although hints of the band's dissolution are everywhere throughout the record, this is paradoxically also the most "group"-like album the Faces ever did, with all five members making significant contributions.