Captain Crunch

OK, so Keith Richards is the acknowledged king of that thick, melodic, rhythm guitar crunch – examples being “Brown Sugar,” “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin,” “Rocks Off,” “Start Me Up,” “Midnight Rambler,” to name a few.

But I’m here to give a tip of the hat today to Ron Wood, Keith’s partner in crime for going on 40 years. The clip below is from Wood’s stint with The Faces, and is stellar on many levels, not the least of which is Wood’s Les Paul (although it might be a knockoff, I can't tell for sure). Doing great work too is Ronnie Lane on the bass.

And, of course, there is the entirely of the band. This clip, and this song, add to the argument for The Faces being the most underrated band in rock and roll history. “Ooh La La” fits as one of the underrated albums of all time by a band that consisted of five distinct major talents – Wood, Lane, Rod Stewart, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones. Everyone knows Stewart and Wood, but I think Lane was the soul of the group, writing or co-writing many of their most affecting songs.

But the Faces sound was so often identified by Wood, playing superb lead accentuated with that crunch, which was also used to great effect on “Stay with Me.”

Listen to this with headphones, and remember when rock and roll had melody, attitude, personality and character.

And crunch.