"First Step" is the debut studio album by the English rock band Faces, released on March 27, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced just months after the Faces were formed, emerging from the dissolution of two previous groups: the Small Faces (featuring Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Ian McLagan) and The Jeff Beck Group (with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood). Though the album was released under the Faces' name in the UK, it was credited to the Small Faces in North America, and the original vinyl printings list the title as The First Step.
The album cover features Ronnie Wood holding a copy of Geoffrey Sisley’s guitar tutorial First Step: How to Play the Guitar Plectrum Style, a reference to the band's early musical foundation. Despite the band’s official formation and signing to Warner Bros. in the fall of 1969, they had been rehearsing, performing, and recording together in various combinations since the spring of that year.
First Step is the band's longest original album at 46:22 and, while viewed as promising, is also often considered sprawling and unfocused. Critics have noted it as the least cohesive and most undisciplined of their releases. Nevertheless, it is praised for being the most "democratic" of Faces' albums, as it showcases the talents of each band member, with each one receiving at least one composer credit. This stands in contrast to later Faces albums, which were often dominated by Stewart and his songwriting partnership with Wood.
In 2015, the album was reissued in a remastered and expanded edition, including two unreleased bonus tracks: "Behind The Sun" and "Mona: The Blues" (which was later reworked by Lane and Wood for the 1972 Mahoney's Last Stand film soundtrack).
The album's cover artwork was photographed at Willoughby House, the home of artist Mike McInnerney and his wife Kate, both followers of Meher Baba, the same spiritual figure that influenced Lane. The shoot is noted for the band getting "extremely drunk" after drinking punch spiked with methanol, as recalled by McLagan. The cover image, shot by fellow Baba follower Martin Cook, shows Ronnie Wood holding the guitar tutorial book, symbolizing his role in the band. McLagan and Lane are pictured holding Mickey Mouse figures, with McLagan later reflecting that he couldn’t remember bringing the toys, suggesting they might have been at McInnerney’s house. The album's black-and-white gatefold photo, taken in the garden, shows the band pretending to play their instruments, except Lane, who stands with his hands in his pockets, seemingly oblivious to the scene.
