When you stop to think about it, it’s amazing that The Beatles ever broke America: whilst their music was, and is, quite obviously brilliant, it’s also, often, very, very British. And parochial, eccentric British rock is something our former colonial cousins have never taken to – something the Small Faces would have been able to explain more than almost anyone.

The Small Faces were one of the biggest drivers of the mod sound in the 60s, and their influence has been felt across the decades since their demise. Lazy Sunday perfectly encapsulates the charm of the Small faces; sung, if that’s the right word, in a blatant London accent, it veers & rolls with a life of its own. And whilst  the likes of Paul Weller, blur, and half of the Britpop era bands owe a debt to the band, they never made it in the way that they should have. In common with bands like The Kinks, they were just too British – as were their spiritual heirs, such as Weller, blur & even The Streets.

Despite this, the band that was born out of the Small Faces’ demise, The Faces, launched the career of Rod Stewart, whilst Small Faces singer Steve Marriott found fame in the US with Humble Pie. Sadly though, it didn’t ended very well for a number of the band: without the riches that came to many of their peers, and troubled by illness and other tragedies, Marriott & fellow vocalist Ronnie Lane both died far too young, with many people only recognising their brilliance after their passing.

Let’s just hope that they’re both up there somewhere now, enjoying an eternal lazy Sunday afternoon.

#shfl11 is a self-set challenge to write a post every day in 2011 about whatever song pops up 1st on shuffle on my iPod.

Lazy teenagers by Alex Murphy on flickr