Listen: The Universal / The Small Faces SmallFacesUniversal.mp3
I remember reading ‘The Universal’ was a demo Steve Marriott later overdubbed some electric guitar and saxophone onto. Then somebody, apparently at Immediate Records, decided it was a single. For years, maybe a few decades, I had no idea what a demo was. When Howard hired me at Elektra in ’84, I initially couldn’t understand the concept of booking a studio to record songs, then weeks later go back in, many times to the same studio, to re-record them. Why not just record them correctly the first time? Being a kid who’s Dad was a janitor, and in a band that paid for their own recordings (done super fast because we simply didn’t have any money), this all appeared unnecessarily extravagant. Dumb even.
Well anyways, Dale Winton played ‘The Universal’ on his chart rundown from ’68 on BBC Radio’s PICK OF THE POPS a few weeks back, and it, as always, sounded clean and refreshing (if I may use a few politically correct slogans). Lots of folks rant and rave about many singles by The Small Faces, as they should. But usually, ‘The Universal’ is seldom mentioned. I think it peaked at #16 or so, and doesn’t compare chart wise to most of the others. But hey, it was a demo.
I bought this week of release at Walt’s Records, hence the US stock copy pictured above. Try finding one of those these days.