HUMBLE PIE – On To Victory/Go For The Throat CD reissue

Shane | 10 September 2012 | Reply

Dead Line Music, 2012
By Shane Pinnegar
6.5/10

It’s fair to say that by 1980 Steve Marriot was a bit lost in his career. The Small Faces and Humble Pie had been huge successes, but an abortive Small Faces reunion and a failed attempt at an All Star band with ex-Pie man Peter Frampton left him floundering.

His answer – reform Humble Pie with Jerry Shirley, drafting in newbies Bobby Tench and Anthony “Sooty” Jones on guitar and bass respectively.

These two albums weren’t the pinnacle of Pie’s career, but they did yield the band’s second biggest single in Fool For A Pretty Face, from 1980’s On To Victory, and there is plenty to like herein.

Marriot always struck me as an English version of our own Billy Thorpe – a ragged larynxed, soulful rocker with a voice to die for and a passionate rock n’ roll heart – and as with all of his performances, here it’s his voice that shines gloriously.

A bonus disc of a live show from ’81 showcases the band in raw and ragged glory – that amazing voice again eclipsing even the wildly dangerous performances of the rest of the musicians.

If you’re a fan, the reissue sounds great so get it! If you’ve never heard Humble Pie before, this is as good a place as any to start – so get it!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cleopatra-Records/112460168765563?ref=ts&rf=107848879249179