![]() Tellingly, the album’s strongest track is a cover of the Holland/Dozier/Holland nugget “Baby Don’t You Do It.” Here the Pie’s best side is shown it’s a safe bet that this would have been among the more rousing numbers onstage during this period. “Savin’ It” does represent a bit of a departure: an ever-so-slightly funky reggae-flavored arrangement – aided in that goal by a Tench lead vocal turn – but in the end, most of the track’s distinctive qualities come from the backing vocals and sax, neither of which are part of the core Humble Pie aesthetic. Marriott’s lead work is tasty on “Take it From Here” and other numbers, but the relatively slight compositions don’t leave a lasting impression. The On to Victory sound is very much that of an opening band: solid but less-than-inspired riffs wedded to hard rock melodies. Uncredited sax solos (“Infatuation”), horn charts and rough-and-ready backing vocal choruses add some texture to the songs – as do Marriott’s occasional organ fills – but the approach grows a bit repetitive across ten songs. “Fool for a Pretty Face” was, according to the liner notes, released as a single, but it underperformed. The sort of meat-n-potatoes hard rock in which Humble Pie had traded was largely out of fashion by 1980, but that didn’t stop the foursome from cranking it out within the grooves of On to Victory. This lineup would yield a pair of albums – 1980’s On to Victory and 1981’s Go for the Throat – and a tour before Humble Pie broke up for good.Ī new 2CD set from Deadline Music pairs those two studio albums on one disc, and adds a live concert recording from the 1981 tour for the second disc. The new lineup saw drummer Jerry Shirley return the group was rounded out by Anthony Jones on bass, plus second guitarist Bobby Tench (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group, and most notable for his vocals on “Goin’ Down”). But by 1980, Marriott had revived the Humble Pie brand name. Marriott maintained the highest profile in the ensuing years, fronting an all-star group and briefly rejoining a resuscitated Small Faces lineup. But for a rocking good time, they could be counted on to deliver the goods.Īfter the commercial high water mark of 1971’s Performance/Rockin’ the Fillmore, subsequent releases yielded diminishing returns, and by 1975 the band had broken up. ( Peter Frampton was an early member of Humble Pie as well, leaving for a solo career in 1972.) Kindred spirits with fellow boogie bands Status Quo, Bad Company and Foghat, Humble Pie was not primarily a band that delivered musical nuance or deep lyrics. Never the most subtle of bands, Humble Pie was built around the guitars, vocals and personality of ex- Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott. Former Humble Pie members Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley resurrected Humble Pie in 2000 but Ridley died of pneumonia in 2003.The title of Humble Pie‘s first single – 1969’s “Natural Born Boogie” quickly telegraphed the group’s musical mission: straight-ahead, riffy rock of the sort that would fill arenas with fist-pumping fans. In 1990, Marriott died in a house fire after taking a cocktail of cocaine, valium and alcohol. Without Frampton’s presence Humble Pie was a fill-tilt boogie band that filled stadiums worldwide. ![]() Marriott continued to lead Humble Pie into gigantic worldwide success, particularly with the albums Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore (1971) and Smokin’ (1972). Frampton is now a journeyman rocker and continues to play live and record today. He covers “Shine On,” from Rock On, on that multi-platinum smash. Of course, Frampton went on to superstardom in the late 1970s with his Frampton Comes Alive opus. Marriott’s boogie-till-you-puke approach.Įven though the album was a moderate success, it wasn’t where Frampton wanted to be so he left Humble Pie and after the release of Rock On he left to form Frampton’s Camel. The band recorded many of the songs on tour before they went into the studio and Rock On is a balance, a tug-of-war maybe, of Frampton’s more sedate, acoustic pop sensibility vs. It wasn’t until the fourth album, Rock On (1971), that Humble Pie hit its stride. The band’s first two albums ( As Safe As Yesterday Is and Town and Country) sounded more like the Band, with its acoustic underpinnings. Because they signed a recording deal with Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, it was thought that Humble Pie would be a sort of Stones-ish blues rock band – but it took a while for them to get there. The band was formed in 1968 by former Small Faces guitarist/singer Steve Marriott, and Peter Frampton, a guitar player from the Herd, a moderately successful U.K. Humble Pie was a British boogie-rock band that reached monstrous success in the early 1970s.
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