Humble Pie (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Humble Pie was an English rock music band, best known for their hard-rocking recordings and concert performances.
[edit] Career
The band initially consisted of Steve Marriott (formerly of The Small Faces; lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist), Peter Frampton (from Herd; lead guitarist), Greg Ridley (from Spooky Tooth; bassist) and Jerry Shirley (from Valkyrie; drummer).
Because the members had all previously played in high-profile groups, many viewed Humble Pie as a "supergroup," although the band was loathe to the term and the expectations that came with it. They started secretly rehearsing at Marriott's cottage in Moreton, Essex in early 1969. The objective was to hone the act away from media and public scrutiny. After signing with Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records, the band had planned to launch its first single and album in the spring, but were delayed after an injunction was filed by the Herd's management.
Eventually, Humble Pie released their debut single "Natural Born Boogie" in July 1969. It was a number five hit in the UK Singles Chart, and was quickly followed by the album, As Safe as Yesterday Is. Most listeners praised As Safe Yesterday Is as a progressive, heavy album in the vein of The Small Faces. Although the record would later take a critical slagging in some corners, most notably in the pages of Rolling Stone, it peaked at No. 16 on the UK album charts.
Their second album, Town and Country, was hastily released in the UK in November 1969 while the band was away on its first US tour. A collective effort that featured a more acoustic sound and songs written by all four members, it did not sell as well as As Safe As Yesterday Is, forcing financially-strapped Immediate to sink even deeper into debt. Recent tape archives show the band recorded around 30 songs in its first 10 months of existence, many of which remained unreleased for decades — including a cover of Ray Charles' classic "Drown In My Own Tears."
Humble Pie concerts at this time featured an acoustic set — with a radical reworking of Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love" as its centerpiece — followed by an electric set, an approach that would become popular decades later.
1970 saw the financial collapse of Immediate, a switch to A&M Records, and a change in band management. The albums Humble Pie and Rock On, both released that year, alternated between progressive rock and boogie rock excess.
A concert at the Fillmore East was captured on Perfomance Rockin' The Fillmore (1971); it is considered one of the best live albums of its era, with Marriott, Frampton, and the rest of the group in fine form. The loud-quiet-loud epic "I Don't Need No Doctor" was an FM radio hit in the United States, propelling the album to the group's biggest commercial success yet.
Unfortunately, Frampton would leave the band by the time the album was released. He would go on to enjoy massive popularity as a solo artist. With Dave "Clem" Clempson replacing Frampton, Humble Pie moved towards an even harder sound emphasizing Marriott's blues and soul roots. Smokin' (1972) had a minor hit in "Thirty Days in the Hole" and was reasonably successful commercially based on the group's constant touring. Nevertheless the band was still unable to break into the mainstream. Eat It (1974) was three sides of mostly R&B covers and one side live, and did nothing to expand the group's audience. The group staged the Goodbye Pie Tour in 1975 and broke up.
In 1980 Marriott revived Humble Pie with Shirley, adding Bob Tench (from Jeff Beck Group) on guitar and Anthony "Sooty" Jones on bass. Two albums were released but the effort soon fell apart. In 1991 Marriott and Frampton began collaborating again, with another Humble Pie rebirth possibly in the offing, but a house fire took Marriott's life before anything could materialize. Two recorded songs from this collaboration, "The Bigger They Come", and "I Won't Let You Down", with Steve Marriott on vocals, appear on Peter Frampton's album Shine On.
In October 2004 Get Down To It appeared on the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional classic rock station K-DST.
[edit] Albums
- As Safe as Yesterday Is (1969)
- Town and Country (1969)
- Humble Pie (1970)
- Rock On (1970)
- Perfomance Rockin' The Fillmore (1971)
- Smokin' (1972)
- Eat It (1974)
- Thunderbox (1974)
- Street Rats (1975)
- On to Victory (1980)
- Go for the Throat (1981)
- King Biscuit (live 1973) (1995)
- The Atlanta Years (2005) — never before released studio album from 1980 and live performance from 1983
- Definitive Collection (Best Of) (2006)
