Music Blog, Seventies

Let Them Eat Pie

The Sicilian Storyteller

Written for Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag #17, where we are asked to write about a song by a group or solo singer beginning with the letter G or H.

Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley & Jerry Shirley

Frustrated with a number of things but mostly his image as a teen idol, Steve Marriott finally had enough. It was New Year’s Eve, 1969, when he threw down his guitar and walked off the stage at London’s Alexandra Palace, quitting his band, Small Faces. Marriott was a talented musician and vocalist who wanted to be taken seriously for his music …. not his looks.

After quitting, Steve Marriott called two friends – one was Peter Frampton – another frustrated teen idol who had recently quit his band, Herd – and the other was 17-year-old drummer Jerry Shirley. Marriott asked his friends if he could join the band they were forming and, to sweeten the pot, said he’d bring with him Greg Ridley, a well-respected bass player from the band Spooky Tooth, who was also looking to make a change. Well, of course, Frampton and Shirley couldn’t turn down an offer like that and so the newest “supergroup” (as the press called them) was created. The guys in the band hated being called a supergroup …. they were worried about expectations being set too high and dooming them to failure. In retaliation they chose a name they were more comfortable with …. Humble Pie.

Their debut album, “As Safe As Yesterday Is”, was released in August 1969, along with the single, “Natural Born Bugie”, which reached #4 in the UK singles charts; the album peaked at #16 in the UK album charts. “As Safe As Yesterday Is” was one of the first albums to be described by the term “heavy metal” in a 1970 review in Rolling Stone magazine.

In 1971 Humble Pie released their most successful record to date, “Rock On“, as well as a live album recorded at the Fillmore East in New York entitled “Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore”. The live album reached #21 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Culled from four sets recorded on May 28 and 29, 1971 (the original LP was essentially a sampler of songs from several raucous shows), “Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore” was released that November as a double album set. Humble Pie was second on the bill, after Fanny and before headliner Lee Michaels, a fact hardly anyone seems to remember. I will testify to that because I was in the audience at the Fillmore East on May 28, 1971 and the only group I remember seeing was Humble Pie. That was just one month before the legendary Fillmore closed its doors …. the end of an era in the history of rock.

Peter Frampton’s final recording with Humble Pie in 1971 was, by some irony, the band’s most successful, and is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential live albums of the decade. Humble Pie produced 11 studio albums and 2 live albums.

“I Don’t Need No Doctor” from “Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore” was an R&B song written by Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson and Jo Armstead, first released by Ashford in August 1966; it went nowhere. The song has been recorded by Ray Charles, John Mayer, rock bands New Riders of the Purple Sage, Great White and Styx, metal band W.A.S.P. and others. Humble Pie’s version became an FM radio standard in the US, peaking at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and propelling the album up the charts.

Live from the Fillmore East in my hometown of New York City, this is the single version of “I Don’t Need No Doctor” by Humble Pie.

Personnel

Steve Marriott– guitar, vocals, harmonica
Peter Frampton – guitar, vocals
Greg Ridley – bass guitar, vocals
Jerry Shirley – drums

Technical team

Live recording by Fedco Audio Labs
Engineer: Eddie Kramer
Assistant Engineer: David Palmer
Re-mixed at Electric Lady Studies, New York
Produced by The Pie

In 1991 Steve Marriott died in an accidental house fire at the age of 44; bassist Greg Ridley died in 2003 at the age of 56 from complications from pneumonia. Peter Frampton continues to enjoy success as a solo artist and Jerry Shirley is still behind the kit, touring with the current members of Humble Pie.

The Fillmore East didn’t last all that long, from March 8, 1968 to June 27, 1971, but a ton of great music was played there. It was our personal music Mecca. Pretty much every legendary 1960s band …. except the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cream and Dylan …. graced the stage and I was in attendance for a lot of those shows. It was epic.

Big thanks to Glyn for hosting Mixed Music Bag every week.

Mixed Music Bag 2024 – week 17

Thanks for stopping by.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2024

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24 thoughts on “Let Them Eat Pie”

  7. Great choice Nancy. I have Humble Pie’s live album; “Rockin’ The Fillmore”. I need to dig that one out as I haven’t played it for a while. Eventually, Peter Frampton went on to make an even better live album which sold by the bucket load.

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    1. Thanks, Glyn. Those live concerts were quite “lively”, as you can imagine. I always liked Humble Pie and thought they were not treated fairly by the critics, some who actually called them dumb! Frampton bailed out in ’71 and didn’t do too badly for himself!

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  8. Some great memories there, Nancy. I bought both their first single and album – some great music there. Steve Marriott lived about fifteen miles from us and I can still recall the fire engines’ sirens crashing through the stillness of the early morning. It was only later in the day that we found out why. I played Autumn Stone in his memory.

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    1. I have a million memories, Clive, and almost all of them are good. It was a great time in music history and I’m fortunate to have been a part of it.

      Poor Steve Marriott. His life turned into quite a mess. I wonder if he ever found what he was searching for.

      Beautiful song, Autumn Stone. Haunting vocals and a lovely flute solo. Nice choice.

      Thanks, Clive

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      1. Likewise. Great times indeed.

        I don’t know if Steve ever found real happiness but he left us some wonderful music: Autumn Stone is up there with the best, by anyone. It just felt right for that day.

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  11. Anmothe band with a cpouple of albums on my collection! (Never saw them ‘live’ but did see The Small Faces when they reformed without Ronnie Lane and toured in 1977.

    AS I recall,. they were all pretty hammered, and didn’t go down too well! Glasgow Apollo was NOT the place to put in a sub-standard performance ! 😉

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  12. This guys are legend! I remember meeting most of them at ‘top of the pop” of course in the early days all groups were miming but they were were at least there in person….they were all good looking through! 🙂💜💜

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    1. That’s such a great story, Willow. What a hoot that must have been! In the image I used for this post, Greg Ridley looks a lot like Clapton. Well, they were teen idols …. something that was more of an albatross as far as they were concerned.

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