The Faces were an English Rock band formed in 1969 by members of the Small Faces after lead singer/guitarist Steve Marriott left that group to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces—Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (bass), and Kenney Jones (drums and percussion)—were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from the Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed the Faces.

On their second album Long Player, the Faces truly gel – which isn't quite the same thing as having the band straighten up and fly right because in many ways this is album is even more ragged than their debut, with tracks that sound like they were recorded through a shoebox thrown up against a couple of haphazardly placed live cuts…

There has never been a better box set than the Faces' Five Guys Walk into a Bar…. There has never been a box that captures an artist so perfectly, nor has a box set taken greater advantage of unreleased and rare material, to the point where it seems as essential and vital as the released recordings. Simply put, there's never been a box set as necessary as this, since it tells the band's entire tale and explains exactly what the fuss is all about…

Snakes & Ladders is a fine 12-song overview of the Faces, containing some of the group's best songs ("Had Me a Real Good Time," "Stay With Me," "Miss Judy's Farm," "Sweet Lady Mary," "Ooh La La," "Cindy Incidentally"), along with a couple of mediocre cuts ("Pineapple and the Monkey," "Flying") and the unremarkable, single-only "Pool Hall Richard." Though it gives a sense of what made the Faces a great rock & roll band, it falls far short of being a definitive retrospective or introduction…

The Faces albums were scheduled for expanded reissues in 2008, roughly four years after the release of the definitive rarities-laden box set Five Guys Walk into a Bar…, but those plans were scrapped and the albums remained untouched for the next seven years. After that long wait came You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything: 1970-1975, a five-disc box that contains expanded versions of the four Faces studio LPs – 1970's First Step, the twin 1971 masterpieces Long Player and A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse, 1972's Ooh La La – along with a disc of non-LP singles…