Artist: HUMBLE PIE
Album: TOWN AND COUNTY REMASTERED (DIGI)

Year: 1969/ 2008
Media type: CD

It was a brave step by the newly formed Humble Pie to focus on the acoustic side of their musical ambitions with their eagerly awaited second album.

Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley had already created a stir with their 1969 debut ‘As Safe As Yesterday Is’. ‘Town And Country’ was rushed released the same year and adopted several innovations, including leaving the band name and title off the cover. This was seen as a ploy to shake off their ‘supergroup’ image. Frampton and Ridley pose smartly clad in a ‘town’ apartment while Marriott and Shirley appear in smocks and boots in a ‘country’ setting. The songs reveal a reflective mood, notably Peter Frampton’s sad hymn to lost youth ‘Take Me Back’ and Jerry Shirley’s ‘Cold Lady’. Marriott injects the most energy on more soulful numbers like ‘Down Home Again’.

Often overlooked by critics, ‘Town And Country’ is full of delights including Marriott’s Dylan-esque ‘Every Mother’s Son’ and a harmony version of Buddy Holly’s ‘Heartbeat’. The rock power of Humble Pie returns on ‘Silver Tongue’ and is capped by the upbeat Frampton-Ridley tune ‘Home And Away’.

TRACKLIST:

1 Take Me Back
04:51

2 The Sad Bag Of Shaky Jane
02:59

3 The Light Of Love
03:01

4 Cold Lady
03:23

5 Down Home Again
02:54

6 Ollie, Ollie
00:48

7 Every Mother’s Son
05:42

8 Heartbeat
02:34

9 Only You Can See
03:38

10 Silver Tongue
03:20

11 Home And Away
05:55


Bonus tracks :

12 79th Street Blues
03:00

13 Greg’s Song
04:29


LINE-UP:

Steve Marriott - guitar, keyboards, vocals, harmonica
Greg Ridley - bass, vocals
Jerry Shirley - drums, vocals
John Wilson - drums on "Only a Roach"
Peter Frampton - guitar, vocals