Rock On (Humble Pie album)

Last updated

Rock On
Rock On cover.jpg
Studio album by
Humble Pie
ReleasedMarch 1971
Recorded Olympic Studios, London,
January 1971
Genre
Length38:43
Label A&M
Producer Glyn Johns & Humble Pie
Humble Pie chronology
Humble Pie
(1970)		Rock On
(1971)		 Performance Rockin' the Fillmore
(1971)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Rock On is the fourth album by the English rock group Humble Pie, released in March 1971. It reached #118 on the Billboard 200. It is the last Humble Pie studio album to feature guitarist/singer Peter Frampton, who left the band towards the end of the year.

Contents

Background

Rock On saw Humble Pie establishing the heavy blues/rock sound they became famous for, led in no small part by their new manager, Dee Anthony, after the collapse of Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records. It was Frampton's favourite album with Humble Pie, but he was becoming unhappy with continuing in the band. [3] In the latter part of the year, after their live album Performance Rockin' the Fillmore was mixed, and shortly before it was released, he left the band [3] to pursue a solo career, and take his music in a more acoustic direction.

Most of the songs on Rock On were performed live on tour before being recorded for the album. Singer and guitarist Steve Marriott turned the production into a studio party of sorts, featuring numerous guest performers from the world of blues and soul. Distinguished performers such as PP Arnold, who Marriott knew very well from his Small Faces days, Doris Troy who had a U.S. hit in the early 1960s with her own self-composed song "Just One Look" (later covered by The Hollies), and Claudia Lennear (who had sung backing for artists such as Joe Cocker, Freddie King and Gene Clark), were featured on this album.

The album features the classic rock song "Stone Cold Fever", written by all four members. [4] Marriott's ballad "A Song For Jenny" (written for first wife Jenny Rylance) features The Soul Sisters (Doris Troy, P.P. Arnold and Claudia Lennear) on backing vocals. B.J. Cole contributes pedal steel guitar. "Strange Days" is a blues rock song in which Marriott's powerful vocals soar as close to a live performance as any on this album. The vocals have a delayed echo, sounding grounded yet "out there"; and Frampton's guitar solos weave throughout. It is also the longest song on the album. "Sour Grain" was a joint composition by Frampton and Marriott, keeping the same tempo as "Shine On", but with just Marriott on vocals. [5] "Big George" was a Ridley composition, for which he sang the lead vocals.

Track listing

  1. "Shine On" (Frampton) – 3:00
  2. "Sour Grain" (Frampton, Marriott) – 2:40
  3. "79th and Sunset" (Marriott) – 3:01
  4. "Stone Cold Fever" (Ridley, Marriott, Shirley, Frampton) – 4:09
  5. "Rollin' Stone" (Muddy Waters, arranged by Humble Pie) – 6:00
  6. "A Song for Jenny" (Marriott) – 2:35
  7. "The Light" (Frampton) – 3:15
  8. "Big George" (Ridley) – 4:08
  9. "Strange Days" (music - Humble Pie; words - Marriott) – 6:36
  10. "Red Neck Jump" (Marriott) – 3:06

Personnel

Humble Pie

Guest musicians

Production

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References

  1. ↑ Rock On at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "Humble Pie". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp.  398. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  3. 1 2 Bell, Max (20 October 2018). "The story of Humble Pie, the anti-supergroup". Louder. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Free Music and Lyrics to the song Stone Cold Fever by Humble Pie – Rhapsody Online
  5. ↑ Twelker, Uli; Schmitt, Roland (2010). The Small Faces & Other Stories (2nd ed.). Sanctuary. pp. 80–81. ISBN   978-1-86074-392-4.
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