Search - Humble Pie :: Go for the Throat

Humble Pie's Swan Song

Guy Gillor | Be'er Sheva, Israel | 10/18/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"12 years after releasing their first two groundbreaking psycadelic-rock albums on the Immediate label, and after going through a lot of musical diversities, shifting from psycadelia to blues to soul - and all with the rock and roll - Humble Pie released their last output.Keep in mind that this is their 3rd lineup, and just 2 of the 4 members on 1969 are here in the 81' Pie.The album itseld is a high-energy solid classic hard-rock effort, but it lacks the experimentallity that Humble Pie has showed in the past.The album starts hard with a heavy cover of the old Elvis classic, "All Shook Up", followed by the bluesy ballad "Teenage Anxiety". The next song is a suprise re-make of "Tin Soldier", a hit for Marriott's pre-Pie band, "The Small Faces", in the rockin' spirit of this album. The next tune, "Keep It On The Island", is a mid-tempo boogie that cool things off a bit, and features backing-vocal harmonies that the Pie was famous for. The next song starts just like the Joe Perry Project's "South Station Blues", but soon enough explodes to a blues-rock extravaganza. "Restless Blood" and the following title song are another by-the-book boogies, whole "Lottie The Charcoal Queen offers offers a more familliar ground, and sounds like something that could easily be from Eat It. The album ends with an interesting cover of the Supa-penned Aerosmith tune "Chip Away The Stone"In conclution, this album offers a hard rock-boogie from the late days of one of Rock's most underrated bands, Humble Pie. Sure, Steve Marriott's vocals are no way near what it used to be, and the musical diversity in this album is nothing like what they used to, but its still a good, solid effort that comes to remind us what a great band The Pie once was."

Giving the best that he had to give

Mike | San Jose, CA | 05/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's been 16 years since the tragic passing of Steve Marriott (April 10th, 1991). He followed the two-album rebirth of Humble Pie ("Go For The Throat" was the second album) with bar-band appearances with "Packet of Three," and then...proof that life is what happens when you're making other plans...an attempted reunion with Peter Frampton and Humble Pie. The two tracks that came out of those sessions, "The Bigger They Come" and "I Won't Let You Down," made one thing perfectly clear: Steve's fortunes went up and down in his lifetime, but he never lost his gift. 1981's "Go For The Throat"...recorded with original Pie alumnus Jerry Shirley on drums, Jeff Beck Group alumnus Bobby Tench on vocals and keyboards, and bassist Anthony "Sooty" Jones...certainly isn't the "greatest Humble Pie album of all time." But it's Steve Marriott, ragged voice and all, and he puts out mightily here. From the psycho nod to Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, "Driver" ("I don't give a monkey's, I don't give a LOOK OUT...") to the cover of his own Small Faces hit "Tin Soldier" to the John Lennon tribute "Teenage Anxiety" that's EVERY...SINGLE...BIT as poignant as Elton John & Bernie Taupin's "Empty Garden"...and perhaps more so ("They shot my hero in the street, and as I sing the world still weeps"), fans of Steve Marriott shouldn't pass this one by. Rock On, Steve, Rock On. You are missed."