Humble Pie - Smokin' - Analogue Productions LP

Shortly before cutting the hard-rock classic Smokin', Humble Pie played the biggest U.S. gig of them all: Shea Stadium, opening for Grand Funk Railroad. It was a make-or-break moment for the U.K. band, and just as the set was heating up, it began to rain. Playing during a storm is a risky situation in the best of times, but in 1971 it meant taking your life in your hands. Frontman Steve Marriott took the mic and dramatically announced that the group didn't care: "It's comin' down rain, and we don't give a f***! We're gonna rock your asses all night long!"

"The audience went absolutely berserk," drummer Jerry Shirley recalls. Even Grand Funk's fastidious manager Terry Knight was impressed enough to allow a couple of encores. The band managed to avoid getting killed. And America was now Humble Pie territory.

Lucky for the group, the next studio album they released had just as much rock 'n roll bravado — seasoned with deep blues roots and a whole lot of soul. Smokin', Humble Pie's fifth studio set, made Steve Marriott a star for a second time, gave the band its most enduring song — "30 Days in the Hole" — and made them U.S. headliners.

It was also the sound of a band in transition, both in sound and personnel. When Humble Pie formed in 1969, everybody had something of a profile: Marriott had been in the Small Faces; guitarist/singer Peter Frampton, fresh from the Herd, was known both for his chops and his good looks (the U.K. press called him the "face of '68"). Bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley, meanwhile, came from cult favorite hard-rock bands Spooky Tooth and Apostolic Intervention. So Humble Pie initially functioned as a democratic supergroup: Everybody wrote songs, everybody sang lead, and the sound seesawed from heavy rock to the acoustic direction of their second LP, Town & Country.

Eventually, they acquired a U.S. manager and booking agent — Dee Anthony and Frank Barsalona — who gave them a recipe for American success: More hard rock, more Marriott soulful wail upfront. This paid off handsomely on the live album Rockin' the Fillmore, with their classic take on Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor." But shortly after its release, and just after the Shea show, Frampton jumped ship, realizing that the band's direction was shifting away from his interests. Frampton, of course, became a sensation with his own double live album, but it took some time. "He could see that acoustic side of things was going to be sidelined," Shirley now recalls. "But he'd be the first to tell you that when he left and wound up opening for us, he was thinking 'Oh dear, what did I do?'"

Humble Pie soldiered on. After the first round of auditions for a new guitarist didn't work out, they wrote a bunch of heavier songs and considered going out as a trio. Enter guitarist Dave "Clem" Clempson, who was immediately hired after Marriott spotted a couple of hot solos on a Colosseum live album. Clempson wasn't as much of a singer or acoustic player, but he was a powerhouse of a blues-based guitarist.

But that's another story. Meanwhile, Humble Pie's fifth album remains incredibly influential — just ask the Black Crowes, Gov't Mule, or the countless other bands who've referenced it. In short, it's still Smokin' after all these years. Now, settle in with this classic gem showcasing the raw energy and incredible musicianship that made Humble Pie a force in rock history!