Song:Show Me The Way
Album:Frampton Comes Alive!
Frampton Comes Alive! was one of the more curious success stories of the 70s. It was an album that sold millions of copies by a guy who had never even had a chart single as a solo artist. Frampton quickly faded and by the early 80s, he was obscure again. Frampton was born Apr. 22, 1950 in Bromley, England. He attended Bromley Technical High School where his father was an art teacher. Frampton's influences included Shadows guitarist Hank Marvin, Buddy Holly and Django Reinhardt. As a teen, he was in a band with David Bowie. Both were Bromley students. He was lead singer and guitarist for The Herd who had success in England. He formed Humble Pie with Steve Marriott of Small Faces in 1969 and he also played sessions, most significantly George Harrison's All Things Must Pass where we first heard Frampton's "talk box" guitar effect that is used on Show Me the Way. He left Humble Pie in 1971 and they became successful after he left. Frampton signed with A&M Records and his early albums didn't do that well. Show Me The Way was on the 1975 album Frampton which was his best selling album to date. A&M decided to do a live album recorded mostly at Winterland in San Francisco and the Long Island Arena in Commack, NY. Originally, A&M was going to do a single LP. But they decided to turn it into a 2LP set and they had Frampton record more songs. The most important decision in this process was to sell a 2LP set at a reduced price of $7.98 which was almost the same as a single LP. This was a big part of the album's success. Then Show Me The Way was released as a single and it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Album sales went crazy. Frampton Comes Alive! was certified 8XPlatinum. In 1977, Frampton scored an even bigger hit with title song from the album I'm In You. But the album was only certified Platinum, disappointing compared to Frampton Comes Alive!. Then Frampton was in a near fatal car accident in the Bahamas in 1978. Then all of his guitars were lost in a 1980 plane crash. That was it for Frampton. He left A&M in 1982. He's still around. He just released a new CD Acoustic Classics and he still tours. Frampton Comes Alive! is still available on CD. There's no question that bad luck played a role in Frampton's decline. But he was fading anyway. Here's Peter Frampton performing Show Me The Way on The Midnight Special 1975.
I loved that album. Played the hell out of it when I was very young. It was a truly great live album, it just rocked! It struck the right vibe with young people at the time. It felt like you were at one big happy party. I am truly sorry for his bad luck. I can identify with that. I have had plenty of that. You are probably right about him fading. A lot of acts from the 70's began to fade during the 80's. It happened to many artists. Changing times and changing tastes in music.
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