In recent years, the Faces’ surviving members—singer Rod Stewart, guitarist Ronnie Wood, and drummer Kenney Jones—have revealed in various interviews that they’ve been working on a new studio album combining fresh songs with older, previously unreleased material. Now, Jones has shared an encouraging update about the project.
In a recent interview with U.K. newspaper The Telegraph, the 76-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer reported that he, Stewart, and Wood have recorded “about 11 tracks” for the album.
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Jones also revealed that former Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland contributed to one track. Holland recently collaborated with Stewart on an album called Swing Fever, which was released in 2024.
The new Faces tracks were recorded at famed producer Mickie Most’s former studio, RAK, located in North London.
As for when the album might be released, Jones told The Telegraph that he doubted it would be in 2025, because Stewart and longtime Rolling Stones guitarist Wood both have busy schedules.
“I can see it coming out next year,” Kenney said. “Everyone’s doing different things. We do little snippets [of recording] here and there. Then all of a sudden, The Stones are out [on tour] again, Rod’s out again.”
More About the New Faces Album
Craig McLean, the journalist who interviewed Jones, explained that Stewart first told him about the Faces project in 2021.
Rod said then that he, Wood and Jones had “15 tracks that are extremely worthy, some old, some new.” He added, “We will get it finished, I promise.”
McLean interviewed Stewart again in 2024, and Stewart reported, “We haven’t finished it yet, but we’ll finish it this year, I promise!”
Meanwhile, in a November 2024 interview with BBC radio, Wood shared, “I’ve been in the studio with the Faces last week, and we are making some continued developments of music we made back in day. And it still sounds like no time has gone by.”
The last Faces album, Ooh La La, was released in 1973. The band broke up in 1975. Two of the group’s founding members, bassist Ronnie Lane and keyboardist Ian McLagan, have since passed away—Lane in 1997 and McLagan in 2014.
Stewart, of course, has continued to have a massively successful solo career, while Wood has been a member of The Rolling Stones since ’75. Jones replaces the late Keith Moon in The Who in 1978, and played with that band until 1988.
Jones and the New Small Faces Reissue
The Telegraph article partly focused on a new expanded reissue of the 1969 Small Faces compilation The Autumn Stone, which was released recently Jones’ Nice Records label.
The Small Faces were the 1960s mod band featuring Jones, Lane, McLagan, and singer/guitarist Steve Marriott. After Marriott left the group in 1968 to form Humble Pie, Stewart and Wood joined and the band was rechristened the Faces.
The Autumn Stone was a compilation put together after the band’s demise. It featured singles, live performances, and previously unreleased studio tracks. The reissue was curated by Jones featuring additional previously unheard recordings. The tracks have been remixed and pitch-corrected for better sound quality.
It’s available now as a standard three-CD collection and a limited-edition three-LP colored-vinyl box set package. The CD version includes a 16-page booklet, while the box set comes with a 68-page hardback book.