Let's Get Small!!!!

Hadn't perused MOJO (the magazine) in quite a while, but the current (May) issue is pretty interesting, starting with an excellent cover story/profile of the late great Steve Marriott. Beginning with this cool-beyond-belief 1966 group photo (hitherto unknown to me) of Marriott with The Small Faces.

Let's just say that THAT is what a rock band is supposed to look like, in my humble opinion. Also: I would kill for that shirt (or sweater?) that Marriott's wearing. Not to mention those white sneakers.

As is their wont, MOJO includes a bonus CD with the issue; those things are invariably uneven, and this one is no exception, but it does feature this minor mind-blower: Marriott's pre-Small Faces band The Moments (from 1964) with "Money, Money."

Jeebus Christ -- Marriott was sixteen when he sang that.

And I would be remiss if I didn't share two other items in the issue that caught my eye and made me laugh out loud:

From a review of Hype & Soul: Behind the Scenes at Motown, a memoir by wunderkind promo director Al Abrams (a teenage Jewish kid who apparently got the gig almost by accident):

Hype and Soul is Abrams' story, which tells how he was banned from quality control meetings after suggesting that Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar" was grammatically incorrect and should be retitled "Isn't That Peculiar."

There's also a preview of a recently rediscovered, previously unreleased comedy album, from 1975, featuring Who drummer Keith Moon and John Peel's radio show producer John Walter (who wrote the sketches). Among the bits are an interview with a soul singer named Otis X. Watermelon (heh) and an interview in which a Brit music journalist fires off inane questions to delusional rock star Harry Krishna (!), lead singer of The Starving Millions (!!).