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Mar 24, 2025 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

By the time of Faces’ final album, 1973’s Ooh La La, Rod Stewart was already a star in his own right. He’d already released four solo albums—1969’s The Rod Stewart Album, 1970’s Gasoline Alley, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, and 1972’s Never a Dull Moment—albums that are considered prime Rod Stewart and feature some of the best songs of his career. When one considers that “Maggie May,” perhaps the quintessential Rod Stewart song, came out in 1971, a full two years before Ooh La La, it really puts into context the landscape into which the last Faces album was released.

The liner notes of this Rhino High Fidelity vinyl reissue, an interview between producer Glyn Johns and drummer Kenney Jones, discusses the album sessions, which featured the now-world famous Stewart coming and going, but also emphasizes the fact that Faces were always a bunch of lads gleefully enjoying their time together. And Ooh La La certainly has the sound of an album made in grand old fashion by grand old friends. From barroom singalongs like “My Fault” and straight up rockers like “Borstal Boys,” to more sensitive fare like “I’m On the Late Side” and “Flags and Banners,” Ooh La La runs the gamut of the best each of the band’s five players had to offer.

The Stewart/Ron Wood/Ian McLagan production “Cindy Incidentally” climbed to #2 on the British charts, the band’s highest charting single. And Ronnie Lane claims much of the album’s second side with his “I’m on the Late Side” co-write with Stewart, as well as his own compositions “Glad and Sorry” and “Just Another Honky.” But it’s the album closer, the title track, that’s the real kicker on Ooh La La. Sung by Wood, “Ooh La La” is one of the Faces’ best, a statement piece, ironically which doesn’t feature Stewart at all. It’s the definitive Faces and a fitting cap to the band’s legacy. (www.rhino.com)

Author rating: 8/10