| Frampton Comes Alive! | ||||
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| Live album by Peter Frampton | ||||
| Released | January 6, 1976 (US) February 13, 1976 (UK) |
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| Recorded | Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, CA, June 13, 1975 Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, June 14, 1975 Long Island Arena, Commack, NY, August 24, 1975 SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY, November 22, 1975 |
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| Genre | Rock, Hard rock | |||
| Length | 78:06 | |||
| Label | A&M/PolyGram Records | |||
| Producer | Peter Frampton | |||
| Peter Frampton chronology | ||||
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Frampton Comes Alive! is a double live album by English rock musician Peter Frampton released in 1976, and one of the best-selling live albums in the United States. Following four solo albums with little commercial success, Frampton Comes Alive! was a breakthrough for the artist.
Released on January 6, 1976, it debuted on the charts at 191. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 the week ending April 10, 1976, and was in the top spot for a total of 10 weeks. It was the best-selling album of 1976, selling over 6 million copies in the US and became one of the best-selling live albums to date. Frampton Comes Alive! was voted "Album of the year" in the 1976 Rolling Stone readers poll. It stayed on the chart for 97 weeks and was still #14 on Billboard's 1977 year-end album chart.
The most recognizable songs from the album are "Show Me the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", and "Do You Feel Like We Do", all of which were released as singles, and continue to receive much airplay on classic rock radio stations.
In January 2001, a 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the album was released, containing four additional tracks that were not included on the original version (although one of these was recorded in a radio studio as part of a broadcast, and does not form part of the main concert programme). The track sequence is also significantly different, to more accurately reflect the set list used in the original concerts. Frampton produced the completely remixed and extended album, and played an impromptu live performance with the original band from the album at Tower Records in Los Angeles to help promote the release.
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The album was recorded in summer and fall 1975, primarily at Winterland in San Francisco, California and the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York. The Winterland recordings were recorded on a 24 track master recorder. Other concerts were recorded on a 16 track recorder. Recordings from four different shows were used for the original album. Master tapes were recorded at 15 inches per second using professional Dolby "A" noise reduction.[1]
The live album was originally intended as a single LP disc, but at the suggestion of A&M Records additional shows were recorded and the album expanded to two LPs for release. On the special features for the "Live in Detroit" concert DVD, Frampton commented that some difficulty was encountered in the mixing after the cord to the bass drum mic got pulled, accidentally causing the mic to face at a 90-degree angle from the drum head. During the concerts, Frampton principally used a distinctive black custom Gibson Les Paul electric guitar (with three humbucking pickups as opposed to the usual two).[2]
The double album was released in the US with a special reduced list price of $7.98, only $1.00 more than the standard $6.98 of most single-disc albums in 1976. The album was pressed in "automatic sequence", with sides one and four on one record, followed by sides two and three on the other. This arrangement was intended to make it easier to listen through the whole album in sequence on automatic record changers.
Three hit singles were released from the album "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me the Way". The talk box guitar effect became strongly associated with Frampton when it was heard on two of these singles. The "Do You Feel Like We Do" single version was edited to 7 minutes from the 14 minute album version. But even at 7 minutes it is about twice the length of the average hit single and one of the longest ever to make the top 40.
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Robert Christgau | (B-) link |
All songs written by Peter Frampton except as noted.
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | US Billboard 200 | 1 |
| Canadian RPM 100 | 1 | |
| UK Album chart | 6 |
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Baby, I Love Your Way" | US Pop Singles | 12 |
| UK Pop Singles | 43 | ||
| "Do You Feel Like We Do" | US Pop Singles | 10 | |
| UK Pop Singles | 39 | ||
| "Show Me the Way" | US Pop Singles | 6 | |
| UK Pop Singles | 10 |
| Organization | Level | Date |
|---|---|---|
| RIAA – US | Gold | February 27, 1976 |
| Platinum | April 8, 1976 | |
| BPI – UK | Gold | September 1, 1976 |
| RIAA – US | 6x Platinum | November 14, 1984 |
| RIAA - US | 8x Platinum | August 2, 2011 |
In Wayne's World 2, Wayne Campbell alludes to the album's popularity by saying, "Everybody in the world has Frampton Comes Alive. If you lived in the suburbs you were issued it". In the 1994 movie Reality Bites character Michael admits that this album totally changed his life.[3]
| Preceded by Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) by Eagles |
Billboard 200 number-one album April 10, 1976 - April 16, 1976 July 24, 1976 - July 30, 1976 August 14, 1976 - September 3, 1976 September 11, 1976 - October 15, 1976 |
Succeeded by Wings at the Speed of Sound by Wings |
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