Peter Frampton Comes Alive – Where Are They Now? History & Update

Frampton Comes Alive – Where Are They Now?
Released January 6, 1976. It'easily one of the best live albums ever going 8-times platinum so far. Only Garth Brooks, 'Double Live' (21X Platinum), 'Springsteen Live 1975-85' (13X Platinum), Eric Clapton 'Unplugged' (10X Platinum) has sold more.

Even though the stage is truly the place for exploding peacocks or finally giving the audience that unedited crescendo moment live albums are usually not the place to get discovered if you're an unknown act. The show? yes – the album? Not so much. There have been a few breakthroughs however. It happened for Kiss and 'Alive' the year before and Cheap Trick 'at Budokan,' two years later. The latter became their biggest selling LP.

So in 1976, sure, the true music fans knew who Frampton was. He had early success as a member of The Herd and later in Humble Pie with Steve Marriott. His first 4 solo albums, however, really didn't sell well and this one almost didn't make it either.

'Frampton Comes Alive' debuted on the charts at #191. It took almost exactly 3 months for it to reach #1 on April 10, 1976 – staying there for 10 weeks. It was the biggest selling album that year with a take of 6 million copies and best LP according to the 1976 Rolling Stone readers poll.

The singles, 'Show Me the Way', 'Baby, I Love Your Way', and who could forget the talk-box guitar effects on the album especially on the hit 'Do You Feel Like We Do.'

It was originally going to be a single album but they had so much good stuff in the can it just expanded.

Most of the project was recorded from June to November 1975 in four main spots but mostly Winterland in San Francisco and the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York. The bassist on Frampton Comes Alive, Stanley Sheldon, who has worked with Warren Zevon, Delbert McClinton, Tommy Bolin, Lou Gramm among others, didn't even know they were recording for the San Francisco part of the album. Looking back he's grateful he had no idea – Thinking he might have over thought things. READ MORE AT

John Beaudin has been in major market radio (Edmonton, Vancouver & Calgary) for 33 years and a music journalist since 1989. He graduated from Broadcasting school as a news man so he would have the skills to write about the artists that inspired him since he bought his first album, “Madman Across The Water” by Elton John as a teen. In the 80's Beaudin was the host of the syndicated radio show “The Cross Canada Report” which had two version (Rock and A/C). Beaudin was also asked to be a judge at the Juno Awards (Canada's answer to the Grammys) Twice. He has anchored every position in radio including morning and afternoon drive and was a Program and Music Director for The Breeze and California 103 in Calgary. He currently hosts the popular Lovesongs at QM-FM in Vancouver.

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[MsDeb]

I bought this on vinyl and on cd 3 times . I love this album.

[helveeta]

I'd just turned 6 when FCA was released and my older sister was maaaadly in love with Peter Frampton, lol. I'm rediscovering this album now since being bored during lockdown. Brings back memories of the good old days, the 1970s!

[patrickmoreau]

I’ve been listening to the alive album
It brings back great memories
I’ll be seeing Peter in Boston in July it will be my first time.

[abjr]

PF, Santana, and Lynyrd Skynyrd outdoor concert about 1973 Ann Arbor, MI. They were all great. One of my favorite. Tickets were about 7.50 and it became a free concert about a half hr. after the gates opened. LOL.

[cafeesotericaradiohostesss]

A great artist, saw him in Pittsburgh Civic Arena and he tore the house down! Do you feel like I do? Oh Yeah! xx

[lloydrobert]

Hi John, came here after seeing your post on Frampton's degenerative disease. Just discovered you today. Will be trying to see as many of your videos as possible. Your presentation and information are top class, and very much appreciated. Thanks a ton.

[JohnBeaudin]

Thanks so much for watching. We have many more specials on classic albums coming up.

[jlymenb]

What a great site. I am eating this up!,

[progrockerNZ]

Good article, John. Very interesting. Still a magical album, and one of those weird album other famous bands would use at their own concerts for fans to listen to waiting for the show to begin.

