Humble Pie's Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 1 is a raw testament to what this band did best; playing bluesy, gutsy, soulful and often hard rock, live on stage to an adoring audience. Drawn from a variety of mainly audience recordings that have previously only been available as "under the counter" pirate releases, this is an honest, and often unforgiving, tribute to a classic and much missed '70s supergroup. Originally emerging from the remnants of '60s beat heroes, The Small Faces, Humble Pie formed in 1969 when guitarist and vocalist Steve Marriott joined forces with Peter Frampton, drummer Jerry Shirley and bassist Greg Ridley, and signed to Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label…
Temptation, prohibition, good, evil… ‘how relevant are these in today's world?’ asks Benjamin Appl. With the complicity of pianist James Baillieu, we are taken on a musical arc from simple folk songs through to the great song composers such as Schubert, Schumann and Wolf, along the way visiting the French masters Debussy and Poulenc, exploring ‘new objectivity’ with Weill and Eisler and enjoying compositions by Casucci, Heggie and others. The metaphor of forbidden fruit gives Benjamin and James a wide range of possible interpretations. Whilst some of the song settings centre on sensuality, others focus on socially immoral topics such as incest or sensitive subjects such as abortion. The German baritone embodies each of these stories with a passion and dramatic sense that makes this album a kaleidoscopic and astonishing journey through time and space.