This rather roughshod document is a collection of 20 tracks from Marriott’s Clear Sounds studio. “The Scrubbers” were a loose collection of musicians Steve had brought together – Humble Pie and others – in order to record what was supposed to be his solo album. The end result was brought to A&M Records. Upon hearing it, their reaction was not a good one, and what ensued was the fits-and-starts ending of Humble Pie, which consisted of the Street Rats album and corresponding tours. The material contained within has ended up in various re-recorded forms on Street Rats, Marriott’s first solo album, and Small Faces reunion which happened later in the 70s, although those are albums I have yet to hear and I am going off of literature I have read in other quarters. The first few times I heard this I was really mystified, mainly at the sheer volume and scope of the work. I could see why his record company was aghast – on many of the tracks Marriott’s general attitude was quite the reverse of his normal fan-friendly Humble Pie persona. If anything, it was like he had immersed himself in a ton of Funkadelic and Sly Stone, including Sly’s crazy lifestyle. Upon further listens, not only was the above the case, but it’s probably the last interesting change for this multi-faceted artist before, the downhill slide really started to take hold. That, and well, it came off a bit like a big party with a bunch of his long-time bros is somewhat commendable, at least in the modesty department. Whatever the case, there is so much material of note – good, bad, cleanly or horribly recorded, nicely or intentionally ill-executed – that it is nearly pointless to trot out individual standouts or bad songs. I should point out, though, I really do not think there is a stereotypical “bad” song on this disc. It’s hard to say what is bad or good, when these guys are essentially tweaking around on various levels for the hell of it, see what works, what might go here, there, et cetera. But I think the base ideas are winners. Yes, you are bound to come across a track that makes you wonder what the hell was happening while tapes rolled – the cover or “Be My Baby” or “Lend us a Quid” comes to mind – but for every hare-brained experiment there is something to redeem it. The version of “I Need a Star in My Life”, for example, far outweighs what was eventually cut for the Marriott album. It shines like a beautiful beacon here. On the flip side of this streak of beauty, there is the grittiness of this version of “Street Rat”, which contains far more desperation and ugliness than the album version ever did. And that is the general game you can play with Scrubbers. Pick out one or any number or tracks, compare them to the versions on whatever proper album they were released, and odds-on, it’s better heard on this album than any other.