Once upon a time, before he began crooning standards in a transparent attempt to target audiences squarely in his own age demographic, Rod Stewart was one of the greatest singers in rock and roll. Perhaps THE greatest.

And before he was Rod Stewart, solo artist with only his name on the marquee, he was the lead singer of the Faces, one of the most forgotten bands of the early ‘70s. They were a rollicking bunch of English sods in the tradition of the Rolling Stones. Thanks to Rhino (God bless them) the Faces have finally gotten the box set treatment they deserve.

Five Guys Walk into a Bar… is a nicely packaged collection of strong performances, many unreleased tracks and a handful of live recordings. A listen through any of the set’s four discs will show you exactly what rock and roll should sound like. Bury this thing in a time capsule so future generations will know what rock music was before it disintegrated into a hundred genres, some more suspect than others.

Some people, including contributors to this Web site, refuse to recognize greatest hits packages, preferring albums as originally produced over bastardized compilations devoid of creative continuity. That makes sense; but this set works. Perhaps because the Faces never recorded a Sgt. Pepper-type album. Perhaps because of all the bonus material that makes the set worth the purchase price, such as a sweet, soulful cover of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy.”

But this compilation’s strongest asset may be that it reflects the efforts of Faces piano and organ man, Ian McLagan, who produced the set. McLagan didn’t simply order the tracks chronologically, but crafted four discs that can each stand on their own, with songs that flow nicely from one to the next. Once you start listening, it’s difficult to skip around or turn it off. You just want it to keep rolling.

As for the music itself, the Faces were a classic example of a band that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Aside from Stewart, there were no musicians of soaring talent. No one would mention Ron Wood among the great guitarists of the last 50 years, and drummer Kenny Jones is best known for joining the Who after the death of Keith Moon.

But no one in this band tries to show off or outdo anyone else. Wood’s style is straight ahead and well within his limits, likely a factor of being the lone guitar player. Even with McLagan’s piano work, which adds important depth to the band’s sound, Wood’s priority is to keep the rhythm moving forward rather than indulge in towering solos.

But while Five Guys showcases the Faces as a single unit, Stewart is clearly the star. His vocals are consistently powerful, whether singing straight on the verse or chorus, or improvising during an extended jam, blurting out fragments of lyrics and keeping pace with the band in a way few lead singers have ever been able to pull off.

And then there’s that great line, one of the best in rock and roll. From their biggest hit, Stay With Me, an ode to the drunken one-night stand: “You won’t need to much persuading, I don’t mean to sound degrading, but with a face like that you got nothin’ to laugh about.” That’s what rock and roll should be. It’s a far cry from “It Had to be You.”