Dooooo Yooooo....Feeeeeeel Like I Doooooo

January 4, 2012 7:20 AM

After 30 years, Peter Frampton had been living without 2 critical pieces of his legacy: 1) his hair and 2) the Les Paul that he used in Humble Pie and on the (in)famous Frampton Comes Alive album. But now Frampton can rest easy, as one of those things has been returned to him.
posted by spicynuts (108 comments total)

Best comment I heard regarding this: "Wow..if only that guitar could talk!" Badump!!
posted by spicynuts at 7:21 AM on January 4, 2012 [8 favorites]

Best comment I heard regarding this: "Wow..if only that hair could talk!" Badump!!
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:23 AM on January 4, 2012

Hair Club For Men works after all?
posted by kmz at 7:26 AM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Eponysterical! Badump!
posted by spicynuts at 7:26 AM on January 4, 2012

Gmest mphommennph Ih mphphrd mpheardinmph mmphs: Mphow...mmpp mmppnnmphly mphi mpphhd mpphhk!" Gmmph!!
posted by Xoebe at 7:26 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Man, I was really hoping it was going to be his hair.
posted by koeselitz at 7:27 AM on January 4, 2012 [15 favorites]

PETER FRAMPTON'S PRIZED HAIR FOUND OVER 30 YEARS AFTER PLANE CRASH
posted by koeselitz at 7:28 AM on January 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm imagining "Gibson" listening to 30 years of yammering from a lonely Tom Hanks.
posted by davebush at 7:37 AM on January 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

Well, this is certainly musical redemption after today's story of violin violence...yet it's somehow less rock'n'roll.
posted by obscurator at 7:39 AM on January 4, 2012

Eh, Frampton's OK. He quit the teenybopper outfit The Herd, where he could have lived off his looks to join up with the greasy slobs in Humble Pie where some tremendous rock n roll was made, which was a cool move. And ...Comes Alive had it's moments.
posted by jonmc at 7:42 AM on January 4, 2012

I wonder if it still feels like he did.
posted by timsteil at 7:44 AM on January 4, 2012 [5 favorites]

Interesting piece but what I find amazing is that I didn't know that Frampton formed Humble Pie! I remember buying "Rockin' the Fillmore" for my brother, at his request, for Christmas waaaaay back! I didn't think Frampton came along until "Frampton comes alive".

Glad he a) found the guitar and b) bagged the mane.
posted by Man with Lantern at 7:48 AM on January 4, 2012

I know it's your schtick, jon...but I wasn't making a serious claim to any iconic talent (other than pop culture) on Frampton's behalf.
posted by spicynuts at 7:48 AM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I would love to know how the "unnamed individual" came to have the guitar in the first place. Wreckage washed-up on shore? Scavenged from flaming debris on a hillside?
posted by Thorzdad at 7:50 AM on January 4, 2012

jonmc: “And ...Comes Alive had it's moments.”

Seriously? Frampton Comes Alive is in the top five of reasons punk had to happen. It's utter dreck that needed to be consumed in a purifying fire. I really have no compunction with calling it one of the worst sequences of music ever pressed onto a record, and its relentless mediocrity and schmoozy lameness hung over the latter half of the seventies like a putrid cloud poisoning everything.
posted by koeselitz at 7:51 AM on January 4, 2012 [6 favorites]

Reminds me of the cellist Peter Stumph, who left his 320-year-old Stradivarius cello on the porch, had a kid ride away with it on his bike & ditch it in the trash, where it was found by a woman who asked her boyfriend to turn it into a cd rack by cutting it in half, but you know how fucking lazy boyfriends are.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:54 AM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Seriously? Frampton Comes Alive is in the top five of reasons punk had to happen. It's utter dreck that needed to be consumed in a purifying fire.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of his follow-up album?
posted by TedW at 7:55 AM on January 4, 2012

Frampton Comes Alive is in the top five of reasons punk had to happen..

