Customer Reviews

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake (Dlx)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the very great sixties LPs, the best LP of the Small Faces and perhaps the best psychelic album of all. Something of a cross between the Who and The Incredible String Band. Except that both should be jealous of the result. The LP is a five plus.

The issue includes a mono version of the lp, which unlike the Beatles LPs from "Rubber Soul" on and the Stones "Satanic" is not a revelation (the mono versions of those LPs are vastly superior to the stereo mixes and should be issued, in large part because the creators abandoned the stereo versions to their producers to finish). But it's very good. The 'punk' element is pronounced on the mono mix. Have a bash.

The stereo is superior - heaven in fact, and so good you can skip the drugs, the music will take you there by itself.

The documentary is fun, like being in a pub with the band as they play cuts and try to remember where the songs came from (mostly from a druggy trip down the Thames). When Rod Stewart tried to replace Steve Marriott in the band (for years) it was this quality they tried to recreate and did, though never as well as this LP.

Now the caveat and loss of a star: there were two songs cut for the LP dropped, "If You Think You're Groovy" and "Be My Baby". Considering that the lps are short, it's unconscionable that these cuts are not included as bonuses. Also several cuts have wonderful gibberish dialogue over them at points; so including the cuts without it as bonuses would seem to be obvious. And lastly the Small Faces performed the entire second side of the LP live on the BBC television program "Colour Me Pop" and this could have been included as an audio or DVD bonus track. If you're going to do a three CD set of a single short LP, it should be comprehensive.

The model for this should have been the truly comprehensive three CD set of the Kinks "Village Green", which left no kink unturned.

If you are a Small Faces novice, get the "Darlings" double CD, a budget issue that has this entire LP (split between the two disks) and almost every else the Small Faces did for Immediate. If you love them, you'll need this.

Had original record version & beat it to death. The Remastered CD's
are lovely & bonus tracks/interviews lots of fun.
Flat out great Rock & Roll with plenty of weirdness.
Mono version interesting but Stereo is the way to go.
Long live " Ogden's Nut Gone Flake "
James Kalamasz Spectrum Recording Studios

The music gets 5 stars - this release gets 1 star - thus, 3 stars.

What the other reviewer says (John Ellis) is ALL true (great review). But there's even more to what he said. The total time of this album is 38:29 - do the simple math, and it's obvious that BOTH the mono & stereo versions *could* have fit onto ONE disk! And based on what the other reviewer said about the 3d CD - it *could* have fit all the other tracks related to this album he mentioned! Also, as 'neat' as the container is - imagine storing that with your other CDs! Another plus for having ALL of this and much more on TWO CDs - it could be in a single, standard-size jewel case.

Of all the smart things John Ellis said - his idea of having a mix of all of side 2 without the narration, would be simply fantastic! But there IS one track that already is like that - "Mad John". It's on the 'Ultimate Collection' (the Sanctuary label - excellent remastering). One last thing - amazing, and hard to believe - this album has been re-released on CD at least 16 times!! I hope what I said will inspire a true 'ultimate' version!