Humble Pie - Town & Country

Strumming their way out of the public eye – that’s Pie 1969

When you’re so famous you can get away with leaving your name and album title off the sleeve of your new release, then either you’re Pink Floyd or you believe the hype. Maybe Humble Pie took a third option with their second album, for its acoustic nature suggested they weren’t bothered if Town & Country sold or not.

It certainly bears more of the hallmarks of Peter Frampton than his raucous co-frontman Steve Marriott and, by allowing bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley songwriting input, it seems they were keen to show this was not an ex-Small Face and his backing band. One suspects The Band had been on the communal turntable, as this bucolic frolic has Americana stamped right through it, all the way to Greg’s Song, one of two bonus tracks to which vocals were never added. Elsewhere, Down Home Again could be early Faces, while a cover of Buddy Holly’s Heartbeat reflects the “do what we feel” policy.

Town & Country having failed to trouble the British charts, Frampton decamped to do his own thing and Pie metamorphosed into the Stateside-centred rock’n’soul revue in which Steve called the shots. Call this a carefree compromise, then.

Repertoire | REP 5052

Reviewed by Michael Heatley
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