Search - Humble Pie :: Hot N Nasty: Anthology

Long Live The Pie

J. E FELL | Carterville, Illinois United States | 02/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was waiting a long time for a good compilation of Humble Pie to be released. This 2 cd set is an impressive overview of an influential band. My only quibble is the lack of a fews cuts such as "The Light", "Up Our Sleeve", "The Roadrunner" and "I Can't Stand The Rain" in favor of material from the weaker "Street Rats" album. This band was something of a supergroup when it was formed. Mighty mite Steve Marriott bolted the Small Faces and recruited bassist Greg Ridley from Spooky Tooth. They convinced teenage guitarist Peter Frampton to leave the Herd and got the relatively obscure Jerry Shirley to join on drums. When Peter Frampton left for a lucrative solo career after the successful "Performance-Rockin' The Fillmore" album in 1972, he was replaced by Dave "Clem" Clempson from the jazz/blues/rock fusion group Colosseum. The music was a mixture of Marriott's blues and soul influenced boogie songs mixed with Frampton's quieter acoustic numbers. The guitarists differing styles provided an interesting contrast. Marriot's playing was more brash while both Frampton's and Clempson's playing was slightly more jazz influenced. Some of my favorite numbers include "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Four Day Creep", "30 Days In The Hole" & Frampton's "Shine On". A welcome inclusion is "Big Black Dog" a rocking non-lp single released 1970. The band alternated the vocals between Marriott, Frampton and bassist Greg Ridley, sometimes all in the same song. The various members filled in on piano and organ as necessary. The music somewhat resembles that of the Faces, the band Marriott quit (originally called the Small Faces) before relative giants Ron Wood and Rod Stewart joined to replace Marriott. This music was an influence on currents bands such as the Black Crowes and Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds. If you like blues/soul influenced rock & boogie, you find much to enjoy in this 2 cd set."

Essential career spanning retrospective.

B-MAN | Earth, occasionally. Until I get bored. | 01/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1969, Steve Marriott (lead vocals/guitar) left the Small Faces and joined Peter Frampton (guitars,vocals) of the Herd, Greg Ridley (bass) of Spooky Tooth, and Small Faces associate Jerry Shirley (drums) to form the blues boogie rock band Humble Pie. The two CD, 31 track "Hot 'n' Nasty" Anthology covers their first 9 albums from 1969-1975 which is their best material and beyond so it goes a little farther than it needs to, but everything here is great. Another nice feature is that the music is chronological starting with "Natural Born Woman" from their 1969 debut "As Safe As Yesterday Is" and closing with songs from the 1975 "Street Rats" LP including "Rain", a Lennon/McCartney original. After 1971's "Rock On", Frampton left the group to go solo and they recruited guitarist Clem Clemson to release what ended up being their most successful chart topping LP, "Smokin" (1972). As with all compilations there are usually a few fan favorites or notable album tracks missing like "I can't stand the rain", "Roadrunner", and "Sour Grain", but that really is nit-picking in this case. Even die hard fans can't argue that "Hot N Nasty" includes their best material overall and is the strongest, most consistent collection in their catalog. There are other Humble Pie compilations in single disc format such as "The Best of" and "Classics Vol. 14" but both are small ("Best of" has 9 tracks!) and come no where near making the statement "Hot N Nasty" does. Bottom line: If you want to have one definitive collection of Humble Pie, this is it.



Here are the albums covered by "Hot N Nasty":



As Safe As Yesterday Is (1969)

Town & Country (1969)

Humble Pie (1970)

Rockin the Fillmore (1971)

Rock On (1971)

Smokin' (1972)

Eat It (1973)

Thunderbox (1974)

Street Rats (1975)



Other Recommended Artists:

The Small Faces

The Faces

Peter Frampton

Spooky Tooth

"

Great compliation by a great band

bigchet | Madison, Ohio United States | 04/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"HUmble Pie was a great band. Why they are not mentioned with the likes of Led Zeppelin,Black Sabbath I really don't know. The late Steve Marriott was one of the greatest lead vocalists ever. This compliation gives gives you the anthology from the early days with Peter Frampton to the mid seventies stuff. This band rocked. They were certainly early heavy metal and blues."