What did Ian mean to me personally? Well, back in my teenage years, I recall loving the sound of the Hammond organ. A friend of mine was very much into that sound, particularly the more jazz related players such as Ray Charles, Georgie Fame and Roy Phillips of The Peddlers. However I tended to veer more to the pop / rock side of things and I remember playing to death the second Small Faces album (the first on the Immediate label - released on Columbia in the USA with a different track list under the title, 'There Are But Four Small Faces').
That one album for me best demonstrates the skill of McLagan not just on Hammond organ but on a range of keyboard instruments. His Hammond B3 (which he named Betsy) added such colour to some of those songs that one wonders whether they would have been so great without Mac's embellishments. Personally I doubt it. On the recently released Small Faces box set 'Here Come The Nice' there are several, stripped down early versions of some of those tracks and through these one can truly appreciate just what a brilliant musician McLagan was.
Of course McLagan also went on to play alongside Rod Stewart and Ronnie Lane in the Faces and continued to add his masterful touches to their repertoire.
I understand that there had been plans for a full Faces reunion in the near future. That will never happen now but at least McLagan is reunited with his old mates Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott.
So long 'Mac' and thanks for all that great music.
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