Over the last 3 years I have heard of a couple of Small Faces video projects that have been in the works, finally one actually came to fruition! It's not clear whether certain parties pooled resources to get this bugger out but Scorpio made it happen and has issued a really excellent video capsule of the pint-size chaps on their Bad Wizard Label.
The video quality throughout is really excellent and I can't say enough about the consistency from clip to clip which is so tough to do with these 60's compilations and this is one of the best. To make the situation sweeter we get brillian stereo audio throughout. Well, there are 2 exceptions to the last statements, it's with the very last tracks on the disc and they are the earliest of the batch also. The clips of "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" and "She La La La Lee" from Where The Action Is are about a "6" rating on the ten scale for both audio and video and seem like they were a late aquisition or afterthought to the compilation. That leaves us with about 88 minutes of stellar, vintage Small Faces video clips on Rollin' Over.
This is simply English Pop Rock, as English as you can find - other than anything from The Kinks that is! As I said, this stuff is infectious once you get going and the repetition of the songs just makes it even more so. It's fun, it's good and it's really appropriate that these guys hooked up and formed a group because they look like they were cut from the same cloth - literally. Each of them, Steve Marriot, Ronnie Lane, Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan are each about 5ft, 2inches and weigh about 90 pounds during their mid-sixties pop stardom and that is the endearing part about their presence onstage. And boy can they play too. This is another key British Rock outfit that split up and all went on to do great things and you can get a nice dose of where it all came together with this fantastic TV compilation by Bad Wizard. Fair warning...there's plenty of miming here!
The packaging can certainly be better for these Bad Wizard DVDs and I wish they would put a little more effort into the program on that level. Then you would really have a nice collectors piece. But this DVD in particular can stand alone on it's contents and it's sure to please. The DVD is a picture disc that replicates the cover art.
