Hey, not all that bad if you consider that most consumers will fork over for a Faces album with rather low preliminary expectations: Two or at most three tracks will usually soak up the energy and style of the tunes that grace the records of Rodney himself, the sandy catarrh, a jaunty and rocking swing, the insouciant lip that he lays on his lovers and his listeners. Everybody knows that the other seven cuts are not gonna amount to much -- even if they give Rod a third or a quarter compositional credit just to fatten up the sheep, not enough is gonna be happening with master Ronnie Lane's tenuous tonsilisms. At least that's the way it's gone before.

Ooh La La however is more than an excuse to keep three cute journeyman popsters off the dole and behind Rodney and guitarist Ron ("Everything Sounds the Same") Wood. Only three of the ten tracks are candidates for the poop chute and the rest alternately rock real hard or are fine vehicles for Rod's mellower and subtler vocal talents. What a surprise. And more, what a relief...

"Silicone Grown" has that nice and fiery tone Woodsy gets out of his axe, a tasty rockish flavor and words that I can't quite make out the content of, but judging from the title you'd think that they'd have something to do with tits, wouldn't you? "Cindy Incidentally" comes next and has that old lurching and slightly crapulated feeling that Rod does so well by, something like "Mama You Been on My Mind." Stewart and Lane collaborated on "Flags And Banners"; Lane sings and it doesn't come off too hot. A beautifully soulful Stewart vocal rehabilitates "My Fault" from probable torpor if anyone else had done it. "Borstal Boys" is as good a hard-rock number as Rod ever dealt with; Borstal -- reform school in Britain -- is no picnic and the tune reflects the loathing that folks have for it, as well as the tough glamour that the word projects.

In any case seven out of ten is better than average for this bunch, good enough to rate as a solid pop record, although I might consider "Borstal Boys" alone worth the price. It's strong.

- Stephen Davis, Rolling Stone, 6/21/73.

Bonus Reviews!

Faces, that pleasingly sleazy, boozy, and thumping band, which is also one aspect of vocalist Rod Stewart's artistic schizophrenia, returns here with what is not a killer album but a solid one.

Riffs, figures, and runs that would seem offensively pedantic from almost any other band are rendered by Faces with a calm authenticity. Their material has a waspish cleverness that is also authentic. Without really hating women they take a very ungallant view of them -- "Silicone Grown" is the example here, where "Stay With Me" was the sneer from their previous album. (It is giggly to think of all the college girls who are faithful women's lib novitiates fingerpopping to this album. But should they have qualms, there is always the resident Marxist graduate student to explain that this is to be expected from working-class lads who haven't been purified by Mao's thought. Ah, youth!) Anyway, Faces is more than a standard band; they play honest, straightforward blues-derived rock, and their opinions, as stated in their songs, are refreshingly frank and a welcome relief from the blowsy one-world stuff we get from most groups.

Stewart may or may not deserve the reputation he has, but he is certainly very good and "Maggie May is indeed a classic of sorts. On his solo albums he is gentler and more introspective; on the Faces albums he bops and struts and hooraws. He has his cake and eats it too -- an achievement anyone, especially a musician, can only envy.

After his last solo album Stewart was criticized for seeming to rest on his laurels, and it does appear that Faces are doing the same thing with this LP. But the rock audience and the music industry make extreme and sometimes unsatisfiable demands on major popular artists. If Faces are sitting this album out they probably, for reasons of health and sanity, have a right to. Commercially it won't make any difference; I am sure this album will, as they say, tear up the charts All to the good. The royalties may pay for the ulcers.

- Joel Vance, Stereo Review, 10/73.

Rod Stewart is one of the superstars of today's rock world and the band is one of the tightest, so the combination is a definite winner. In the past, there has often been criticism that Faces' sets lack something when compared to Stewart's solo efforts, but this set measures up to anything he has done on his own. Ron Wood must rank as one of the top guitarists in rock, and this LP gives him as well as Stewart a chance to show off. Besides the rock, which best characterizes the group, a few softer tunes are also included. Wood and Ronnie Lane also get chances to sing, and they use them well. Definitely the best Faces effort to date. Best cuts: "Silicone Grown," "Cindy Incidentally," "Borstal Boys," "Ooh La La."

- Billboard, 1973.

They do what they want to do very likably -- this is as rowdy and friendly as rock and roll gets. But only on the title song and finale -- written by Rons (Wood and Lane) rather than the Rod -- do they slap your back so's you'd still feel it five minutes later. B

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

Although it's routinely lambasted as an uninspired effort or a sell-out, Ooh La La is a tight rock & roll album, with its best moments -- "Cindy Incidentally" and "Borstal Boys" -- ranking among The Faces' best songs. * * * *

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Growing tensions in the band stifle Ooh La La, whose 10 tracks sound flat despite the opening track's title, "Silicone Grown." * 1/2

- David Yonke, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

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