Forty Five Minutes Of Autumn Songs

Some songs with the word Autumn in the title for a Sunday mix in late September, a day ahead of the autumn equinox- tomorrow, Monday 22nd September at 7.22 pm, a day which marks the end of astronomical summer and the onset of astronomical autumn. Buckle up. Winter's coming. 

Autumn definitely seems to bring out the melancholy and downbeat in songwriters- the songs on my hard drive in the mix below are firmly in that camp- it's OK to wallow in that sometimes and I think by the time we get to the end there's some catharsis.

Forty Five Minutes Of Autumn

• The Small Faces: The Autumn Stone
• Lee Hazlewood: My Autumn's Done Come
• Jaymay: Autumn Fallin'
• Pacific: Autumn Island
• Yo La Tengo: Autumn Sweater
• Higamos Hogamos: Harold/ Autumn Equinox Sunset
• The Prisners Dream: Autumn Days
• East Village: Black Autumn
• Marcel Slettern: Autumn
• Brian Eno: Dunwich Beach, Autumn 1960
• Coldcut : Autumn Leaves (The Irresistible Force Remix)

The Small Faces song The Autumn Stone is from their later period when they'd shed their initial skin and become a little more hippy, a little more reflective, they sound a bit... earthier and woodier. Written by Steve Marriot and recorded in September 1968, The Autumn Stone is a ballad with a beautiful slow glow. The Small Faces were such a great band weren't they.

Lee Hazlewood's autumn isn't just seasonal, it's a lifetime thing sung by a man who seemed to be permanently found in the autumn of his life. This song was the flip side to Sand, a 1966 7" single. 

Jaymay is an American singer/ songwriter, an indie/ folk artist, whose song You Better Run was a music blog song back in the early 2010s golden days of music blogging. Her 2007 album of the same name, Autumn Fallin' is a lovely pun for those on the US side of the Atlantic. 

Pacific were on minor Creation records band in 1990. Their song Jetstream was a favourite with me and a friend who went into a flat share in 1992, a song that sampled the sinking of the Belgrano. Autumn Island was on their 1990 album Inference which is probably Creation's least heard album, undeservedly so but in 1990 Creation had many other irons in the fire and some bands just fell through the cracks. 

Yo La Tengo's Autumn Sweater is one of my favourite songs by anyone, ever. Everything about it- the words, the singing, the drumming, the tone, the feel, the longing to be gone, to be moving on... it's all just perfect. 'We could slip away/ Wouldn't that be better/Me with nothing to say/ And you in your autumn sweater'. 

Higamos Hogamos are/ were Hackney based Steve Webster and various assistants and collaborators. I first heard them when Andrew Weatherall played some krauty/ cosmische tracks by them on a radio show in the dim and distant past- I think I followed up by going to the Higamos Hogamos MySpace page (which dates it). The track on this mix comes in two parts, the first half a lovely experimental instrumental and the second a field recording of the autumn equinox at sunset. 

The Prisners Dream (sic) were one of those American garage rock bands who made the grand total of one sole 7" single, released on Rene Records in 1967. They came from Canonsberg, Pennsylvania. Autumn Days is a gorgeously melancholic folk rock song, backed with You're The One I Really Love. Autumn Days was on a double album compilation from a couple of years ago called Ghost Riders, seventeen songs for a North American road trip with sleeve notes by Sonic Boom. I reviewed it at Ban Ban Ton Ton in 2022 and it's a record I still recommend highly. The Prisners were all between 17 and 19 years old when they recorded the song and sound utterly bereft, a state of being before they've even reached adulthood. 

East Village were on Heavenly, caught out in that short period between late 80s indie and early 90s indie- dance. Their album Drop Out has been re- issued several times, on each occasion to rave reviews. They made little in the way of waves at the time but every time Drop Out comes out again they attract a few new followers. 

Marcel Slettern is from Athens, Georgia,an electronic producer, writer and visual artist who goes for the single word title here- autumn, a few minutes of piano playing. I have no idea why or how this song ended up on my hard drive or where it came from but I'm glad it did. 

Brian Eno's Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960 is from his 1982 album On Land, a landmark ambient album. Dunwich was a Suffolk port that feel into the sea due to coastal erosion. It's one of those Eno ambient tracks which is absolutely beyond compare. 

Coldcut's cover of the jazz standard Autumn Leaves has been released in various versions and at various times. None of the versions quite matches The Irresistible Force's remix, a Balearic masterpiece and one which provides an ending that takes us to a better place. 

I'm Happy Just To Be With You

I had an urge the other day to hear a song by The Small Faces- it was almost overpowering, like the cravings I still very occasionally get for a cigarette (it's now five and a half years since I last had a ciggie, as you're asking). And it was a very specific craving- it had to be the 1968-period, Ogden's era Small Faces, when they'd loosened up and gone a little hippie around their mod edges, Steve Marriott's soulful voice, Ronnie's distinctive bass playing, the wheezy organ, Kenny's thumpy drums. Song Of A Baker would have done perfectly. Or Tin Soldier. Or this...

