You know those bands — the ones whom everyone loves (or claims to love), but they never quite hit it out of the park, commercially speaking. They had a couple of hits, FM played their deeper tracks. Things changed, some members moved on, others died, half-hearted reunions come and go, the catalog shifts from one label to the next, and every once in a while you’ll hear about them. For the most part, they’re relegated to the memory bin. That was Humble Pie, one of the first “supergroups” to emerge in the early 70s with seven albums on the beloved A&M label. Now you can get those on CD with an eighth disc of extras in The A&M CD Box Set (1970 – 1975).
The original Humble Pie featured guitarist and singer Peter Frampton, previously with The Herd, along with a young drummer named Jerry Shirley. Guitarist and vocalist Steve Marriott of The Small Faces, who helped Frampton form the initial group before joining himself, and bassist and vocalist Greg Ridley from Spooky Tooth rounded out the lineup. They dipped their collective toes in the drink with a couple of UK albums — As Safe As Yesterday and Town And Country — that successfully captured the individual talents of players without defining a core group sound. By the time they landed a deal with A& M, they hired super manager Dee Anthony, who immediately encouraged the group to ditch the acoustics, along with any progressive and psychedelic tendencies, and toughen up their sound with Marriott’s distinctive, high-pitched howl leading the way.
For their self-titled debut for A&M, it’s apparent the group is headed in the right direction. “One-Eyed Trouser-Snake Rumba,” “I’m Ready” and “Red Light Mamma, Red Hot!” feature Marriott’s spirited vocal-hand-offs with Frampton and Ridley, plus a zestful crunch of guitars and a soulful, pulsating rhythm to keep your tail wagging. As they evolved, so would this basic plan of keeping it hot and heavy, though the group often strayed into other styles, twists and salty detours. And, as evidenced by Frampton’s pastoral “Earth and Water Song,” Marriott’s country-smooth “Theme From Skint,” and Ridley’s beatific “Sucking On The Sweet Vine,” the acoustics were still very much in the picture.
Shine On, the second A&M release, shows the group’s tremendous growth on all fronts. Both “Shine On,” which was later included on the mega-selling Frampton Comes Alive, and “The Light” highlight Frampton’s ascension as a songwriter, which, opens up some speculation as to why this would become the guitarist’s final studio album with Humble Pie. Rumor has it that the heavier direction the group had taken didn’t sit well with Frampton. Of course, that didn’t stop him from playing a suave solo on “Stone Cold Fever,” a blues-heavy group composition that pretty much defines the swagger, soul and sound most would come to associate with Humble Pie. Ironically, the rest of Shine On is a cobb salad of blues “Rollin’ Stone”), scratch n’ sniff rockers (“Sour Grain,” “Big George,” “Strange Days”), catchy love songs (“A Song For Jenny”), and infectious throwaways (“Red Neck Jump”).
Where the sheer strength of Humble Pie is realized is on the group’s third A&M release, the classic Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore. At the time, live albums were becoming an important touchstone in many groups’ catalog. In Humble Pie’s case, it was a game-changer, giving them their first gold record and yielding a bona fide FM staple out of “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” itself a cover of an Ashford & Simpson R& B number once recorded by Ray Charles. Lengthy excursions like “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” and “Rollin’ Stone” were right at home at the Fillmore and their heady patrons. Just as Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore was pressed and shipped out to an unsuspecting public, Frampton announced his departure. That wasn’t about to stop the group from following up with their most successful album.
Calling their follow-up studio release Smokin’ built up a range of expectations. With Frampton’s replacement, former Colosseum guitarist Clem Clempson, amply installed, and Marriott firmly entrenched in the frontman role, Humble Pie were set to hit the mainstream. Setting aside the exquisite ballad “You’re So Good For Me” and the acoustically driven “Old Time Feelin’” blues number, Smokin’ goes to great lengths to live up to its name. The opening “Hot ‘N’ Nasty” is a hip-shaking prankster that can’t help but draw you in. Cranking covers of Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody” and Junior Walker’s “Road Runner” (featuring Stephen Stills) do wonders for the group’s ability to boogie with a take-no-prisoners attitude. And then there’s “30 Days In The Hole,” Marriott’s hard-hitting, soulful ode to the banality of the laws around illegal drugs. It somehow remains of Humble Pie’s most memorable, best-loved songs.
Released as a double album, Eat It fills out the fifth disc in the set. One of Marriott’s signature traits was his penchant to incorporate female singers into the mix, with hopes of adding a bit of flair and funk to the music. This goes back to his days with Small Faces on songs like “Tin Soldier,” featuring P.P. Arnold. The Soul Sisters (Arnold, Doris Troy, and Claudia Lennear) appeared on Rock On, and Troy and Madeline Bell sang backing vocals on Smokin’. For Eat It, the band enlisted The Blackberries (Billie Barnum, Clydie King, and Venetta Fields) to add their voices to a majority of the songs, mostly written by Marriott, whose lead vocals dominate the album. While the singer’s instincts were usually on target, the heaviness of the band is slightly amiss, until you get to the live cuts, which all seem a tad off script unless bloated covers of “Honky Tonk Women” and “Road Runner” (not quite up to scruff with the version on Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore) are your thing. While there are some numbers like “Is It For Love,” “Drugstore Cowboy” “Say No More” and “Beckton Dumps” that shine through, Eat It would have been better suited as a single release with some of the more frothier numbers left on the cutting room floor.
The Blackberries also appear on Thunderbox, the sixth disc in the set. Released in 1974, the album is a return of sorts to the group’s hard rock sensibilities. The title track does a lot to recapture that edgy spirit, though the record quickly wanders into other directions with a number of covers — “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” “Anna (Go To Him)” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” featuring Ridley on his sole lead vocal. At this point in their career, Humble Pie was a completely different band than the one from 1969.
Street Rats, the final Humble Pie album released on A&M, wasn’t quite the going away party it should have been. Even the covers, a half-hearted take of Chuck Berry’s “Rock & Roll Music” and three Beatles songs, couldn’t save the album’s disjointed production and unevenness. At the time, Marriott and Ridley were already pursuing other avenues, though much of that material ended up Street Rats to obligate their record contract. One spin through, and you get a good sense the band’s time had come to an end.
The set’s eighth disc is made up of bonus tracks (B-Sides and rarities) that cover the arc of the group’s A& M reign. “Big Black Dog,” their hard-rocking first single for A&M, has everything an early 70s Humble Pie fan loves about the band. “Mister Ring,” a B-side from a German single, is equally impressive. The edited version of the live “I Don’t Need No Doctor” is a novel addition, but it hardly holds up to its original, extended form. The Pie more or less function as a backup band for The Blackberries on “Chopper,” “You’ve Been In Love Too Soon,” “Twist And Shout” and “Don’t Change On Me.” Much of the rest of the bonus tracks don’t really do much to bring out the true visceral heart of Humble Pie, though the quirky cover of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs To Me” shows they never lost their spirit for adventure. When you throw in a hardback book filled with liner notes, rare photos, and other memorabilia, it’s hard to turn your back on The A&M CD Box Set (1970 – 1975).
~ Shawn Perry
