"The Immediate Singles Collection" - cd 6

This extravagant six-CD set documents the astonishing life span of the first pop independent label in the U.K., Immediate Records. Founded in 1965, Immediate flipped, flopped, and staggered its own way, competing against unhip American labels like EMI and Decca until late 1969...
...The label, and the documentary CD set, showcases in particular the Small Faces, who enjoyed a brief U.K. number one hit, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. More familiar to American listeners will no doubt be the three-chord sock-hop favorite "Hang on Sloopy" by the McCoys, and a number of covers of familiar American folk-rock hits are present as well. The esoteric collector will appreciate inclusions by such café balladeers as the Poets and Les Fleurs-de-Lis, also signed by Immediate before the advent of the swinging London sound, marked by the Rolling Stones revolution and other mod developers influencing the pants off the tiniest studio cover bands. Immediate also helped sculpt the success of anguished bellower Chris Farlowe, soon to be joined by the similarly throaty vibrato of PP Arnold and, of course, manager/producer Andrew Oldham's best toss of the dice, the Small Faces, whom he ripped away from Decca. By the fourth disc, you are, in fact, in the throes of swinging London, featuring Farlowe's heart-stopping "Yesterday's Papers" and Arnold's "The First Cut Is the Deepest," written by the much-in-demand Cat Stevens. Most of the music is minimal and often out of tune, production at an early-time low, replete with tinny echoes and accidental outtake moments. The most successfully recorded instruments seem to be the sitars, baroque strings, and arpeggio harpsichord riffs that "translate" well under Immediate's studio circumstances. Notable moments: Small Faces' "Here Comes the Nice" and "Itchycoo Park," Murray Head's "She Was Perfection," and the Marquis of Kensington's Kinks/new vaudeville hybrid, "Changing of the Guard." This is a luxurious, overcollected document that could be easily managed on one museum-piece disc, although it would be hard cull dozens of small contributions by say, drop-ins Nico, Rod Stewart, and Mick Fleetwood. The jewel on the record is without question the Faces version (sung not by Stewart but by Chris Farlowe) of "Handbags and Glad rags": "They told me you missed school today/So I suggest you just throw it all away/The handbags and glad rags that your granddads had to sweat/So you could buy." Very British, very Immediate. - Review by Becky Byrkit
disc 6:
1 Paint It Black - Chris Farlowe 2 I Just Need Your Loving - Chris Farlowe 3 Brandenburger - The Nice 4 Happy Freuds - The Nice 5 (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice - The Amen Corner 6 Hey Hey Girl - The Amen Corner 7 Dawn - Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds 8 April Was The Month - Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds 9 (See The Little People) Gulliver Travels - Michael D'abo 10 An Anthology Of Gulliver's Travels (Part Two) - Michael D'abo 11 This Is Where We Came In - The McCoys 12 Afterglow Of Your Love - The Small Faces 13 Wham Bam Thank You Man - The Small Faces 14 Man Of The World - Fleetwood Mac 15 Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite - Earl Vince & The Valiants (Fleetwood Mac) 16 Hello Susie - The Amen Corner 17 Evil Man's Gonna Win - The Amen Corner 18 Natural Born Bugie - Humble Pie 19 Wrist Job - Humble Pie 20 Get Back - The Amen Corner 21 Farewell To The Real Magnificent Seven - The Amen Corner 22 Sylvie - The Hill 23 The Fourth Annual Convention Of The Battery Hen Farmers Association (Part 2) - The Hill