''Snakes and Ladders / The Best of Faces'' was an October 1976 best-of album (the 7th album and 2nd compilation album) by British rock group

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

. While the first released Faces compilation was a repackaging of the group's first two LPs as a double album, this US-only release presented the first attempt to compile the popular songs from the group after they had disbanded in 1975. Featuring photography by Tom Wright and unique cover art by guitarist

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

, it was only eventually superseded in the US market by the CD compilation '' Good Boys... When They're Asleep'' in 1999. The selections are however heavily biased in favour of

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

's contribution to the group, with only one track featuring Wood on vocals, and none featuring Ronnie Lane, the group's secondary vocalist and songwriter. Although he had left the band in 1973, Lane was a prominent founder member of the band and sang on and solely composed several tracks on each of the group's four original studio albums, but his songwriting is also under-represented here with his contributions confined to co-credits with Stewart and/or Wood. Lane is also not pictured in the collage of snapshots featured on the cover, while

Jesse Ed Davis Jesse Edwin Davis III (September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988) was a Native American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist and solo performer, was a member of Taj Mahal's backing band and played with musicians such as Eric Clapton, J ...

- who was only hired for the group's final tour of fall 1975 - does appear in some of them, despite never appearing on any of the studio tracks recorded by the group. Subsequent compilations, however, would go to great lengths to redress this collection's lack of representation of Lane's work - the first of these being a 1977 UK/European-only double-LP retrospective simply titled ''The Best Of The Faces'', which effectively served as this album's expanded and more balanced counterpart in non-US markets. "Pineapple and the Monkey" would not appear on a Faces compilation again until the release of ''Faces: The Definitive Rock Collection'' in 2007. The track listing of the original release of this compilation still remains unique however, in that the version of "Had Me a Real Good Time" presented here is the original 1970 single release, which is a noticeably different earlier mix to the 1971 ''Long Player'' album version, rather than just an edit of it. This version, which runs at 3.49, has still not been recompiled elsewhere or released on CD as of 2019 as subsequent reissues of this compilation replace it with an edit of the LP version.

Track listing

;Side one #" Pool Hall Richard" (

) #"Cindy Incidentally" (

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was i ...

, Stewart, Wood) #" Ooh La La" ( Ronnie Lane, Wood) #"Sweet Lady Mary" (Lane, Stewart, Wood) #"Flying" (Lane, Stewart, Wood) #"Pineapple and the Monkey" (Wood) ;Side two #" You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog For a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)" (

Kenney Jones Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones (born 16 September 1948) is an English drummer best known for his work in the groups Small Faces, Faces, and the Who. Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces/Faces ...

, McLagan, Stewart, Wood,

Tetsu Yamauchi is a Japanese retired bass guitarist. In the 1970s, he was a member of several popular hard rock bands, including Free, where he replaced former bassist Andy Fraser before the band's final album ''Heartbreaker'', and the Faces, where he replac ...

) #"Had Me a Real Good Time" ingle version(Lane, Stewart, Wood) #"

Stay with Me Stay with Me may refer to: Film and television * ''Stay with Me'' (2004 film), an Italian film * ''Stay with Me'' (2010 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (2018 film), a South Korean romantic drama film * ''Stay with Me'' (TV series), ...

" (Stewart, Wood) #"Miss Judy's Farm" (Stewart, Wood) #"Silicone Grown" (Stewart, Wood) #"Around the Plynth" (Stewart, Wood)

Personnel

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album. *

- drums, percussion * Ronnie Lane - bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (except tracks 1, 7) *

- piano, organ *

- vocals *

- guitar, harmonica, backing vocals, lead vocals (track 3) *

- bass (tracks 1, 7) *

Harry Beckett Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett (30 May 1935 – 22 July 2010) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin. Biography Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army ...

and Bobby Keyes - horns (track 8)

Additional information

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album. *Tracks 5, 6 and 12 from '' First Step'' (1970), and produced by the Faces. *Track 4 from ''

Long Player The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

'' (1971), and produced by the Faces. *Tracks 9 and 10 from '' A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... to a Blind Horse'' (1971), and produced by the Faces with Glyn Johns. *Tracks 2, 3 and 11 from '' Ooh La La'' (1973), and produced by Glyn Johns. *Track 1 from the 1973 single, and produced by the Faces. *Track 7 from the 1975 single, and produced by the Faces. *Track 8 from the 1970 single, and produced by the Faces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snakes and Ladders The Best of Faces Faces (band) albums Albums produced by Glyn Johns 1976 compilation albums Warner Records compilation albums