4 keepers
keeper avg .363
Wood's first solo album neatly coincided with his year of transition from founding member of The Faces to Mick Taylor's replacement in the Rolling Stones. Though Wood wouldn't be playing with the Stones for at least a few months after this was was in the can, the "Glimmer Twins" heavily influence and are featured prominently all over this release, starting with the reggae-ish opening track "I Can Feel the Fire." Par excellence as a jingle, the main hook is catchy but far too repetitive to qualify as much of a song. Though Mick Jagger is only credited with backing vocal he dominates the mike, and at least he's so into it - he nearly carries the track. Jagger is also prominent on the evilly strutting "Am I Grooving You." Though credited to songwriting pair Bert Russell and Jeff Barry, it feels like the kind of heavy, minimalist rocker Keith would later do when he later went solo. "Take a Look at the Guy"**** and "Sure the One You Need"**** (credited to Jagger / Richards) are the album's "Rocks Off" / "Silver Train" Stones-y rockers. Jagger and Richards also penned the excellent "Act Together"****, whose chorus "It's looking good, let's get our shit together" perfectly sums up the song's casual ease.
The soul ballad "Far East Man," Woods' one collaboration with George Harrison is one of the best tunes, though such an airy wisp of a song needed a stronger singer to pull it together. On "Mystifies Me"***** Wood finds a melodic sweet spot in his range, punctuating most of his vocal lines with tasty melodic runs on guitar; it was later faithfully covered by Son Volt (1995). The mid-tempo "Cancel Everything" and "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" are unsurprisingly in the Faces wheelhouse; the latter was actually a cover, originally performed by James Ray (written by Rudy Clark), and prominently features former band-mate Rod Stewart. And he gets funky on "Shirley" (I mean he went and got himself an envelope filter) and instrumental "Crotch Music" (by bassist Willie Weeks). Being used to hearing Wood as an ensemble player, working in tandem with Ronnie Lane and Rod Stewart or in the shadow of Keith Richards, I was actually pleasantly surprised Wood could carry a good part of a solo album. I'll give him more credit in the future.
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