Hallelujah: 1973-1983 [Import]

• Track Listing

Five CD set. Two studio albums from Humble Pie #2 circa 1980/81. Plus further studio recordings from 1983 and live sets from 1973 and 83. Forming in 1969, Humble Pie's original line-up featured lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott of the Small Faces, vocalist and guitarist Peter Frampton of the Herd, former Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley from the Apostolic Intervention. Initially enjoying success is the UK singles charts with 'Natural Born Bugie', their major breakthrough in the States came with the double live 'Performance - Rockin' the Fillmore' in 1971. The band would soldier on following Frampton's departure for a superstar solo career, eventually calling it a day following 1975's 'Street Rats' LP. Regrouping in 1980 for 'On To Victory' (CD1), Steve Marriott and Jerry Shirley were joined by guitarist Bobby Tench and Anthony "Sooty" Jones on bass. A creditable return to form, the album kicks off with single 'Fool For A Pretty Face'. The same line-up would release their tenth studio album 'Go For The Throat' (CD 2) in 1981, notable for it's cover of Small Faces classic 'Tin Soldier'. Known by many as the lost years, as Steve Marriott all but disappeared from the public eye after the end of Humble Pie Mk2 following the release of 'Go For The Throat', the recordings on CD3 and CD4 were made while Marriott lived in Atlanta. CD3 was recorded in Pyramid Eye Studios Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1982 while CD4 captures the band a year later in Annie's Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, laying down a storm, and includes Small Faces classic 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It' as well as many songs that had made Humble Pie such a major concert draw a decade earlier. Going back to a decade earlier, this set concludes with a show on CD5 recorded on May 6, 1973 at San Francisco's Winterland Theater. Presenting the post-Frampton era of Humble Pie, featuring guitarist Dave Clempson and bassist Gregg Ridley backing Jerry Shirley and with Steve Marriott in full cry, delivering his soulful, over the top take on R&B-based hard rock with plenty of guts and spirit. Humble Pie display a ferocity that was occasionally lessened on their studio albums.

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