I'm curious to know what the other 4 are. Some guesses from me:

1) Emerson, Lake and Palmer
2) Yes
3) Kansas
4) Margaret Thatcher
posted by spicynuts at 7:58 AM on January 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

I lost my virginity to Margaret Thatcher's 1977 live album
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:05 AM on January 4, 2012 [12 favorites]

« 1976 »
Position Artist Song Title
1 Wings Silly Love Songs
2 Elton John and Kiki Dee Don't Go Breaking My Heart
3 Johnnie Taylor Diso Lady
4 Four Seasons December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)
5 Wild Cherry Play That Funky Music
6 Manhattans Kiss And Say Goodbye
7 The Miracles Love Machine (Part 1)
8 Paul Simon 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
9 Gary Wright Love Is Alive
10 Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band A Fifth Of Beethoven
11 Daryl Hall and John Oates Sara Smile
12 Starland Vocal Band Afternoon Delight
13 Barry Manilow I Write The Songs
14 Silver Convention Fly, Robin, Fly
15 Diana Ross Love Hangover
16 Seals and Crofts Get Closer
17 Andrea True Connection More, More, More
18 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
19 Dorothy Moore Misty Blue
20 Sylvers Boogie Fever
posted by R. Mutt at 8:05 AM on January 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

Is that Peter fucking Frampton?
posted by shakespeherian at 8:10 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Spicynuts, I'm just stating an opinion and as someone who was a small kid when Comes Alive came out, it'll always have it's place. And like I said, Humble Pie was damn good. And bloated prog like Yes and ELP did more to Make punk necessary, IMO.
posted by jonmc at 8:17 AM on January 4, 2012

Frampton Comes Alive is in the top five of reasons punk had to happen..

I think those songs off of FCA are the exception to that. Even when I was a youth, thinking that any guitar solo over 5 seconds was garbage, and if more than 20 people heard of a given band they must suck, I would turn up the FCA when it came on the radio. Not for the music really - just that the recording captures a lot of people having a good time. Not since I was dragged to a Pearl Jam arena show have I felt that same thing: that here was an entertainer who could produce a truly good time for thousands of people at once.
posted by drowsy at 8:18 AM on January 4, 2012

Also I would appreciate being able to voice opinion without being accused of 'shtick.' Thanks.
posted by jonmc at 8:24 AM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I remember when punk came along, and the top 40 stopped having schmaltzy pop songs on it. That was so great!
posted by thelonius at 8:25 AM on January 4, 2012

What happened to your thick skin, jon? I figured you could take a little friendly poking.
posted by spicynuts at 8:29 AM on January 4, 2012

Yeah, I remember when punk came along, and the top 40 stopped having schmaltzy pop songs on it. That was so great!

Punk never had anything to do with the top 40. It was folk music. It showed you could be a legit performer without capes, synthesizers, or beautifully feathered hair that swept back like the wings of a magnificent bird. And it spoke to kids who felt alienated from artists releasing albums with the word "suite" in the track listing.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:34 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Say what you will about Frampton, but that's a solid guitar.
posted by swift at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2012

...until it was located on the Dutch island of Curacao by two fans, one living there and one in Holland. With the assistance of the Curacao Tourist Board, by unknown means.

No Natalee Holloway jokes?
I am disappoint.
posted by likeso at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2012

This is good news -- I'll get to actually hear the fucking thing in March, when Frampton plays in my wee town.
posted by wallabear at 8:44 AM on January 4, 2012

I know someone who can identify Frampton Comes Alive tunes from the crowd noise.
posted by whuppy at 8:45 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's utter dreck that needed to be consumed in a purifying fire. I really have no compunction with calling it one of the worst sequences of music ever pressed onto a record

This is precisely how I felt when The Ramones dropped from the sky and turned my worldview upside down. Now, 35 years later, I'm just happy to live in world where I can enjoy "Tales from Topographic Oceans" one day, and "David Comes to Life" the next.

Life's too short. Enjoy every sandwich.
posted by davebush at 8:51 AM on January 4, 2012 [7 favorites]

Can't we all ... just ... get along? I got to see Frampton *and* the Dead Kennedys *and* the Clash live and I loved them all. Can't we compromise, somehow?

Motörhead?
posted by zomg at 8:54 AM on January 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

I would love to know how the "unnamed individual" came to have the guitar in the first place. Wreckage washed-up on shore? Scavenged from flaming debris on a hillside?

I was thinking the plane didn't actually crash; the cargo was hijacked and the plane had it's numbers changed and went into the drug trade. Just a thought.
posted by zomg at 8:57 AM on January 4, 2012

Can't we compromise, somehow?

