AAA Vinyl

The listening glory is all ours with the latest pair of top-shelf releases from Rhino’s High Fidelity (Hi-Fi) series. Television’s potent April 1978 sophomore effort Adventure and Faces’ March 1973 swan song Ooh La La both get the patented AAA Hi-Fi 180g 1LP treatment and are being released today, January 10, 2025.

As per usual for the Hi-Fi series, Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio cuts the lacquers using the original master tapes, and Optimal handles the 180g vinyl pressings. Glossy covers, glossy OBI strips, and tip-on jackets are once again part of the overall Hi-Fi LP presentation. Both Adventure and Ooh La La come in limited editions of 5,000 individually numbered copies, and the SRP for each LP is $39.98. Both of them are available now exclusively here at Rhino.com, as well as at select WMG stores internationally.

Television frontman Tom Verlaine co-produced Adventure — originally released by Elektra in April 1978 — alongside John Jansen, who was tasked with writing the new liner notes that appear on the full-size four-page insert that’s in the inner-left sleeve of the gatefold in addition to a red-hued one-sheet with the lyrics on one side and the credits on the other. In the liners, Jansen recalls the 1977 Record Plant Adventure sessions and how he witnessed the songs taking shape as he worked with the band. As Jansen put it, “Having had the experience of recording the first album, [Television] were more adventurous this time around — Tom Verlaine especially.” Jansen also makes two key observations about the band’s M.O. at the time of recording Adventure: 1) “Straying from a format that works for the band could be dangerous. This was not a concern for Television,” and 2) “The three songs that make up Side [2] of the album are quite different from anything one would have considered part of the punk musical ethos at the time.”

I have to concur with Jansen’s assessments here, as Television showed much growth on Adventure, whereas they could have easily just as soon stayed the course they set on their indelible, incredible February 1977 debut, Marquee Moon. While “This Fire” (Side 2, Track 1) takes its own sweet time to unfold, Verlaine’s sneering, “switchblade” guitar solo (as the credits put it!) in the song’s back-half, buttressed by his own keyboard accents behind it, punches the song far forward and is simply a wonder to behold/belisten. Meanwhile, his guitar-tandem partner Richard Lloyd emblazons his own signature solo trail on “Days” (Side 1, Track 2).

My ratings for the Hi-Fi edition of Adventure are a 9.5 for the Music and 10 for the Sound. The LP itself was quiet, black, and well-centered, and I only detected a hint of surface noise in the runout groove as Side 1 came to a close. Considering how much we loved the Hi-Fi edition of the aforementioned Marquee Moon — which my compatriot Mark Smotroff reviewed here on February 9, 2024 — it’s no surprise the Hi-Fi Adventure LP keeps us rightly tuned in to Television’s frequency of excellence.

TELEVISION
ADVENTURE
180g 1LP (Elektra)

Side 1
1. Glory
2. Days
3. Foxhole
4. Careful
5. Carried Away

Side 2
1. The Fire
2. Ain’t That Nothin’
3. The Dream’s Dream

As for Faces, they closed their initial rag-tag chapter with their fourth studio LP Ooh La La, originally released on Warner Bros. in March 1973 and produced by Glyn Johns at Olympic Studios in London. Ooh La La was the final “proper” album recorded by the five-man lineup comprised of lead vocalist Rod Stewart, guitarist/vocalist Ronnie Wood, keyboardist Ian McLagan, bassist/vocalist Ronnie Lane, and drummer Kenney Jones.

The liner notes for Ooh La La — appearing in a similar presentation with those that came with Adventure, though the lyrics are on a separate, poster-size six-panel foldout — convey a conversation between producer Johns and drummer Jones, with additional commentary by reissue producer Rob Caiger. You’ll learn that Johns recorded Jones with just “one overhead mic plus one on the side” and that he observed the band’s democracy in full action: “The thing about the Faces was they were a band! There was no leader. They were all equal.” Good point, Glyn! Many great bands have that kind of all-for-one, lightning in a bottle kind of chemistry, and Faces had it en masse.

The good times on the Hi-Fi Ooh La La LP roll on right from the rollicking album opener “Silicone Grown” with McLagan’s piano accents in all the right places, followed by Wood’s slinky slide work in the left channel on “Cindy Incidentally” (Side 1, Track 2). Stewart’s vocals are at their patented whiskey-tinged peak, especially on the verses of “My Fault” (Side 1, Track 4) and all throughout “If I’m on the Late Side” (Side 2, Track 2).

It’s another well-centered, dark black, and quite quiet LP, and I give the Hi-Fi Ooh La La a 9 for Music and 10 for Sound. (I detected only a tick of surface noise between Tracks 1 and 2 on Side 2, but none occurred during the musical passages.) If you don’t have any Faces LPs in your collection, the Hi-Fi Ooh La La is a great place to start. I wish that I knew what I know now / When I was younger. . .

FACES
OOH LA LA
180g 1LP (Warner Records)

Side 1
1. Silicone Grown
2. Cindy Incidentally
3. Flags And Banners
4. My Fault
5. Borstal Boys

Side B
1. Fly In The Ointment
2. If I’m On The Late Side
3. Glad And Sorry
4. Just Another Honky
5. Ooh La La