So, you know what my problem is with contemporary (ie-recent) rock and roll? No roll. I suppose you could make a case for, say, Pink. Or Avril Lavigne. But it just seems such a calculated and manufactured roll. Plain White T’s? They might be rock and roll. But I swear I don’t really no what they sound like. You see, I’m old. But hey, I checked out the new My Chemical Romance because I saw the word “glam” attached to every review I read about the record, so I had to give it a listen. Not bad, actually, I kinda like. And it almost seems that it was an organic shift, as they simply dropped most of the goth pretensions, which revealed more of their inner roll.
There was no such need for Humble Pie to ever go in search of their inner roll. They totally rolled. And like many groups in the 70’s, it took a live album to get noticed in the states. Ironically, after leaving Humble Pie following this release, it was the same live double-album format that blew up guitarist Peter Frampton in the states just five years later. Post Frampton, HP made a couple of really great records – “RockOn” and “Shine On” – before spending several years, well, sucking before Marriott finally gave it up. But he really didn’t, reforming a version of “Humble Pie” five years later, only to suck all over again. And I swear, I love Steve Marriott. But the later years were not so great.
But hey, back to the rock. And roll. As great an example of 70’s boogie this is (and it is!), I’m still kinda surprised Classic decided to go after this one. Someone there must have been a fan. Man, gotta love tat scan. Looks vintage, yeah. Amazing how much shelf wear an item can pick up in seven years. Anyhoo, this one is getting pretty scarce out there. Classic shut down production almost a year ago and many titles are literally disappearing over night. So, as the kids say, don’t sleep.
graypunk 