Humble Pie Best Of The Immediate Years CD - Import

Perhaps a more fitting title for the 2006 Humble Pie compilation, Best of the Immediate Years, would be "The Complete Immediate Years," as it includes both of the group's sole releases for the Immediate label, 1969's As Safe as Yesterday and Town and Country, in their entirety, as well as a few odds and ends. And while the group will forever be best known as a loud and rocking blues-rock band (some feel one of the finest ever), these two releases don't always reflect this aforementioned style. Granted, there are such soulful yet rocking tracks as "Desperation" (which is a virtual blueprint for the style the Black Crowes would later adopt -- specifically Chris Robinson's Steve Marriott-isms) and the group's breakthrough hit, "Natural Born Bugie." But almost all of Town and Country sees the group shut down the cranked amps in favor of acoustic guitar twiddling, including "Take Me Back" and "Every Mother's Son." Also of note is that these two albums saw much more of a songwriting contribution from Peter Frampton -- before Marriott soon assumed full control in the songwriting department, which led to Frampton's exit. ~ Greg Prato

Humble Pie made their mark on the sound of the early 1970s courtesy of a heavy hammerhead brand of boogified blues rock. This 2CD collection celebrates the very best of Humble Pie's two albums with Immediate Records.Q (p.125) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Filled out with rare tracks....Loads for Brit-rock fetishists to enjoy..."