In 1972 French-Canadian actor Alexis Kanner approached Faces’ bassist and vocalist Ronnie Lane about composing the soundtrack for the film Mahoney’s Last Stand, which I’ve never seen but from what I’ve read about it sounds like a non-comedic Green Acres. Lane accepted and enlisted Faces guitarist Ron Wood to join the project, then recruited a lot of whizz-bang rock and roll talent as farm hands. The result is this 1972 LP, which oozes a rustic charm that more than makes up for its lack of lofty ambition. This is the sound of musicians hanging out and having fun, and producing some very likable off-the-cuff music while they’re at it.
Lane—who succumbed in 1997 to multiple sclerosis at the tragically young age of 51—was the heart (he had a huge one) and soul (he oozed the stuff) of the Faces. Rod Stewart got the attention—too much of it towards the end—but Ronnie embodied the band’s rambunctious approach to rock and roll and wrote (or co-wrote) some of the band’s most endearing and poignant songs, including “Ooh La La,” “Glad and Sorry,” and “Debris.”
And that doesn’t include the great songs he produced for the Small Faces and his wonderful 1977 collaboration with Pete Townshend, Rough Mix. As for Ron Wood, he exemplified the shambolic and always joyous spirit of the Faces as well, and I’ll argue to my dying day that he did (by far) his best work with them. He may be better remembered for his years with the Rolling Stones, but I would gladly trade it all for the jet engine guitar he plays on “Stay with Me” and his down-to-earth vocal turn on “Ooh La La.”
The motley crew who played on the sessions for the film score included the likes of Townshend, Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, R&R saxophone legend Bobby Keys, Blind Faith and Traffic bassist Ric Grech, Rolling Stones’ road manager and pianist Ian Stewart, Faces (and later Who) drummer Kenney Jones, trumpet player Jim Price, Grease Band/Fairport Convention drummer Bruce Rowland and various other odds and sods. Conspicuous by his absence was Rod Stewart—Lane was justifiably angry at the time with Stewart’s rapidly fading interest in the Faces due to his solo success, and he was particularly galled by the fact that the Faces were increasingly being looked upon as Stewart’s backing band.
Wood and Lane wrote all thirteen songs on Mahoney’s Last Stand, and songs they are—you won’t find any incidental music on the LP. What you’ll find instead are plenty of loose-jointed countryside boogies that will light you up like good mountain holler moonshine. The LP opens with powerhouse instrumental “Tonight’s Number,” which features Townshend on guitar and the horn section of Keys and Price blaring away in unison, as well as a mid-section where Price plays a sublime trumpet solo before the song kicks back into gear and the rhythm section crushes it. “From the Late to the Early” is a mid-tempo acoustic guitar picker and grinner with some nice harmonica that’s as laid back as a day spent cloud-gazing on a hay bale. Lane and Woody sing in unison and they sound great together, and I’ll be damned if this one couldn’t have held its own on a Faces album.
“Chicken Wire” is a fast-paced romp and races across the old barnyard like a clucker on amphetamines, and will wake you up every bit as surely as your neighbor’s shut-the-fuck-up alarm clock of a rooster. On the very likable R&B-flavored “Chicken Wired” the boys sing in unison again about chickens and Colonel Sanders (which they pronounce “Saunders”) while Wood plays banjo and a rumbling guitar as McLagan bangs out some raucous honky tonk piano, and once again I could hear this one a Faces album.
“I’ll Fly Away” is a throwaway thirty-one second rendition of a spiritual traditional as sung sans instrumentation by the “Wood/Lane Vocal Ensemble,” whose members include Faces’ producer of preference Glyn Johns. “Title One” is a funky number—Wood plays killer guitar throughout, strewing stinging barbs here and there and everywhere, while Keys and Price again join forces (and in a big way) after which Keys serves up a powerful sax solo.
The instrumental version of “Just for a Moment” is a lovely thing, with some beautifully strummed guitar, lots of winsome harmonica by Wood, and a very laid back electric guitar solo by same. “‘Mona’ the Blues” is a slow, bass heavy number on which Woody plays droning harmonica and some really country honk slide guitar while also handling lead vocals, with an occasional assist from Lane. Wood’s solo is a slow-cooker, and it provides the perfect segue to the rave-up “Car Radio,” a slick drive down a two-lane country road in a souped-up ‘36 Ford pickup that comes complete with more guitar rumble, a great Bobby Keys sax solo, and some fancy piano work by McLagan.
Ric Grech’s violin accompanies Wood’s acoustic guitar and frantic harmonica on the rustic romp “Hey Tumble,” which would make for the perfect accompaniment to an erotic tumble in the hayloft at the old barn dance. I think that’s sessions legend Micky Waller shaking the tambourine around while Wood’s bass pitchfork prods the song along, and you can practically hear the toes a’tappin’ and the skirts a-whirlin’. “Woody’s Thing” is an off-kilter and oddly syncopated rural blues that has Ian Stewart playing old timey piano while Lane plucks away at the banjo and Wood chops wood on the guitar. Kinda reminds me of something real rough around the edges you might hear on Exile on Main Street.
“Rooster’s Funeral” is a sad one, with Grech again picking up the old violin to play a doleful strain while Wood does some heavy strumming. And then the boys come in on vocals aiming for the high notes. A rooster’s funeral is a downright mournful affair indeed. Closer “Just for a Moment” is as lovely a Lane ballad as you’d want to hear. The Faces rehearsed the song but Lane choose to use it here, which is too bad because it’s basically been lost in the woods in the back forty as a result. This is English folk soul music at its best, and your heart breaks when Lane sings with resignation, “Just for a moment, my heart was complete.”
Mahoney’s Last Stand is a true lost album, beloved, I’m sure, by a few, but not even on the radar of most. And that’s a pity. It’s no masterpiece—the lads were having a lark, not aiming for immortality—but it’s a real charmer, and the perfect listen for your next road trip through Deliverance country or sheep-poaching outing in the Scottish Highlands. You’ve got to love an album with as high a chicken-per-song ratio as this one, especially when its players are as high-spirited as this bunch. You can tell these guys are having a rural delivery ball, and you can practically smell the cow shit on your shoes. If Mahoney’s Last Stand proves anything, it’s that Green Acres is the place to be.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
