126. The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (May 1968)

1. Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake*

2. Afterglow

3. Long Agos and Worlds Apart

4. Rene

5. Song of a Baker

6. Lazy Sunday*

7. Happiness Stan

8. Rollin' Over

9. The Hungry Intruder*

10. The Journey

11. Mad John

12. HappyDaysToyTown

A

I expected a lot of things doing this project. Hearing a truly great song about a talking fly begging shepherd's pie from a magical charabanc-dweller wasn't one of them.

If you're a fan of the Dukes of Stratosphear, this is an album you really need to hear. It's the most obvious reference point for their pseudo-concept experiments. It's also a fucking great album. Side one is a wonderful collection of heavy psych numbers, incorporating excellent use of then-novel  flange, phase, and wah-wah. I remember reading a review of Tame Impala once that made the observation that all good stoners understand the importance of texture, and it's very much true of this album. The sound is dense, but weirdly light, and there's an excellent emphasis on the groove. Four kickass psych tunes culminate in the glorious single "Lazy Sunday", with its music hall trappings and wonderful singalong chorus. It's not "Itchycoo Park", but it's close.

What really sets this album a cut above, though, is side two. It's an absurdist fairy tale, consisting of songs and half songs interspersed with narration that sounds like James Joyce circa Finnegan's Wake if he'd bothered to make that famously impenetrable tome penetrable. Following the story of a magical character named Happiness Stan, who sets out to find the missing half of the moon and finds the meaning of life instead, it's a true joy to listen to. I love comedy radio plays - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Goons are particular favourites - and this album is honestly almost as good. The Goons analogy is actually apt - originally the band wanted Spike Milligan to narrate it. I think they probably lucked out in failing there, though - Stanley Unwin's borderline nonsense is a perfect fit for the light, joyful music and gentle nonsense of the plot. 

The most admirable thing about this album, though, is how unassuming it sounds. This is psychedelic rock opera, but it just sounds like a good time. The Small Faces aren't trying to blow your mind lyrically or make some deep statement about the human condition. The ultimate message of their album is that life is short and sort of "just there", so you should live well, be true to yourself, and try and have a good time. Leave it to ELP and Yes to bludgeon people with pseudo-intellectual bullshit. The Small Faces knew that people knew that things were shit, so they made a great album to drag you up out of that funk and have a good time for a change. I tip my hat to them.