
I like the cover of Dobie Gray's Drift Away as well with Greg on the vocals. It is interesting that they covered 2 songs associated with Ann Peebles on the same album in I Can't Stand The Rain and Ninety-Nine Pounds. Oh La De-Da and Thunderbox were the only tracks from this album that made their regular set list. Ninety-Nine Pounds might actually be my favorite track. The singles Ninety-Nine Pounds and the Staple Singers Oh La De-Da are both good in my opinion. Steve also plays some cool organ on this album as well. Greg and Jerry lay down some cool grooves on this album and are almost the stars of this album with Clem supplying his usual tasteful fills and wah wah work. The funk groove is apparent on tracks like Groovin' With Jesus, Rally With Ali and Don't Worry, Be Happy among others. The main thing about this album besides all the covers is the funk and gospel influence on the tracks. Read More: 40 Years Ago: Humble Pie Release ‘Thunderbox' | But this sadly prompted A&M and manager Dee Anthony to backstab the band, heist whatever working demos they could from Marriott’s proposed solo LP, and release the rough and substandard contents in early-’75 as the much-maligned ‘Street Rats’ LP.īy doing so, they effectively killed the golden goose and derailed Humble Pie’s once high-flying career, while leaving an emotional toll that the band members and leader Steve Marriott, in particular, would never fully recover from. would delay their return to both the studio and the road in late-’74 in an attempt to recharge their batteries. But in Humble Pie’s defense, they had dutifully worked their butts off to promote this and every prior album, undertaking some 20 tours over the previous four-year span, only to find themselves exhausted, broke and with precious little else to show for their efforts.Īs a result, Marriott and co. Instead, they saw ‘Thunderbox’ fall short of the U.S. This was 1974’s ‘Thunderbox,’ which A&M nevertheless packaged in a lavish sleeve (boasting a keyhole view into the water-closet of some scantily clad models) and trotted out to record stores and radio stations, in the hopes that its powerful title cut and many soulful remakes - including the Rolling Stones-like ‘Ninety-Pounds’ - would prolong Humble Pie’s relative career winning streak. This gawd damned album is 40 years old!!!!! And we're talking about it now.įairly or not, A&M Records expected more, and after indulging Humble Pie’s grand ambitions on ‘Eat It,’ the last thing they were expecting from the band’s next studio venture was a rush-recorded follow-up boasting seven cover tunes (out of twelve total tracks), named after a 17th century slang term for toilet. The sound kind of grates on my original copy, and lacks good liquid bass. They needed Glyn Johns to do the production or at least do the mix because that is what they are going for. But I feel the over-all sound is starchy and not quite right. Here they decide to open things up again. Both Smokin' and Eat It! have many areas where they went for that dark funk murk which I think worked really well. I think that they decided to get a sharp clear mix, and get away from the thick sludgy murk that was a trademark on the last two albums. A great mix of boogie, blues and funk with gospel added in. Signs that Steve is slowing down here though as far as songwriting goes.
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I think this is their last great album even though it is loaded with covers. A great vocal section with the Blackberries before the outro. The Pie do a pretty good job with some heavy boogie added to the mix. The question is, who has not covered this song? An amazing chorus in this song is the reason why. The Pie slows it down to a Mannish Boy tempo. The Chuck Berry blues in G tune that channels Muddy Waters. Great fills by Clem with the Wah Wah wailing. The Black Crowes did this one too.Ī pretty good boogie In A written by Clem.

Underpinned by Greg's funky basslines and slow burning organ from Steve.īlues based boogie in C done right with a steady groove and great chorus. Jerry is great again and shows he is just not a pounder. Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Jerry Shirley shows his worth here.Ī tune about Mr. The Blackberries know just when to get down. Steve kills in the bridge and the short outro.Ī groovin boogie in E with a killer chorus and pre chorus. A cool C Major groove with steaming horns from Mel Collins.ĭone by The Beatles as you probably know. I Can't Stand The Rain (Peebles/Bryant/Miller) Blackberries provide swingin background vocals. Greg plays some great ascending bass lines. A smokin boogie that starts off with an A Major boogie riff and then deceptively shifts to B Major for the verses.
