The Humble Pie Visits Studio Four

[markdixon]

A few years ago, I had a look at through several issues of the Mancunian underground/alternative press newspaper ‘Grass Eye’. Issue No. 7 (Aug/Sept 1969) contained an interview with Humble Pie. The author of the article stated that the band had recently recorded a session for a Granada programme, but it was unlikely to be broadcast because of technical difficulties with the sound.

I didn’t think I’d ever find out anything more about this obscure programme. However, today, I found a listing in the Granada region TV Times that shows that this Humble Pie session did get broadcast.

The programme was called ‘The Humble Pie Visits Studio Four’. It was shown in the Granada region only from 6.05 – 6.30 pm on 04 September 1969. It’s very likely that the band performed ‘Natural Born Bugie’, but I don’t have details of any of the other songs played in the show.

The programme doesn’t exist in the ITV archives, but it’s possible that an audio recording or a telerecording might be out there somewhere.

[Kev Mulrenan]

Mike L Morton is the man to contact.

He's an expert on Granada's pop output.

Was it produced by the legendary Johnnie Hamp?

Sounds like a precursor to "Doing Their Thing"

[markdixon]

The TV Times didn’t carry any production credits for this programme. I suspect that Johnnie Hamp wasn’t the producer. In 1969, he was the head of Light Entertainment at Granada. His productions from this era (such as “Doing Their Thing”) were recorded in big studios at Granada and most of them still exist.

The Humble Pie programme was probably a production of the Local Programmes unit. It was recorded in the tiny Studio 4, which had previously been used as a continuity studio.

Most of the musical performances featured on Granada regional programmes in the 1960s were recorded in Studio 4. That seemed to work fine in the days of “Scene at 6.30” when bands and singers mimed to records. However, after the miming ban, bands such as Humble Pie found that the sound system in the studio wasn’t adequate for live performances. Studio 4 was decommissioned in the early Seventies. It was used as a storeroom for a while, and then it became part of Granada’s reception.