How 'bout a little Pie ?

[MikeyT]

        Humble Pie, that is. Specifically, Street Rats and On To Victory, two of their lesser knowns.


          Street Rats: Not an all time fave for me, but still quite nice.
          On To Victory: About the same- the top songs are even better than those on SR, but there are some drab songs on OTV.

They sure don't make bands like this anymore.
     I'm going to call them great. Yeah, Humble Pie !


                 
                     

                     

                     

[CanookieWookie]

Humble Pie rule \m/  I am in the process of buying the new remasters of Eat It, Thunderbox & the s/t.  I can only hope the rest get the same treatment.

[Woody]

I don't know those tapes at all. Need to check em out. Thanks for the reminder.

[MikeyT]

    Can't believe how well they did 'Four Day Creep' at this reunion show. Great job on the vocals:


                 

[Woody]

Never saw this before, thanks for posting. Killer!

[GodShifter]

Too lazy to look up that reunion line-up, but I'm assuming it's Ridley, Frampton, Clemson, and Shirley?

When did Ridley die? I could look it up, but I'm too lazy (ok, I'll look it up).

[Coyote Duster]

OH YEAH baby, my favorite band as a teen in the 70's!  The Bobby Tench/Sooty Jones version of the band that produced two albums (including On to Victory) was decent.

Street Rats did have a tired sound to it, but you need to seek out a CD called The Scrubbers Sessions, released in the 90's but now out of print.  It was the album the Pie was originally slated to release instead of Street Rats!  Supposedly the record company rejected it for being "too black" and they scrapped it and came up with Street Rats instead.  And the album is nowhere near as "black"-sounding as Eat It or Thunderbox so who knows if that's the real reason why the album was rejected.

Another worthwhile album is the "Marriott" solo album that Steve released between Street Rats and On to Victory.  Side One was gnarly British rock and side two was American soul.

Drummer Jerry Shirley also released his biography in 2012 titled  "Best Seat in the House" - a must-read if you're a Pie fanatic.  Jerry has a cheeky sense of humor and is very "humble" about his tenure playing behind the likes of Marriott and Frampton.

[Woody]

Forgot about Jerry's book. Need to read that for sure, he's one of my favorite drummers.

[GodShifter]

I've got that Marriott album on vinyl. It's okay, but nothing to write home about.

[CanookieWookie]

The scrubber sessions are indeed very good.  A must have for any HP or Marriott fan.

[MikeyT]

    Speaking of Marriott... speaking...


               

[ralphus]

The Shirley bio is top notch. A very cool read. My friend Howie interviewed him for 45 mins as a promo for the book and he was a great guy too.

[MikeyT]

           
       OK, cool, and:


               

[MikeyT]

               

[Coyote Duster]

           
       OK, cool, and:


               

It's criminal how little live Pie footage exists.  The Japanese titles in this one reminds me of something Jerry spoke about in his book - they played in Japan as part of the Eat It tour, and a film crew was supposed to arrive there to document it.... but they never showed up, and everyone was too stoned to make some phone calls and rattle some cages and make it happen.

Y'all know that Eat It, as well as Thunderbox and the self-titled album, have finally been remastered?

[chille01]

I just got Street Rats a while ago, and dig it.  So far my Pie discography includes:

A King Biscuit Flower Hour Live CD
Street Rats
As Safe as Yesterday Is
Rock On
Rockin' the Fillmore
Smokin'
Eat It

I REALLY dig this band.  What are the other essential albums I'm missing, and what are some other bands in the same sorta style I may not know? 

[MikeyT]

   If you like them enough to get all those albums, I'd go ahead and get the rest!


    Town & Country

        Humble Pie s/t

        Thunderbox

        On To Victory        
       


  Actually, even Go For The Throat is pretty good, as this track demonstrates...

                 

 
For the longest period of time I thought the Pie were just OK. I found some of their lyrics and some of Steve's vocal mannerisms annoying and wasn't all that excited about a lot of their musical compositions; but they've grown on me over the years to the extent that now I enjoy almost everything they did on some level.

In addition to being a strong musician and a stunningly charismatic and soulful singer, Marriott was melodically inventive and highly skilled at crafting songs, a fairly large number of which have a "classic" feel to them. Of course the band was best known for pounding Blooze Rock & Soul, but the earlier LPs featured a good deal of gentler songs which often employed acoustic guitar and/or keyboards. They even tried their hands at a Country flavored tune on occasion.

     

[chille01]

Yeah... basically I've acquired a decent amount of their stuff haphazardly.  Aside from the King Biscuit CD, all of the rest of it was picked up on vinyl for pretty cheap.  Essentially, if I see a Pie album I don't already have I buy it.  But I am curios as to what are considered the "essential" albums. 

[MikeyT]

     Well, 'Smokin'' is their best seller.  'Eat It' and 'Rockin' The Fillmore' also did very well for them, probably followed by 'Rock On'.

They had trouble with their record company early on (it went bankrupt), and as you might expect, were much better known in England than America at first (as were The Small Faces). Once they got things rolling, moved toward a heavier sound, and Americans actually knew who they were, they were more popular in the states than at home.


'As Safe as Yesterday Is', 'Town and Country', 'Rock On', and 'Smokin'' are generally considered their best. I tend to agree with those choices.

I'm sure many would consider 'Rockin' The Fillmore' essential, too.

Personally, I think that Winterland show ('King Biscuit Flower Hour') is pretty hot stuff, and a definite must have.

[MikeyT]

"what are some other bands in the same sorta style I may not know?"


  Most of the bands that come to mind are pretty well known, but I'll list them anyway (maybe someone else can come up with more):

         Led Zeppelin
         Nazareth
         Slade
         AC/DC
         Savoy Brown
         The Faces
         Mountain
         Free
         Foghat
         Bad Company
         The Black Crowes
         The Rolling Stones
         The Allman Bros
         Aerosmith
         
EDIT: Skynryd and Steppenwolf are probably closer than the Allman Bros. Humble Pie covered Steppenwolf's 'Desperation'.         


       

[chille01]

Thanks Mikey! I'm pretty well versed in most of those bands, and a few of them are among my faves. Savoy Brown is about the only one I don't think I own anything by, so maybe I'll keep an eye out for some their stuff.