Customer Reviews

Hot N Nasty: Anthology

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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

The Small Faces super stardom eluded the PIE but Humble Pie always managed to fuse blues,rock,soul into some creative hybrid marking them a unique powerhouse.
With Steve Marriott and in it's earlier days, Peter Frampton, a more folk spacey sound hi-lighted Frampton's songs on their overall first few albums which dominated ..After the departure of Frampton onto his solo career, Marriott took the Pie under his wing as his total vehicle , back to their Small Faces roots and to it's love of Ray Charles,Sam Cooke,Otis Redding ..a sort of white UK blue eyes Rock,soul,revue with a very hard kicking Rock blast of bravado and and loud power chords..all this high powered soul with loud crunching guitars with the distinct high pitched voice of Marriott and for some time use female soul vocalists on chorus,created boogie and music you can move to.

This anthology does a service to the band,taking out a fine selection from all their albums..each album was different and good..from the more acoustic and folkie early Immediate label days to the louder higher octane r&b driven later recordings, smack in the middle their Live At The Fillmore album and the classic Smokin'.
Hopefully some of the later albums will find the light of day in less pricey domestic releases...Smokin' needs a definitive rerelease..

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.

THIS MADE A GREAT GIFT!! THIS CD HAS BEEN OUT OF PRINT FOR AWHILE. I WAS SOOOO HAPPY TO FIND IT, AND THE CONDITION WAS GREAT!!
THANK-YOU!!!

Humble Pie were a great band, but they never really made a beginning-to-end great record. As such, HOT 'N' NASTY collects most of their important tracks, although a few early songs should have replaced those from the last two albums. And where's "I Can't Stand The Rain?" Overall, this double-disc/double-cassette set is excellent, though some numbers drag a little.

HUMBLE PIE WAS ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED HARD ROCK BAND OF THE EARLY SEVENTIES. THIS WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY WERE NEVER ABLE TO FULLY CAPTURE THEIR LIVE ENERGY ON RECORD ( THE EXCEPTION BEING PERFORMANCE ROCKIN' THE FILLMORE ALBUM).IN SPITE OF THIS SETBACK THEY WERE ABLE TO CUT SOME VERY SOLID ROCK AND ROLL TRACKS THE BEST OF WHICH ARE COLLECTED ON THIS ANTHOLOGY.THIS COMPILATION KICKS OFF WITH THEIR FIRST HIT NATURAL BORN WOMAN OFF THEIR FIRST ALBUM A CHUCK BERRY LIKE ROCKER IT ALSO INCLUDES MEMORABLE TRACKS OFF THEIR FIRST ALBUM AS SAFE AS YESTERDAY LIKE THE SAD BAG OF SHAKEY JAKE & NON LP SINGLE BIG BLACK DOG.TRAKCS OFF THEIR SELF TITLED SECOND ALBUM WHICH SHOWCASES THE BAND'S FONDNESS FOR JAMMING PRODUCING ORIGINALS LIKE ONE-EYED TROUSER-SNAKE RUMBA AND LIVE WITH ME. THEIR NEXT ALBUM ROCK ON WOULD SHOW CASE THE IMPROVING SINGING & SONGWRITING SKILLS OF BOTH PETER FRAMPTON & STEVE MARRIOTT ON SONGS LIKE SHINE ON & STRANGE DAYS. THE TOUR TO PROMOTE THAT ALBUM WOULD PRODUCE THE SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE ROCKIN' THE FILLMORE ALBUM FEATURING I'M READY BY WILLIE DIXON & THE CLASSIC COVER VERSION OF ASHFORD & SIMPSONS' I DON'T NEED NO DOCTOR. PTER LEFT AFTER THIS ALBUM & WAS REPLACED BY GUITARIST CLEM CLEMPSON FOR THE SMOKIN' ALBUM HIS PRESENCE WAS IMMEDIATELY FELT ON TRACKS LIKE C'MON EVERYBODY & YOUR'RE SO GOOD FOR ME,ALSO INCLUDED IS THE TRACK HOT 'N' NASTY ( WITH UNCREDITED BACKGROUND VOCAL HELP BY STEPHEN STILLS). STEVE MARRIOTT SHIFTED THE BAND TOWARDS A MORE SOUL DIRECTION ON THE NEXT ALBUM EAT IT CREATING A ROCK / SOUL HYBRID SOUND ON TRACKS LIKE BLACK COFFEE & I BELIEVE TO MY SOUL. THE FOLLOW UP ALBUM THUNDERBOX WAS A MOVE BACK TO THEIR ORIGINAL HARDROCK SOUND ON TRACKS LIKE THUNDERBOX & NINETY- NINE POUNDS. BY THE TIME OF THEIR LAST ALBUM STREET RATS THEY WERE CLEARLY RUNNING OUT OF STEAM BUT WERE STILL ABLE TO PRODUCE DECENT TRACKS LIKE STREET RATS ( ORIGINALLY RECORDED FOR A STEVE MARRIOTT SOLO PROJECT ) & ROAD HOG. THIS IS REALLY A GREAT ANTHOLOGY WITH LINER NOTES BY JOHN MC DERMOTT IN A BOOKLET WITH RARE PHOTOS TOO...

humble pie fue un gran grupo, con un peter frampton aun inmaduro, y un marriot en su punto culmine. buena seleccion de canciones, siempre se puede lamentar alguna ausencia, aunque eso claro, depende solo de gustos... lo que es muy reprochable es el booklet..poca informacion, pobre material fotografico, aporta poco a quien quiere conocer a la banda, teniendo en cuenta que las recopilaciones son siempre una buena excusa para tal fin!

You can always argue about what songs should be included in an anthology of a band whose members changed over time. As a junior high school kid listening to these tunes isolated from the larger world, I may not have had the good taste to select the same songs that the larger market did, but the important ones are here and the sound quality is acceptable.

So why only one star?

Since I'm not building a shrine dedicated to Humble Pie in my listening room, I want a CD in a standard jewel case with documentation that fits also into that standard jewel case. I'd love a fact-filled booklet included with the CD that would answer questions friends will inevitably have when we reminisce while listening to Humble Pie. An informative booklet was included. However, the MORONS at A&M records made the booklet about an eighth of an inch too tall and about three quarters of an inch too wide to fit into the case! IDIOTS! Merely cropping the photos differently could easily have allowed the booklet to fit into the jewel case. It certainly wasn't too thick. Get over yourselves and make something that buyers want, not the wet dream of your cubicle musings.