Small Faces: Itchycoo Park

Charles Murphy's five favourite songs are from the brilliant Small Faces…All or Nothing, you might say.

His choice will resonate with all of those mods for whom the Faces were the cream of a fantastic crop of British bands that included the Who, the Kinks, the Animals and Traffic. Their songs were the soundtrack of a mod lifestyle and they stayed with us which is why, I guess, Charles wants them to mark his life.

So, mods, if you have lists from your favourite mod bands, share them.

Itchycoo Park

Their best known single, it summed up the drug culture of the mod era, with the constant refrain of ‘It’s All Too Beautiful’. Instantly recognisable, catchy melody, fun lyrics and a song to put a smile on your face.

Afterglow

A sincere and brilliantly constructed love song, mixing delicate lyrics with a hard driving arrangement. Steve Marriott’s voice is strong, unique and unmistakeable. It was released in 1969 after they broke up because Marriott wanted to develop his musical career.

Autumn Stone

A lovely, gentle song. A jazzy flute solo creates a wistful mood.  This is poetry: ‘Yesterday is dead, but not my memory/We were strangers, and then you came to stay/The sweetest spring dawn morning sings to me./So now I've found a living sound, that moves, that breathes and then makes love to me.’

Tin Soldier

Arguably the Faces’s best song. A brilliantly constructed single with backing vocals from P.P. Arnold.

Grow Your Own

An instrumental, B side of Itchycoo Park. Funky Hammond organ playing by Ian McLagan pushes the track along nicely.