[AriKona]

Speaking of live albums, I remember how Steppenwolf Live from 1970 was everywhere when it came out (including my collection - and still is there now).

[chriskozak]

Awesome subject! Love Peter Frampton & I do have the vinyl Frampton comes Alive. Saw him in 2004, he still has the voice & amazing guitar 🎸 talent. Thanks for sharing, I’m a new Subscriber.❤️👍🏽

[jamesbeshears]

Do you know what's better than Frampton Comes Alive? Seeing him in concert on the tour became the album 🎶

[mlbolts]

It's a great live album
One u can just crank up🎙

[toddvandell]

Great story. It's weird. I loved this album but for whatever reason never owned my own copy.
Not really sure why.
If my memory is correct, I seem to remember the first time I heard it was in a department store...I think in Canada.
Might have been Vancouver but it's so long ago I'm not 100% positive, and sadly my mom is no longer with us and I can't ask her.
(Sadly, it might not have mattered anyway, because with her dementia, she forgot almost everything important.)
But the thing I always remember about Frampton Comes Alive, besides the great songs, and all the wonderful talk box that was fairly prevalent throughout, the production sounded amazing for 1976, for one thing. It did not, and, still to this day, does not sound dated.
No matter when you listen to it, you never think "well, this was obviously the 1970's."
Just sonically that timeless.
But the other thing I remember obsessing on, as a drummer myself: I loved the sound of the drummer's ride cymbal on that album.
To this day, I don't know that I've ever discovered what kind of ride cymbal he used.
Paiste? Zildjian? Some other brand? Not sure.
I thought it might have been a Zildjian 21" Ping Ride played with Regal plastic tip sticks, but that's only ever been a guess.
Paiste rides are sometimes pitched a bit higher as well, so I haven't ruled them out.
I've asked other drummers, even in drum stores or drum shops.
No one has ever known.
And I don't recall ever knowing who the rest of the band members were, either.
Nice to finally know their names.☺
Sad that two of them have passed already.
I know, I should probably try Google, see if I can find that ride cymbal's information there.
I can't be the only person that has loved that cymbal's distinctive sound.
But my success with Google searches has tended to be hit or miss lately.
Just when I thought it knew everything, it did not.
I actually figured out the cowbell used for both Mountain's classic hit "Mississippi Queen" AND "We're An American Band" Grand Funk's big hit.
Latin Percussion Mambo cowbell.
(I got myself one back when I still had money and still had a drum kit, so it's been a minute.)
But that discovery came from lots of testing of different cowbells, listening for the correct pitch and tonality.
The Mambo just has a nice deep robust pitch and is very throaty, and it's very heavy duty and durable, too, and just projects really nicely.☺
I used it also when playing Deep Purple's "You Fool No One" but I don't recall that it was quite the correct pitch for that particular song.
I think the Mambo cowbell was actually pitched a little lower than the one Ian Paice actually used.
Oh. And that ride cymbal played throughout Frank Marino's big hit from his Juggernaut album "Strange Dreams."
That always sounded like someone in the studio was just playing the ride cymbal all by itself, because so much is often still going on with the rest of the drum parts, it seemed to me that it had to have been recorded separately or just have been played by someone else, other than Jimmy Ayoub, who I think played drums on the album.
(Juggernaut was supposed to be a Frank Marino solo album but I think pretty much everyone from Mahogany Rush was the studio band for the album anyway.)
I kept trying to picture one drummer playing that ride cymbal as much as it got played and still being able to cover the rest of the kit to that particular level.
Because it sounds, to my ears at least, like the ride is being played with two hands, not just one.☺
Could have been two drummers playing together, one focused solely on that ride...
And I loved the sonic tonality of that particular ride, too.
Also another occasion where I never found out which ride it was.😒
Anyway.
My strange drumming obsessions.☺

[pablosabato]

it was a good concert, but the only regret is that there were no videos