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Cherry Red’s Hear No Evil imprint has a pair of three-disc box sets aimed at hard rock aficionados collecting rare and previously unreleased material from two longtime rock heroes: Graham Bonnet and the gang in Humble Pie.

Graham Bonnet’s Anthology follows past reissues from HNE for the full-throated vocalist including a trio of pop/R&B albums predating his tenure with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, and 1981’s Line-Up from his post-Rainbow days.  Anthology spans the entirety of Bonnet’s career over two CDs and one DVD.  The first disc takes a very brief jaunt through the pre-Rainbow days including his early band The Marbles’ 1968 Bee Gees-penned single “Only One Woman,” a Bob Dylan cover (“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”) and one more song from his friends, The Gibbs (“Warm Ride”).  One Rainbow track has made the cut (“Bad Girl”) as well as one from Bonnet’s stint in the Michael Schenker Group (“Girl from Uptown”).  A full seven tracks are from Bonnet’s metal group Alcatrazz, and this disc also takes in his collaborations with Impellitteri and Forcefield before wrapping up with a 2015 version of Rainbow’s “All Night Long.”

The second disc of Anthology delves into the singer’s post-1990 oeuvre including music with Blackthorne, Anthem, The Taz Taylor Band, Elektric Zoo, and finally, today’s iteration of the Graham Bonnet Band.  Of the 36 tracks on these two discs, three are previously unreleased while another two make their CD debuts.  The third disc in this set, a DVD, offers 23 live videos and performances dating from 1977-1988.  (The DVD is Region 0 and NTSC, and should be playable in all territories throughout the world.)  It’s all housed in a clamshell case with each disc in an individual sleeve.  Andy Pearce has remastered both CDs.  The 16-page full-color booklet features Bonnet’s own candid recollections of the many groups with which he’s performed over the years.  Though light on his earliest, pop-oriented material, Anthology nonetheless showcases the soulful, R&B-oriented colors of Bonnet’s powerful hard rock voice.

Humble Pie: Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 1 collects four gigs from the English rockers on three CDs recorded between September 1972 and June 1974 with the line-up of Steve Marriott (guitar/vocals/harmonica/keyboard), Clem Clempson (guitar/vocals), Greg Ridley (bass/vocals) and Jerry Shirley (drums) supported by The Blackberries on background vocals.  This collection has been curated by founding member Shirley, who drew upon the band’s numerous bootleg recordings to select ones which he felt were of a high audio and performing standard.

The first show, on Disc One, hails from Chicago’s Arie Crown Theatre on September 22, 1972 and features band originals alongside blues-drenched covers of “Honky Tonk Women,” “Hallelujah (I Love Her So),” “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” and more.  This disc also begins a Tokyo show from May 1973 which is continued on Disc Two.  Shirley recalls in his liner notes that Jeff Beck (then playing Tokyo with Beck, Bogert and Appice) attended the concert, making Clempson (who had replaced Peter Frampton in Humble Pie in 1971) nervous as he played the guitar solo to Ray Charles’ “I Believe to My Soul.”  The show also features scorching takes on Holland/Dozier/Holland’s Motown classic “(I’m A) Road Runner” and Marriott’s “Steve’s Little Jam” and”30 Days in the Hole.”

Disc Three kicks off with the band’s May 18, 1974 concert at the Charlton Athletic Football Ground in which they shared a bill with The Who, Maggie Bell, and Bad Company (in one of their first major appearances).  Playing alongside fellow onetime Mods The Who, Marriott opened the show with The Small Faces’ “What’cha Gonna Do About It.”  This disc concludes with a short four-song performance at London’s Rainbow Theatre on June 6, 1974, broadcast for U.S. television’s The Midnight Special.  The group tackled three band originals plus Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody,” a staple performed at all of the shows preserved here.

Jerry Shirley shares his memories in the full-color 16-page booklet included within the clamshell box.  Though sound is mostly listenable throughout, a disclaimer helpfully notes that these far-from-pristine recordings were originally made as audience bootlegs, and aren’t up to studio quality (or professionally-recorded live quality) standards, but are significant nonetheless for their historical importance in the band’s arc.

