My Top 1000 Songs #338: Glad And Sorry

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Some songs are just kinda amiable. Nothing flashy; not necessarily top-of-mind, a killer track you crank up for friends and know it's gonna just blow them away. Just a little simple something that makes you feel good, that you find yourself unconsciously humming along with if it randomly pops up on shuffle play.

Which brings me to "Glad And Sorry," from Faces' final album, 1973's Ooh La La. I'm only a middling Faces fan, much more partial to the prior Small Faces configuration. This is largely due to my mixed feelings about the vocals of Rod Stewart. "Glad" sidesteps that issue, with the vocals handled in unison by Ronnie Lane (who wrote the song, one of his many amazing creations) joined by Ronnie Wood and Ian McLagan. It's a gentle, mid-tempo number with a persistent yet incisive piano hook, ambling along peacefully, some low-key interplay among the band, a seemingly tossed-off guitar solo--again, no bells and whistles, just a swell tune that makes you feel good. "Can you show me a dream?"

Golden Smog covered the track on 1995's excellent Down By The Old Mainstream, and I actually prefer that one to the original, given just a bit more punch but retaining the original's laid-back groove. Here they are performing it last year, with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy taking lead, and some nice harmonies by the Jayhawks' (hey, didn't we just mention them yesterday?) Gary Louris.