Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Scratchy-voic sings the sam( 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 DANIELS seemed shy and withdrawn, preferring to hide underneath a Texas-Tennessee cowboy hat that covered his face and play with his back to the audience.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 Charlie Daniels ap Ir& SlkeSeea