It's really disconcerting when a stranger like you comes along and doesn't conform, but wants to be different. This is how things are done around here, so why can't you be like everyone else? Your way goes against the grain. It's all wrong. We were getting on fine until you arrived. Now you're putting doubt in our minds. Making us think. What are we? What were we? What will we be? You're blackening the sky. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. It's absurd. Life had meaning and relevance before, but now we're so confused. We're going to have to change. No more pretence and make believe. No more empty promises.

Recorded in May 1971 at the Newcastle Mayfair Ballroom with Rod Stewart and the Faces. What a night! Rod Stewart was just really starting to take off now as a solo performer and in fact they were still being billed as the Faces (formerly the Small Faces). We've worked with some amazing people over the years and we were there at the beginning of their careers. Not even they could have imagined that they would achieve such superstar status and still be as popular after all this time.

Empty Promises was written as a sort of protest song against greed and corruption in the world. Although it's over forty years old, it still has relevance today. Seems like nothing changes.