Town and Country by Humble Pie

Town And Country by Humble Pie

If you love acoustic driven classic rock a la Rod Stewart, Pete Townshend and Paul McCartney, I'm not sure it gets much better than Town And Country the second album by England's Humble Pie.  Featuring Steve Marriott of The Small Faces (a precursor to Faces featuring the aformentioned Rod Stewart), Humble Pie would later achieve greater success with albums like Smokin'  that featured a boogie rock sound and the accomplished guitar playing of Dave "Clem" Clempson.  On Town And Country, however, Clem Clempson is nowhere to be found.  Rather, the album features Pie's original guitar player, the now legendary Peter Frampton.  

The album's opener "Take Me Back" is spellbinding.  Opening with an acoustic guitar progression not quite unlike Paul McCartney's "Blackbird," Frampton gives one of his most best vocal performances.  One could only imagine hearing this song live.  I'm sure it silenced a room in seconds.  Despite Town And Country's golden acoustics, the album isn't entirely absent of electricity.  The cover of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat" is a worthy, rocking reinterpretation, which contains a winning classic rock guitar riff that might have inspired The Raspberries' number one hit "Go All The Way."

On the other hand, "Down Home Again" could have seamlessly slipped into the Rolling Stone's masterpiece Exile On Mainstreet.  Years later, Humble Pie would nearly have a top five record, but they never made an album like Town And Country again.  I'm sure there were many devoted fans thinking "Take Me Back" to themselves for years to come.  

Town And Country by Humble Pie