Afterglow (Of Your Love)

This is the version from Ogden's Classic Nut Gone Flake, not the single version Andrew Loog Oldham put out after the group had split in 1969. The album version has the acoustic intro that was removed from the single release- I'm not that fussy, both versions are great. Loog Oldham sped it up slightly for the 45 and extended the end section. Both are stunning but I guess this one is the one the group recorded initially and wanted. Marriott's lyrics were written for his wife, Jenny Rylance, a song that according to his drummer in Humble Pie Jerry Shirley only Marriott could have written, 'a beautiful love song about what it feels like to have a fag after sex'.

And while I'm here, double bubble two-fer-one, one of the greatest clips in the history of music television, The Small Faces and PP Arnold destroying hearts on French TV in 1968.

Ian McLagan

Ian McLagan, 12th May 1945- 3rd December 2014.

Girl From New York

Billy Nicholls is one of the forgotten men of 1960s pop and as such has an album that is one of those legendary, hard-to-find records- his take on Pet Sounds, shelved by Immediate just before it was due to come out (Andrew Loog Oldham's label ran into financial difficulties).This song is an absolute joy with blistering guitar parts from Steve Marriott, the rest of The Small Faces thumping along and a superb vocal from Billy.

The lyrics take some beating too...

She came from New York in the summer
We went to the zoo
She said that London was lovely
We had a good view

I called her at four in the morning
She came to the phone
We met in a park as the dawn came
I picked her a rose

Some how we found the time
To love each others mind
Peanut butter's fine

I can't stand peanut butter personally.

Girl From New York

All Or Nothing

I think The Small Faces are my favourite of the 60s beat bands- they looked so good, like a unit, their Decca stuff is proper 60s mod/r 'n' b, their Immediate stuff is inventive and moving and full of brilliance, to say nothing of Marriott's voice and the band's playing and the Lane/Marriott songwriting.


I can't decide which clip of All Or Nothing is better though- this one from a TV show in 1966, playing live and sounding great...



Or this one of them miming on a street corner somewhere in Europe, collars turned up against the cold, a hat put out for small change.

There's Wheat In The Field

No words needed really.

Understanding

PP Arnold- what a cutie eh?

PP Arnold sang with The Small Faces and was romantically linked with Steve Marriott for a while. She signed to Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label and put out several fine solo records. I got one the other day second hand, which contained two too many Beatles covers but had a quite a few corkers too. In 1995 there was a Small Faces tribute album. This song from it united PP with Primal Scream. Primal Scream do their thing, PP does hers.

Understanding

As Recommended By Mr HSD

Someone reversed into me while I drove past their driveway this morning, which just about put the tin lid on it as far as the past week's concerned. Then my friend Mr HSD recommended this to me via the magic of the internets and all of a sudden... who cares?



Itchycoo Park, (If You Think You're) Groovy and Tin Soldier. With P P Arnold. Sigh.

Plonk

I don't go much for mid-70s rock but for top mod Ronnie Lane I can make an exception. After The Small Faces split up, the remainder of the band hooked up with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood to make the beery, blokey rock that eventually sent Rod Stewart to superstardom. I'm no expert on The Faces to be honest. Ronnie Lane wrote songs throughout and when Stewart left he continued with a solo career and various bands (Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance for one). Ronnie was described by many as a fine songwriter and musician and a top chap to boot. He died from Multiple Sclerosis in 1997, after living with it for twenty years. This is a Faces song, Ooh La La, performed at the BBC by a line up of Slim Chance. It's very mid-70s- rough hewn, good times, having a lock-in music with all in it together vocals, acoustic guitars and accordians and woody drums, coming across like a band of highly trained buskers playing good songs in the snug bar.

Ooh La La

Groovy Times

Back to The Small Faces and PP Arnold with this song, (If You Think You're) Groovy, written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, played by the band and sung by the golden voice of PP Arnold in 1967. Nice. It's nice to be nice.

(If You Think You're) Groovy

Your Eyes Are Deeper Than Time

There's something about weather like this which makes The Small Faces the perfect soundtrack. Plus, while away camping I read a longish article about them in a heritage rock magazine. It was a toss up between this song and Song Of A Baker (and there aren't too many songs about bakers), but I've gone for Tin Soldier, a brilliant soulful rocker with backing vocals from the lovely PP Arnold. This song should be in your download folder and then played loud through open windows.

Tin Soldier

The Small Faces 'Get Yourself Together'

The Small Faces must be one of the most under-rated of the 1960s bands, despite their influence on Weller and all things Britpop in the mid-90s. Their early stuff is great pop, and the records they released on Immediate are flawless. We'll even gloss over M-People's butchering of Itchycoo Park, which has so scarred me I can no longer listen to the original. They were also very natty dressers. There's some particularly fine footwear on display in our picture above. On Youtube there's some amazing footage of them doing Tin Soldier on a German (I think) TV show, with P.P.Arnold on lead-backing vocals. You should go and look for it now. This is Get Yourself Together, a cracker of a song from 1967.

01 Get Yourself Together.wma