Come the dawn of the 1970s, no band embodied the stylistic shift of the times more than Humble Pie. Psychedelia and the roots revival were on the fade, replaced by the more urgent impulses of rock ’n’ roll and the heavier end of electric blues.
Humble Pie – comprising one-time Herd starlet Peter Frampton, former Small Faces leader Steve Marriott, ex-Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and teenage drummer Jerry Shirley – had begun in 1969 as equal parts hard rockers and acoustic troubadours, complete with interchangeable frontmen. But by 1971’s fourth album, Rock On, they’d become a leaner, louder, heavier proposition.
