Listeners attracted to bands like early Rolling Stones and Cream are pretty much duty-bound to give Smokin’ a hearing, simply because of Steve Marriott’s one-of-kind vocal prowess and Humble Pie’s elemental muscle. The album comes across as unrehearsed and uncooked. What makes Smokin’ so good is the lack of overproduction. Still, the song begins to get cloying by the end, simply due to its length. On their cover of Cecil Gant’s “I Wonder,” Humble Pie offers downright nasty guitar work comparable to Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. Even Stephen Stills’ braying organ can’t salvage the tune. Humble Pie’s version is little more than sluggish boogie. ![]() ![]() The weakest track on the album is probably “Road Runner/Road Runner’s ‘G’ Jam,” the song by Junior Walker. Admittedly, he’s not John Bonham or Keith Moon or Neil Peart, but he does hit hard, and his very looseness delivers the brio of recklessness. When music sites put together their incessant lists, such as Top 10 Guitarists of All Time or 50 Greatest Rock Drummers, specimens of the latter type fail to recognize Jerry Shirley for his stellar drumming. The live album had done well, but the band needed to prove they could replicate their contagious live sound in the studio. The term ‘fortunately’ is fitting because Humble Pie needed a solid piece of work after the second-rate sales of their self-titled album and Rock On. In 1972, they released Smokin’, which fortunately proved successful, hitting the Top 10 on the U.S. Commercial success struck big in 1976 when his immortal Frampton Comes Alive quickly became the biggest selling album of all time. Replaced by Clem Clempson, whose claim to fame was playing with Colosseum, Humble Pie’s sound took a tougher edge brimming with blues and soul flavors. Of course, it’s more likely he just wanted to do his own thing. In other words, Frampton wanted more pleasing, platinum-flavored guitars. A&M Records stepped in and signed Humble Pie, who released their self-titled album, followed by 1971’s Rock On and a live album, Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore, featuring “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” which propelled the album to gold status.įrampton left Humble Pie to pursue his solo career because the story goes, he believed Humble Pie’s sound-brawny blues-rock-was the result of demands made by listeners and not necessarily the band’s preference or strength. Signed to Immediate Records, Humble Pie released their debut album, As Safe as Yesterday Is, followed by Town and Country. Marriott quit the Small Faces and joined the band already in place around Frampton-Humble Pie. Everything came to head when the Small Faces were playing at Alexandra Palace. Undaunted, Marriott kept pushing for Frampton to become part of Small Faces, while at the same time putting together a band for Frampton. ![]() For whatever reason, they didn’t want Frampton in Small Faces. ![]() Marriott, the guitarist for the Small Faces, wanted to bring Frampton into the Small Faces, but both bassist Ronnie Lane and keyboardist Ian McLagan dissented. Humble Pie’s advent was the result of Marriott’s friendship with Peter Frampton, who had left The Herd and was looking for a new gig. Watch Peter Frampton and the Surviving Members of Humble Pie Perform 'I Don't Need No Doctor.One of the early so-called “supergroups” of the late ‘60s, Humble Pie, formed in 1969 and released Smokin’ in 1972-the band’s fifth studio album, as well as Humble Pie’s highest-charting album.Ĭoming out of the starting gate in 1969, Humble Pie was made up of Steve Marriott (guitar, vocals, keyboards, harmonica), Jerry Shirley (drums), Greg Ridley (bass), and Peter Frampton (guitar, vocals, keyboards). Check out the current list of tour dates here. ”įrampton's summer tour kicks off Wednesday (June 15), and fans can look forward to three-hour sets from the veteran singer-guitarist, highlighted by a full album performance of his landmark 'Frampton Comes Alive!' release. When they split in 1971, Clem was recruited by Steve Marriott and Humble Pie to replace Frampton, who was departing for a solo career. And also, that Steve and I got together before he passed away and we got to work together. In summary, Frampton said, “I'm thrilled that I had the opportunity to be in the band and it's probably the best band I could have ever been in at that time. Ultimately, Frampton says that he was comfortable with his end decision and admits that he knew at the time that 'Rockin' the Fillmore' probably would be successful, but that he just had the “feeling” that leaving Humble Pie was the right thing to do. "This is it, I've gone and done it – I've been very lucky so far with my gut instincts, but this was wrong." “So of course, I thought I'd made the absolute ," recalls Frampton.
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