Rock On (Humble Pie album)
Encyclopedia
Rock On is the fourth studio album by the English
rock
group Humble Pie
, released in 1971. It reached #118 on the Billboard 200
.
, 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
. But this was not where Frampton wanted to be and within a year he had quit the group to pursue his 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. 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 band members Marriott, Ridley, Frampton and Shirley. Steve 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 ballsy 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 Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, keeping the same tempo as "Shine On", but with just Steve on vocals.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
group Humble Pie
Humble Pie (band)
Humble Pie was a rock band from England, finding success both in the UK and the US. They are remembered for songs such as "Black Coffee" "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Natural Born Bugie"...
, released in 1971. It reached #118 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
.
Album profile
The final studio album to feature guitarist and vocalist Peter FramptonPeter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
, 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
Dee Anthony
Dee Anthony was an American talent manager who started in the business with fellow Bronx native Jerry Vale. After meeting Tony Bennett in 1954 at a nightclub in Yonkers, New York, he ended up representing the singer for more than a decade...
, after the collapse of Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's Immediate Records
Immediate Records
Immediate Records was a British record label, started in 1965 by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder and concentrating on the London-based blues and R&B scene.-History:...
. But this was not where Frampton wanted to be and within a year he had quit the group to pursue his solo career and take his music in a more acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
direction.
Most of the songs on Rock On were performed live on tour before being recorded for the album. Marriott turned the production into a studio party of sorts, featuring numerous guest performers from the world of blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
. Distinguished performers such as PP Arnold, who Marriott knew very well from his Small Faces days, Doris Troy
Doris Troy
Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
who had a U.S. hit in the early 1960s with her own self-composed song "Just One Look
Just One Look
Just One Look is a 2002 Hong Kong film written and directed by Yip Kam-Hung, and starring Shawn Yue, Anthony Wong and Gillian Chung.-Plot:A young man contemplates revenge on the gangster he believes responsible for his father's death...
" (later covered by The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
), and Claudia Lennear (who had sung backing for artists such as Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, Freddie King
Freddie King
Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...
and Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
), were featured on this album.
The album features the classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
song "Stone Cold Fever" written by band members Marriott, Ridley, Frampton and Shirley. Steve Marriott
Steve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
's ballad "A Song For Jenny" (written for first wife Jenny Rylance) features The Soul Sisters (Doris Troy
Doris Troy
Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
, P.P. Arnold and Claudia Lennear
Claudia Lennear
Claudia Lennear is an American soul singer who has worked with many acts including Ike and Tina Turner, Humble Pie and Joe Cocker. She recorded a solo album entitled Phew! in 1973.She was part of a trio of backup singers for Delaney and Bonnie, that also included Rita Coolidge...
) on backing vocals. B.J. Cole contributes pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
.
"Strange Days" is a ballsy 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 Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, keeping the same tempo as "Shine On", but with just Steve on vocals.
Track listing
- "Shine OnShine On (Humble Pie song)"Shine On" was a single released in 1971 by English rock outfit Humble Pie, one of the first supergroups of the 1960s. The song was written by Peter Frampton formerly of The Herd and was released by A&M Records...
" - (Frampton) – 3:00 - "Sour Grain" - (Frampton/Marriott) – 2:40
- "79th and Sunset" - (Marriott) – 3:01
- "Stone Cold Fever" - (RidleyGreg RidleyAlfred Gregory 'Greg' Ridley was one of the more visible rock bassists in England, and a founding member of the successful rock band Humble Pie...
- MarriottSteve MarriottStephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
-ShirleyJerry ShirleyJerry Shirley is an English rock drummer, best known for his work with the rock band Humble Pie and appeared on all their albums...
- FramptonPeter FramptonPeter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
) – 4:09 - "Rollin' StoneRollin' Stone"Rollin' Stone" is a blues song recorded by Muddy Waters in 1950. It is Waters' interpretation of "Catfish Blues", a traditional blues that dates back to 1920s Mississippi...
" - (Muddy WatersMuddy WatersMcKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
) – 5:59 - "A Song for Jenny" - (Marriott) – 2:35
- "The Light" - (Frampton) – 3:15
- "Big George" - (Ridley) – 4:08
- "Strange Days" - (Humble Pie), (words-Marriott) – 6:36
- "Red Neck Jump" - (Marriott) – 3:06
Personnel
- Steve MarriottSteve MarriottStephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
- guitar, vocals, keyboards, harmonica - Peter FramptonPeter FramptonPeter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
- guitar, vocals, keyboards - Greg RidleyGreg RidleyAlfred Gregory 'Greg' Ridley was one of the more visible rock bassists in England, and a founding member of the successful rock band Humble Pie...
- bass, guitar, vocals - Jerry ShirleyJerry ShirleyJerry Shirley is an English rock drummer, best known for his work with the rock band Humble Pie and appeared on all their albums...
- drums, keyboards
- Alexis KornerAlexis KornerAlexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
- vocals - Bobby Keyes - saxophone
- B.J. Cole - pedal steel guitar
- Soul Sisters :
- P.P. Arnold - backing vocals
- Claudia LennearClaudia LennearClaudia Lennear is an American soul singer who has worked with many acts including Ike and Tina Turner, Humble Pie and Joe Cocker. She recorded a solo album entitled Phew! in 1973.She was part of a trio of backup singers for Delaney and Bonnie, that also included Rita Coolidge...
- backing vocals - Doris TroyDoris TroyDoris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
- backing vocals
- Recorded and Mixed by Glyn Johns at Olympic Sound Studios, London, January 1971
- (track 03 recorded by Andrew JohnsAndy JohnsAndy Johns is an engineer and producer who worked on well-known rock albums such as Led Zeppelin's IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced....
)
- (track 03 recorded by Andrew Johns
- A Glyn Johns and Humble Pie Joint Production
- John Kelly - Album cover design and photography