ABBA
posted by shakespeherian at 8:57 AM on January 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

its

good lord
posted by zomg at 8:58 AM on January 4, 2012

Little known fact 1: the studio version (1973) of Do You Feel. . . has no talk-box on it. Frampton hadn't acquired his yet.

Litte known fact 2: In 1976 there was nothing special about Frampton's hair.

Little know fact 3: Frampton is actually a hell of a guitar player, and has only got better over time. Not his fault that this one performance got so overexposed.

Little know fact 4: Frampton just wrote and performed a song. He was rather proud of it. He didn't do so as part of a conspiracy to offend people who a) happened to turn 18 in 1976 and b) didn't have the patience to learn about music before starting a band.
 
posted by Herodios at 9:02 AM on January 4, 2012 [9 favorites]

"Frampton Comes Alive" was a touchstone album for youthful me. Anyone who owned it was instantly dismissed as a boring old fart; a clueless prat; a musical shitebonce; a cloth-eared, pap-scarfing ninny and a lousy fuck. What's that, you grinning, crap-haired sixties anachronism? You want me to show you the way? Bring your guitar and that stupid voice box thing over here and I'll show you the fucking way all right.

Listening to that album was like having a stream of lukewarm baby puke siphoned into your ear. Gah. Jesus. Nightmare.

I am happy that Mr. Frampton has his guitar back. I would be much happier, however, if he had all his guitars taken away from him and all his fingers broken.
posted by Decani at 9:04 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Punk never had anything to do with the top 40. It was folk music. It showed you could be a legit performer without capes, synthesizers, or

being a musician.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 9:12 AM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Litte known fact 2: In 1976 there was nothing special about Frampton's hair.

Except that it existed. And now it does not. And I say this as a fellow baldie.
posted by spicynuts at 9:12 AM on January 4, 2012

Man, I was really hoping it was going to be his hair.

No way. You know how many damn concerts I had to attend to collect all that? "No head, no backstage pass", my ass. Which, as it turned out, was no improvement on the situation.
posted by yerfatma at 9:37 AM on January 4, 2012

and b) didn't have the patience to learn about music before starting a band.

You say that like it's a prerequisite to making music.
posted by Maaik at 9:37 AM on January 4, 2012

Meanwhile, the guitar itself.

For those who didn't RTFA, it's been missing since it was lost in an airplane crash in 1980.

It's a 1954 Les Paul Custom. That's the first truly playable model year.

It was modified though: the three pickup 'Black Beauty' job didn't come out until 1957.
Apparently, it was given to Frampton by someone who'd routed it out for the third p/u.

Appears to be mostly intact except for missing the tailpiece, but that's easily replaced. I'd say with a bit of work he's got a player with a hell of a story behind it.
 
posted by Herodios at 9:39 AM on January 4, 2012

Yeah, that is a hell of a story. One that bears some more research. I seriously want to know how this thing survived the crash (it's been suggested upthread that the crash may have never occurred, which is just as interesting), who nabbed it and how, and what the thing's been doing for the last 30 years. From the picture, it looks like it's been buried somewhere.

I want to know the story!
posted by Maaik at 9:44 AM on January 4, 2012

I would bet on the hijack theory being legit.
posted by spicynuts at 9:46 AM on January 4, 2012

That's the first truly playable model year.

Explain what you mean by "truly playable?"
posted by zomg at 9:48 AM on January 4, 2012

That's the first truly playable model year.

Explain what you mean by "truly playable?"

The guitar is naive and easily duped?
posted by Maaik at 9:51 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

They figured out how to keep the neck from buzzing and got rid of the stupid 1m capacitor on the pots which made the guitar sound like it was being played under the ocean.
posted by spicynuts at 9:52 AM on January 4, 2012

Punk vs Prog rock? Really? Nobody cares, grandad.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:02 AM on January 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

FCA came out when I was 13 or so, and I bought it (for my mom.. happy birthday, mom! Kids... jeeez) based on the strength of Humble Pie Rockin' The Fillmore, which was one of my faves at the time. I loved it at first, but it wore out pretty quick, and then Classic Rock Radio killed it to death by the mid 80's. And yeah, the crowd noise. Poor mixing decision there, in the long run. Still, Frampton is a skilled player with a pretty unique solo style. I picked up that Humble Pie album again after not hearing it for 20 years, and it hasn't stood the test of time like, say, the Allman Bros. Live at the Fillmore, but some good albums came out of those halls back then. The album has its moments. Very well recorded stuff. Though I still like 30 Days in the Hole best, which was post-Frampton. They had a groove, & Steve Marriott was a serious belter in his heyday.

