Rainy Changes

Following the steady trickle of posthumous Steve Marriott releases that fans have been treated to in recent years they could be forgiven for believing that the bottom of the barrel must have been reached by now. This lovingly compiled collection of unreleased tracks and rarities proves emphatically that this is not the case.

Compiler John Hellier is editor of the excellent Small Faces fanzine 'Darlings of Whapping Wharf Launderette' fanzine and co-author of the immensely readable Marriott biography 'All Too Beautiful' and he probably knows the man's music better than anyone. The result of his labours is a very satisfying collection of material ranging from alternate takes of Humble Pie tracks from the early 1970s through to the three fine tracks he recorded with Peter Frampton just days before his untimely death. It is clear from listening to this collection that Marriott's creative drive never lost its momentum regardless of whatever may have been going on in his, often turbulent, personal or professional life. Also evident is the tremendous sense of fun that was always an integral part of the man's music throughout his career (check out 'I Need Your Love Like a Fish Needs a Raincoat' or 'Toe Rag')

There are many highlights, including the unreleased version of Joe Brown's 'Soldier' recorded with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which this particular fan has been waiting to hear since first hearing about it in 1976.

Speaking personally, it is the dozen tracks from 1987 that Marriott recorded for an unreleased album with his Official Receivers line up that steal the show. These tracks have been circulating among fans on dodgy cassettes for many years now and it is a real treat to hear them with decent sound quality at last. They date from a period that was truly a purple patch for Marriott, great performances of strong songs that rank among his very best, alongside a couple of well chosen covers (check out the glorious rocking version of the old Brenda Lee hit 'Sweet Nuthins'). If you are among the many who appreciate this extraordinary musician, you need this excellent compilation on your shelf alongside your Small Faces and Humble Pie albums, you will not be disappointed.

Steve Marriott was one of a kind. Probably the best edgy Rock and Roll Singer to ever come out of the British Isles. When he was on top, he was much, much better than his contemporaries Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, and Roger Daltrey. In fact, Mick Jagger seemed to be insanely intimidated by Marriott's talent and stage presence when he nixed the Pieman's joining the Stones in the wake of Mick Taylor's departure in 1975.

But Marriott had a dark side accentuated by bouts of extreme drug and alcohol use, and perhaps depression and insecurity as well. In one famous moment, Marriott and the Pie delivered a smashing version of Chris Montez's "Let's Dance" before a totally blown-away Andrew Loog Oldham during the "Street Rat" sessions. Before Oldham could record it, Marriott abruptly stopped the music and with that wicked grin told Oldman he wouldn't record the rubbish even though it had "hit" written all over it. This seemed to be Marriott's life - turning down an EMI-Germany contract for the band he and longtime friend and bassist Jimmy Leverton had put together in the late 1980s - the Official Receivers.

Or in the last days of his life, having teamed up with his fellow Humble Pie player Peter Frampton, and after recording some of his best post-Pie material (available on this recording), Marriott, at a meeting with an initial quarter-million dollar record deal on the table, angrily faced down the "suits" in Los Angeles with an embarassed Frampton looking away, and walked out - going back to London and a messy death just a day or two after this debacle.

This album chronicles the best of post-Humble Pie Marriott, with even a couple of demos from the Pie period ("Get Down to It", and a version of "Let's Spend the Night Together" that would keep the Stones on their toes), as well as some very cheeky, funny but also very accessible Cockney Music Hall singalong stuff. Check out "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "I Need Your Love" (Like a Fish needs a Raincoat)! Hellier has also found the longlost Marriott recording of Joe Brown's "Soldier", which he considers to be the holy grail of Marriott music - though I would disagree for the reason below.

Where this album is weak is on the stuff Hellier left out or couldn't find, including the recording of Wilson Pickett's "Funky Broadway" that a post-Humble Pie Marriott recorded with the Bad Company of Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs back in 1975. I remember A*M Records publicists talking up this track at the time, and how great it was. But it sadly disappeared in the wake of "Frampton Comes Alive" or a Marriott solo album that didn't quite live up to expectations. Hellier hasn't found this gem - if it did exist.

Also - whatever happened to the Firm recordings? No, not the later Firm of Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers, but the Firm of Marriott, Mountain's Leslie West, and Leverton. Marriott and West did record some material - rumored to be in the possession of Leverton, so whatever happened to it? Can you imagine a Leslie West playing lead guitar on "Thirty Days in the Hole" or a Marriott-West duo on "Mississippi Queen"??? Not on this album, though.

Instead we get a lot of the tracks that have been previously released on Tony Hinckley's "Scrubbers Sessions" (Hinckley was the keyboard player the Pie enlisted for the final "Street Rat" recording in 1975), as well as the songs Frampton released in the wake of Marriott's death.

Also - while Hellier gives good liner notes they're not great or substantially informative ones,i.e., the Marriott fan has no idea who played on the recordings; whether it was the Clempson-era Humble Pie on the 1970s tracks - or Bobby Tench. Whether it was "Melvin" Marriott's hanger-ons on the early 1980s material, or the superb and hilariously dubbed "Packet of Three" boys - first,Marriott, Leverton, and Jerry Shirley - later Marriott, Leverton, the great British organist Mick Wynder K. Frog Weaver, and Kofi Baker on drums. I for one would have preferred a proper chronological order on the track notes - better yet, who were the players.

The banter, while extremely hilarious for those of us who know Cockney talk, is also uninformative. John, who was talking in these quips besides Steve, and when? Was Peter Frampton one of the contributors, and was that you(?) who in his chat about meeting Marriott at a dive on London's East End opened the album???

A recording that could have easily met a five star criteria but was lucky, and I say this with much regret - barely beat a three star one.

THIS WELL PUT TOGETHER RELEASE OF MARRIOTT RARITIES MAKES YOU WONDER,WHAT WOULD HE HAVE PRODUCED WITH HIS PLANNED REUNION WITH FORMER "BAND MATE"...PETER FRAMPTON? MARRIOTT WAS THE REAL DEAL AS FAR AS R&B ALL OUT SOUL.I SAW HIM AT A SMALL VENUE AND WALKED AWAY SHAKING MY HEAD AFTER HIS SOULFUL POWER PACKED PERFORMANCE.THE ONLY NEGATIVE THING ABOUT THIS RELEASE,IS IT LEFT ME WANTING TO HEAR MORE....THERE SHOULD BE A COMPREHENSIVE "BOX" SET PUT TOGETHER AND RELEASED.