I took guitar lessons for the first time when I was 13 years old in 1976. I wanted to be the next Peter Frampton. This double-live album had three huge hits that played all over the radio. I honestly didn't really know anything about Peter Frampton, back then. I just knew that I liked the songs, especially the ones with the strange sounding guitar. What was that? How did he make that sound on his guitar?
Most of the music I was listening to in 1976, was being played on my small portable AM transistor radio. I didn't have much in the way of hi-fidelity equipment to listen to. I did get a cassette tape recorder for Christmas that year, along with the “Frampton Comes Alive!” cassette. I Played it so much that I wore that tape out! I had to buy another one a few years later...and I wore that one out too. This album was about 90% of the reason I wanted to play the guitar in the first place. The other 10% was to get girls to finally notice me. This album is my number one classic rock album of all time, so it only stands to reason that I finally get around to doing a full on review of it.
"Frampton Comes Alive!" was released on January 6, 1976. What originally started out as a single vinyl in 1975, ultimately became a double-live album per the request of Jerry Moss of A&M Records, who listened to the first handful of songs in the studio, and asked, "Where's the rest of them?" The band went out and recorded the rest of the live album.
The majority of what you hear on this album was recorded at the "Winterland Ballroom" in San Francisco, California, and the "Long Island Arena" in Commack, New York, and the "SUNY Plattsburgh" Campus in Plattsburgh, New York. Contrary to popular belief, this double-live album was not recorded just at one show.
"If there was ever a musician who was an honorary member of San Francisco society, Mr. Peter Frampton" was the voice behind the general manager at Winterland, Jerry Pompili.
Okay, so who was in the band?
On the Guitars and Lead Vocals - Peter Frampton. This guy was my guitar hero. He was the rock star personified. I wanted to play guitar just like Peter Frampton. To this day, I am still one of his biggest fans.
On the Drums - The late great, John Siomos. Gees, if you listen to the drums on this album, the balanced recording of the entire kit on every song, is remarkable. The sound guys were really paying attention when they mic'd everything up. John was a pocket-player who also played drums on Todd Rundgren's "Hello, it's me". (July 30, 1947 - January 16, 2004, Rest in Peace).
On the Bass Guitars - Stanley Sheldon locked with Siomos on drums on every song on this album. I learned almost everything I knew about playing the bass guitar early on, from this album. He was a huge influence on the way I grew as a beginner bassist.
On the Keyboards, Guitars and Vocals - The late great, Bob Mayo. One of the most famous moments on the entire album was right after Mayo played his extraordinary electric piano solo during "Do you feel like I do", when Frampton introduced him as, "Bob Mayo on the keyboards, Bob Mayo!" The backing vocals you hear on the entire album are Mayo's. (August 25, 1951 - February 23, 2004, Rest in Peace).
On with the original tracks - The following is the order of tracks how I remember them on my cassette tapes. They were in different orders on the vinyls and CDs. The 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition came with a few more additional songs, which I won't be including here.
Side One
1) "Something's happening" - To me, (and since I have heard the beginning of this album a few thousand times), this is the perfect song to start the album. I cannot possibly listen to this album any other way than in the order it was originally lined up. Something was happening, and everyone who was there for those shows, got to see and hear it happen.
2) "Doobie Wah" - This song was co-written by Frampton, Siomos and Rick Willis. Just a great driving rock song from the top to the bottom.
3) "Show me the way" - Ah, one of the three huge hits off this album. Whoa! How is he getting that sound out of his guitar? Well, after 46+ years of hearing this song, that question has been answered a million times. It's called a "Talk box". A plastic tube runs from the box, up the microphone stand, up to the microphone where Frampton places it in his mouth while he "mouth's" the words and phrases to the notes he plays on the guitar. This song was all over the radio back then, and stayed on the charts for many months.
4) "It's a plain shame" - Just a great rock song.
5) "Penny for your thoughts" - Frampton shows his expertise here, by playing a quick minute-and-a-half instrumental piece on an alternately tuned acoustic guitar. So cool!
6) "I'll give you money" - Get ready to rock! Turn it up as Siomos starts the song with a drum intro to get the crowd on its feet. Then the rest of the band comes in and just goes crazy.
7) "Shine on" - Kind of difficult to understand what Peter is actually saying during some of the lyrics, but who cares? This song rocks.
8) "Jumpin' Jack Flash" - Me being a novice about music in general at 13 years of age, I had no idea that this was a Rolling Stones song. In all honesty though, I like Frampton's version way more.
Okay, let's flip the tape over to Side Two.
9) "All I wanna be is by your side" - An acoustic solo song that Peter sings and plays all by himself.
10) "Wind of change" - The second acoustic solo song. What was that loud pop? I can only guess that back then, some fans used to light off firecrackers during concerts.
11) "Baby, I love your way" - The second huge hit from the album. Frampton admits to getting the idea for this song from the Beatles' Blackbird, as it reflects many of the same chords and much of the same progression. No guitar solo in this song. Just "Bob Mayo on the keyboards, Bob Mayo!"
12) "I want to go to the Sun" - Frampton's guitar solo work on this song is phenomenal.
13) "Lines on my face" - If this song hadn't been so long, it would have been a hit single. You just have to close your eyes and drift along with Mayo's keyboards as Frampton plays an extraordinary series of solos, especially during the bridge, half way through the song. Just a fantastic song that leads into the final masterpiece of the album...
14) "Do you feel like I do" - When this monster hit song hit the radio, the "single" version was chopped up into tiny pieces…and it still sounded great! Gees, this song is over fourteen-minutes long! How many solos are in this song? I lost count. This is where those infamous words get spoken by Frampton to introduce his brother from another mother, on the keyboards. Frampton plays his guitar through his talk box and blows the crowd away. I think of this song as Frampton's absolute best song ever recorded. Frampton Comes Alive! has long since become a soundtrack to the lives of millions of rock fans. Frampton is a guitar legend and so is this album.
Rating 9/10
I highly recommend that you watch the interview Rick Beato did with Frampton back in 2018:
And Rick's follow up to that video where he picks, "Do you feel like I do", as #100 in his series of "What makes this song great?"