The Psych Ward– Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake by Small Faces
The Psych Ward– Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake by Small Faces
The liner notes to my CD copy of Small Faces’ classic album Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake suggest that it’s on a par with other 1968 classics like Electric Ladyland, The White Album, and Beggar’s Banquet. While I’m not sure it’s on the same level as those iconic masterworks, it has a charm unlike those albums and is definitely worth a listen. Incidentally, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is an album that bleeds Brittania and went to number one in the UK. In the US, however, it flopped—peaking at #159 on the Billboard charts.
Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is a concept album—or at least half of it is.
Side one is not. It starts with an instrumental, the title track, that sounds anthemic and serves as a solid introduction to the album. The follow-up, “Afterglow (of Your Love)”, is a straightforward rock n’ roll number about feeling good after a satisfying lovemaking session.
Up to this point, there hasn’t been any psychedelia to speak of, but “Long Agos and Worlds Apart”, the third track” is a mildly psychedelic ballad.
“Rene”, one of the highlights of the album, is a cheeky ditty about a prostitute and is sung in thick Cockney vernacular.
Also sung in Cockney vernacular, “Lazy Sunday”, the most successful single from the album (UK #2), is a wonderful slice of British Psychedelia.
Side two tells the story of a young man named Happiness Stan, who goes on a quest to find the other half of the moon. It’s a silly story, but aren’t most concept records a bit absurd?
The second side starts with “Happiness Stan”, obviously named after the protagonist of the story. It begins with the monologue of a narrator whose Cockney-esque accent is so thick and whose colloquialisms are so esoteric that it’s barely discernible from gibberish. That’s not of great consequence, though, as the song itself is heavily psychedelic and, in my opinion, the best track on the album.
The rest of side two tells the story, partly by the narrator chattering half non-sensibly at the beginning of the tracks and partly through lyrics, of Stan’s surreal journey. The songs are “Rolling Over”, “The Hungry Intruder”, “The Journey”, “Mad John”, and the joyful, sing-songy “HappyDaysToysTown”, which concludes the original album. Tacked onto the end of my CD copy, however, is a live version of “Tin Soldier”, a UK hit for the band.
Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is more than an album; it’s a vivid dreamscape, a symphonic invocation of a time when music and imagination danced hand in hand.
Related: The 100 Best Psychedelic Rock Albums of the Golden Age
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