Both Graham Bonnet’s Anthology and Humble Pie’s Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 1 are available now at the links below!

Graham Bonnet, Anthology (Hear No Evil/Cherry Red HNEBOX071, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Only One Woman – Marbles
2. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
3. Warm Ride
4. Bad Girl – Rainbow
5. Night Games
6. O.S.
7. Girl from Uptown – Michael Schenker Group
8. Island in the Sun – Alcatrazz
9. Hiroshima Mon Amour – Alcatrazz
10. Since You Been Gone (Live) – Alcatrazz
11. God Blessed Video – Alcatrazz
12. Will You Be Home Tonight – Alcatrazz
13. Skyfire – Alcatrazz
14. Blue Boar – Alcatrazz
15. Stand in Line – Impellitteri
16. Tonight – Impellitteri
17. Midnight Crossing (1989 Demo) (*)
18. Hit and Run – Forcefield
19. Let the Wild Run Free – Forcefield
20. All Night Long (2015) – Graham Bonnet Band (*)

CD 2

1. Look Don’t Touch
2. Afterlife – Blackthorne
3. We Won’t Be Forgotten – Blackthorne
4. Don’t Kill the Thrill – Blackthorne
5. Breakaway
6. Killer
7. Hunting Time – Anthem
8. Hungry Soul – Anthem
9. Love in Vain – Anthem
10. Perfect Crime – Impellitteri
11. Fighters Fist – Taz Taylor
12. Radio Luxembourg – Taz Taylor
13. You Are Your Money (Demo) – Elektric Zoo (*)
14. Lost in Hollywood
15. My Kingdom Come – Graham Bonnet Band (**)
16. Mirror Lies – Graham Bonnet Band (**)

DVD

1. It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
2. Danny
3. Only You Can Lift Me
4. Warm Ride
5. Can’t Complain
6. I’m a Lover
7. The Way That It Is
8. Anthony Boy
9. Night Games
10. Island in the Sun – Alcatrazz
11. Hiroshima Mon Amour – Alcatrazz
12. God Blessed Video – Alcatrazz
13. Stand in Line – Impellitteri
14. Stand in Line (Alternate Version) – Impellitteri
15. The Mirror Lies – Graham Bonnet Band

Powerstation Live in Tokyo 1988 – Impellitteri

16. Stand in Line
17. Tonight I Fly
18. Leviathan
19. All Night Long
20. Secret Lover
21. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
22. Goodnight and Goodbye
23. Since You Been Gone

(*) previously unreleased

(**) previously unreleased on CD

Humble Pie, Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 1 (Hear No Evil/Cherry Red HNEBOX083, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

Arie Crown Theatre, Chicago, September 22, 1972

1. Introduction
2. Up Our Sleeve
3. C’mon Everybody
4. Honky Tonk Women
5. I Wonder
6. Hallelujah (I Love Her So)
7. I Don’t Need No Doctor
8. Hot ‘n’ Nasty
9. Four Day Creep

Shibuya Kokaido Tokyo, May 16, 1973

10. Up Our Sleeve
11. Tokyo Jam
12. C’mon Everybody

CD 2

Shibuya Kokaido Tokyo, May 16, 1973 (continued)

1. Honky Tonk Women
2. Steve’s Little Jam
3. I Believe to My Soul
4. 30 Days in the Hole
5. Road Runner
6. Hallelujah (I Love Her So)
7. I Don’t Need No Doctor
8. Hot ‘n’ Nasty
9. Oh La-De-Da

CD 3

Charlton Athletic Football Ground, May 18, 1974

1. Introduction
2. What’cha Gonna do About It
3. Thunderbox
4. Sweet Peace and Time
5. 30 Days in the Hole
6. Let Me Be Your Lovemaker
7. C’mon Everybody/I Want a Little Girl
8. I Don’t Need No Doctor

Rainbow Theatre, London, June 6, 1974

9. Thunderbox
10. 30 Days in the Hole
11. Sweet Peace and Time
12. C’mon Everybody