Une île Déserte...

The Autumn Stone was the only double LP in the history of Immediate Records, and it came out as the company was entering its death throes, a desperate effort to cash in -- or, to use a term that's become popular in the 21st century -- "monetize" their library of tapes on the Small Faces. When lead singer Steve Marriott quit in the waning days of 1968, the group had been midway into recording a new album that would have been its third for the label, and a follow-up to 1968's popular Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. Left high and dry by Marriott's departure, with an uncertain future ahead for the group, the company elected to release the first anthology of the Small Faces' work.

The result was The Autumn Stone, a mix of hit singles (going all the way back to their Decca Records years, with "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" and "All or Nothing") and up through their final 45, "The Universal," plus three songs recorded live at Newcastle Town Hall in early 1968, a bunch of album tracks, and some unissued tracks from the tail end of their history, presumably intended for the never-finished third Immediate LP. It was the first (and, for over 20 years, the best) overview of the group's work and history, depicting its transition from a white British Invasion-era soul band to a more laid-back and experimental psychedelic outfit. And it still holds up reasonably well, even in the face of more ambitious and comprehensive compilations such as Sanctuary's Ultimate Collection.

The only caveat concerns the quality of the various CD editions -- the late-'80s, 22-song CD from Castle Communications sounded pretty poor (as did most of the Immediate catalog from that period), and the 1992 Castle version was little better. Subsequent reissues since the mid-'90s, however, have offered a steady (and ongoing) stream of major sonic improvements -- Castle's 1998 25-song re-release, part of its Essential Classics series, has very good fidelity and beautiful stereo separation on songs such as "Here Comes the Nice" and the title track, and clocked in at 72 minutes with the inclusion of the three bonus tracks, "Donkey Rides, Penny a Glass" plus monumental live renditions of "All or Nothing" and "Tin Soldier" (both of which were already represented in their studio versions); and Sunspots' 2002 version, packaged in a mini-LP sleeve, takes a different approach, offering still better sound and expanding the CD back to two platters, like the original double-LP version, and loading up bonus tracks on both discs, including the alternate takes of "Tell Me (Have You Ever Seen Me)" and "Green Circles," the live version of "Tin Soldier," the B-side "Donkey Rides, Penny a Glass," plus the piano- and organ-dominated instrumental "The Pig Trotters," the guitar-driven blues piece entitled "Picaninny." ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide