Humble Pie - Rock (UK)

Humble Pie is the third album released by English rock group Humble Pie in 1970, and their first with A&M Records. Humble Pie was a transitional album and a harbinger of the band's new, heavier direction. The material was darker than their previous two efforts, with striking contrasts in volume and style – Peter Frampton's gentle "Earth and Water Song" is buttressed between two of the heaviest tracks on the record, the band composed "One Eyed Trouser Snake Rumba," and a cover of Willie Dixon's "I'm Ready". Drummer Jerry Shirley contributed a rare lead vocal on his song "Only a Roach," a country-twinged ode to cannabis that also appeared as the B-side of the summer 1970 single "Big Black Dog". This was their first release under the auspices of new American manager Dee Anthony – who'd pushed for a louder, tighter sound both live and in the studio – and for their new label, A&M Records. At the end of 1969, the Pie's old label, Immediate, owned by Andrew Loog Oldham, went bankrupt – a saga chronicled by Marriott on the satirical ballad "Theme from Skint (See You Later Liquidator)".

Humble Pie

Personnel:

Steve Marriott - guitar, keyboards, vocals

Peter Frampton - guitar, keyboards, vocals

Greg Ridley - bass, guitar, vocals

Jerry Shirley - drums, guitar, vocals, Lead Vocal on "Only a Roach"

- Additional musicians

John Wilson - drums on "Only a Roach"

B.J. Cole - steel guitar

Recorded by Glyn (The Man) Johns at Olympic Sound Studios, London

Mutual Ideas by Glyn Johns / Humble Pie

Humble Pie - Hard Rock (USA)

Never before released on DVD-Audio. "Live At The Whisky A-Go-Go" documents the first-ever US tour in December 1969 by Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley, and Jerry Shirley. This early live show offers a unique insight into a band who later dominated the US stadium circuit. 

This audio DVD of music from Humble Pie's U.S. tour in 1969 constitutes a helpful addition to the band's early recording history, which had been limited to the pair of studio LPs cut for Immediate Records. The opening number is an all-acoustic reworking of Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love," a showcase for Peter Frampton's acoustic guitar and Steve Marriott's soul shouting, and about as different as one could imagine from the compact, punchy Yardbirds rendition. The drums and the harder playing kicks in for "Shakin' All Over," which is similarly bent out of its familiar shape and pushed -- Frampton and Marriott's guitars and vocals are all over the map on the song, which is just about recognizable despite the absence of the familiar central guitar riff. "Hallelujah I Love Her So" and "The Sad Bag of Shakey Jake" are intact and nicely played, and are what one would expect and hope for from an actual live album. The finale, "I Walk on Gilded Splinters," is an extended jam that goes through a few interesting changes, but it just doesn't have the energy or cohesion to sustain its 20-minute length. The overall audio quality is above average for a live recording of this vintage, and the multi-track tapes were mixed under the supervision of surviving bandmember Jerry Shirley. It's not a truly great moment in the band's history, alas, but it is a flawed artifact of an early chapter in that history.

1969 Live Whisky A-G0-GO