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By CHUCK CROMER
Gamecock Staff Writer
If you have seen them once, you will never have to
waste your time paying to see them again. That is
the best way to describe the concert in the Carolina
Colisenm last Sunday night that twin-billed Rod
Stewart with the Faces and the Charlie Daniels
Band.
What was showcased that night was a typical
Southen "boogie rock" band and two pop stars, Rod
Stewart and Ron Wood, along with their backup
band, The Faces, presenting a revue of past hits.
HOWEVER, I do not wish to imply that the
concert was bad, only that it was predictable. For
those who were seeing these two bands for the first
time, it was a relatively enjoyable evening of en
tertainment. But for those who had witnessed their
performances in the past, Sunday night proved to be
a disappointment as neither group provided the
au d iewce with any imaginative or innovative
music.
Tbe concert started promptly at 8 p.m. with 8,153
people attending. With no introduction, thP Charlie
Daniels Band walked on stage and began per
forming a tune called "Love My Whiskey". This
served as a model for nearly every other number
they pLayed, featuring inane lyrics about getting
drunk and being thrown in jail.
The best one can be said about the Charlie Daniels
Band is that they rise a little above the average
southern-downhome-boogie band. This style was
initiated by the Allman Brothers Band in the late
60's. Since that time, numerous imitators have
evolved on the Southern scene including The
Marshall Tucker 4Band, Wet Willie, Grinders
Switch, and Lynard Skynard.
The Charlie Daniels Band tried to duplicate the
Allman Brothers sound in almost every way, from
Rod Stew t and Ron Wo4
ed Stewart
old song
their stage setup of a keyboard, two drummers, a
bass, and two guitarists, to their basic similarities
in musical style. Charlie Daniels often tried to
pattern himself after Duane Allman. On one oc
cosion, I was expecting them to break into a few
bars of "Whipping Post".
DANIELS seemed shy and withdrawn, preferring
to hide underneath a Texas-Tennessee cowboy hat
that covered his face and play with his back to the
audience. The only rapport that he ever developed
with the crowd came when his band ended their set
with "The South's Gonna Do It Again". The song
made an obvious impact on a largely Southern
audience as it namedropped several popular
southern bands and their home states to the beat of
a fiddle and regional boogieism.
Charlie Daniels was brought back for an encore of
"Orange Blossom Special" that met with cheers
from the inebriated or stoned and moans from the
thousands that were waiting to see Rod Stewart and
the Faces.
The Faces have not always been the Rod Stewart
vehicle that they are today. Back in the late 60's
they blossomed on the British music scene with a
couple of hit singles and under the name of the
Small Faces. After severalyears of success, the
band more or less fell apa'rt when original founding
member Steve Mariott left to plug in his amps with
the newly formed Humble Pie in 1969.
FORTUNATELY, THE Small Faces were soon to
acquire the relatively unheralded talents of Ron
Wood and Rod Stewart, both former members of the
recently defunct Jeff Beck Group. Wood was best
known as Beck's talented bass player while Stewart
was his lead singer.
With this new blood, the Small Faces released the
album First Step in 1970, there best effort to date,
even though it met with little commercial success.
However, their sound was
pure and no one member
dominated the group. Instead,
they played together as one
entity. Later, the situation
changed drastically when
Stewart's career boomed with
his smash solo album Every
Picture Tells A Story in 1971.
Riding on the coattails of
Stewart's popularity the Small
Faces changed their image to
resemble that of heir messiah.
Small was dropped from the
title and only "The Faces"
remained. Frankly speaking,
the only Face that people paid
to see was Rod's and later on
Ron Woods.
THE NEW messiah's touch
'was like something from
) heaven as the next two Faces'
releases, Long Player and A
Nod isAs Good As AWink To A
Blind Horse, were huge
moneymakers. Rod Stewart's
solo career also soared with the
release of Never A Dull
Moment.
By 1973, though, the Faces
career had stagnated. Their
next two effort, Oh La La and
Coast to Coast, were disasters.
The reasons for this were
numerous. Foremost of all,
was that their muusic was
almost totally centered around
the talents of Stewart and Wood
while the rest of the band
existed in their shadows.
Also a conflict of interests
had drastically matured where
Stewart and Wood spent most of
their time pursuing solo
careers and other musical
ventures. Ronnie Lane, an
original member, finally quit in
disgust and the band fell into an
PlaeSe>TWR,dae1
entertainment
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