Ron Wood, whose role in the Faces has paralleled Keith Richard's function in the Rolling Stones, has put together what is less a solo album than a friendly, late-night session involving the front men of the Faces and the Stones. But I've Got My Own Album To Do is still a Wood album in that he wrote six of the 11 songs (including "Far East Man" with George Harrison), and he's the only musician involved who could maintain such a happy-go-lucky attitude about a personal project. The charm of the album is its simultaneous display of spirited playing and disarming casualness.

Appropriately, Keith Richard is almost as visible as Wood throughout: He takes the lead vocal on "Sure the One You Need," one of the two new Jagger/Richard compositions he debuts on the album, and his gritty guitar work and brittle vocals complement Wood's not dissimilar playing and singing. Ian McLagan's keyboards are as prominent here as they are integral to the Faces' sound, and there are vocal performances from Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger, although they're not credited.

Aside from the closing cut—a merely competent soul instrumental—everything on the album is infused with one-take spontaneity, but none more so than a rendition of "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody," sung with staggering sincerity by Wood, Stewart and Richard. Wood's "I Can Feel the Fire" (on which Jagger sings) manages at once to be a syncopated reggae tune and a swaggering, Stones-like rocker, its gears miraculously meshing. Two other originals, "Mystifies Me" (sung with Stewart) and "Cancel Everything" (a duet with Keith) are fine, affecting ballads that suggest Wood should write more often.

Wood's gregariousness and lack of egocentricity have resulted in that rare item — a one-off album that (like the Alvin Lee/Mylon LeFevre collaboration of last year) documents a group of players in a moment of musical and interpersonal harmony. (RS 173)

BUD SCOPPA