Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful [Hardcover]

Paolo Hewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

Marriott led The Small Faces to the top of the ’60s pop charts before forming Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, where his blistering rock ’n’ blues guitar playing saw him enjoy huge success before the band imploded. After years in seclusion, Marriott’s plans for a comeback in 1991 were tragically cut short when he died in a housefire. He continues to be a key influence for generations of musicians from Paul Weller to Oasis and Blur.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hewitt was a key writer at the NME and is the highly respected author of many books, as well as penning the sleevenotes for Oasis' What's The Story Morning Glory.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Helter Skelter Publishing (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1900924447
• ISBN-13: 978-1900924443
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,987,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The stuff operas are made of, January 27, 2006

By 

Madame Meow (Rodeo, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful (Hardcover)

Paolo Hewitt has done a good job of describing the tragi-lovely life of Steve Marriott, a serious rock and roller who lived to make music, instead of making music to get rich. (Readers will be shocked by how little money he made.) Clearly Marriott was gifted, funny, infuriating, and damaged by years of betrayal. The tragic parts were mitigated by Steve's optimistic outlook. The book is well researched, well-written, non-judgmental, and has a good selection of photos. I recommend Ian MacLagan's book, "All The Rage", as a good follow-up read. (MacLagan's book has a happy ending, which you will crave after reading the Marriott bio.)

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cheers to the Pieman!!!!! R.I.P., October 26, 2006

By 

D. Burke (Houston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful: Fully Revised, Expanded and Updated (Paperback)

I've always thought Marriott was a truely gifted musician and Humble Pie was a truely exceptional ban, but I knew very little about Steve's earlier times with the Small Faces and before. My only complaint about this book is it was written by Mods and mainly for Mods. By this I mean that almost 2/3 of the story takes place before Humble Pie happened and the authors lament endlessly through out the remainder of the book about how the quality of Marriott's music was never as good after the Small Faces. That is simply untrue. There are certainly many Humble Pie fans around that would disagree. The great Humble Pie albums like 'Rock On' are scarcely mentioned, 'Smokin' gets a whopping 1/2 page review. 'Eat It' which is certainly the best Pie album gets slammed. Everyone always complains about the sound quality of 'Eat It', it's been years since I listened to the album, but I think the reissued CD certainly does the sound justice. 'Thunderbox' is deemed the best Humble Pie album but in reality is probably the sixth out of nine. Anyway the entire Humble Pie saga runs 40 pages. Steve's life after Humble Pie is really kind of sad and at times funny. He would tell anyone where to get off. He also had a very chronic drug and alcohol problem which was surely the cause of most of his bad luck and untimately claimed his life. Having said that it was a great read and I couldn't put it down. Marriott was a huge talent and his music is alot better that 99% of the dribble that passes for song nowadays.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars loooved this book!!!, July 25, 2010

By 

Anya Varda (los angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful (Paperback)

incredible indepth writing, you actually feel like you are there with steve and his bands! great photos and an absolutely fascinating story, ultimately heartbreaking but what a ride!! we miss you steve but you will always be with us in your music.