WHAT A CONCEPT!

OGDENS’ NUT GONE FLAKE by Small Faces (1968, Immediate)

You recognize the famous, round, Victorian, snuff tobacco tin cover? It was designed by Nick Twedell and Pete Brown, and announced to Acid heads everywhere that this album was going to be a trip to be reckoned with, and it did not disappoint. Thought by many to be the first Rock n Roll concept record, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake was the premier British, hot house musical flower from that psychedelic garden, mixing British Music Hall with rocking blues - a recipe that also worked marvelously for Ray Davies and The Kinks. The Artful Dodger-esque ditty Lazy Sunday, brayed by future Humble Pie frontman Steve Marriott, became the big hit, and the album went to #1 in the UK. 

Side two is dedicated to a single, 19 minute, fairy tale opus, “Happiness Stan”, narrated by comedian Stanley Unwin in his own nonsense language. It recounts the story of a boy named Stan who goes looking for the other half of the moon when it’s on the wane.  He rescues a house fly that grows to enormous size, able to transport Stan to the place where he learns the meaning of life. Fanciful? But, of course, and delivered in an insouciant Cockney manner, abetted by processed vocals, keyboards, and guitars. Captain Billy has already covered The Faces with Rod Stewart, which showcases them as an unparalleled R and B outfit, but this thing was the apex of psychedelic “High” Art” - but, never taking itself too seriously. 

Ps: There was some controversy stirred up by genius entrepreneur manager-producer Andrew Loog Oldham, when he published an ad for the record which parodied The Lord’s Prayer - just another aspect of its hallucinogenic conception.