Also, punk was well underway when it came out - It kinda proved their point, but I don't think it was an inspirational touchstone or anything.

I recall being inspired by the oversized picture of that guitar on the FCA cover, and really wanted a Les Paul for a while, but decided to stick with the bass instead of switching to guitar, in the long run. It's a lovely instrument, and I'm glad it found its way home.

If he wants to find his hair, he should interrogate Kenny G, who probably misappropriated it, like everything else he's touched.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:09 AM on January 4, 2012

Frampton comments that while he's sorry for those killed in the crash, he's glad to have his guitar back. So probably not a hijacking. Unless he's referring to somebody sitting on the beach when a cargo crate with his guitar was flung up on the beach and crashed into their head. Either way, there's a good story that's not being told here.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:10 AM on January 4, 2012

Neck buzz ... on a Les Paul! Shocking. I'll be sure never to buy a pre-'54 LP then ;)

I'm agreeing with a lot of people here, the middle part of this story has got to be really interesting and we don't know it.
posted by zomg at 10:17 AM on January 4, 2012

Explain what you mean by "truly playable?"

Here is some background.

1952 was the first production run of Gibson Les Pauls. These first couple model years, the instruments were fitted with a trapeze tailpiece, and on the earliest ones, were designed so that the strings wrapped the wrong way around the tailpiece. Hard to play, hard to keep in tune. These were all, I belive, goldtops.

Starting in 1954, they were fitted with a stop tailpiece and other geometric issues were resolved. 1954 - 1959 are likely to be great players. 1952 - 1953 are mostly of interest to collectors and, tho' older, generally command less rarified prices.

That said, in December, I jammed with a guy who showed up with a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop.

• Goldtop on maple, natural mahogany back and sides.
• Trapeze tailpiece, strings wrapped the wrong way around.
• P90 p/ups.
• No switchplate.
• No serial number.
• Ebony fretboard (!)
• Original case.

This makes it a very early 1952 model. The ebony f'board makes it a very unusual (tho' not nec. rare) very early 1952 model.

He'd bought it at a pawn shop in 1963 for less than $100.

I didn't get to play it, but it sounded really good. P90s are loud.
 
posted by Herodios at 10:19 AM on January 4, 2012

I love P90s. My dream Les Paul has always been Neil Young's, with the P90s and the Bigsby.

I have no idea if this is an authoritative list, but there are no incidents mentioned that could be the Frampton instrument crash.

Can anyone find any historical reference to the crash that isn't involved with the rediscovery of Frampton's Les Paul?
posted by zomg at 10:25 AM on January 4, 2012

More info about early design changes on LPs.
 
posted by Herodios at 10:25 AM on January 4, 2012

The days when pawn shop owners knew nothing about guitars, sadly, are long gone. I know a guy who got a 1945 Martin for ~$75 once.
posted by thelonius at 10:26 AM on January 4, 2012

I always thought Frampon sucked, and by extension Humble Pie sucked, but damn - when I finally bought a cheap, used vinyl copy of Rockin' The Fillmore, I had to admit I was sadly mistaken. The version of "I Don't Need No Doctor" on that record... when the band locks back into the main riff at the end and the crowd just roars... WOW. It never fails to send shivers down my spine. Probably the single best example of 'take it down, bring it back up' in all of arena rock. Masterful.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:31 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also nothing about the crash in here. Again, this can't be authoritative, but ...

I'm really intrigued.
posted by zomg at 10:33 AM on January 4, 2012

The days when pawn shop owners knew nothing about guitars, sadly, are long gone. I know a guy who got a 1945 Martin for ~$75 once.

Thing is, thelonius, $100 prolly wasn't far off the mark in 1963 for a ten year old guitar.

Little known fact 5: Les Pauls were not particularly popular in the 1960s. Not until after the Lead Zeppelins became really popular in the early 1970s did they start to command the absurd 'collector status' prices.

All yer favourite LP players prolly got theirs for similar prices under similar circumstances between 1957-ish and 1970-ish.
 
posted by Herodios at 10:40 AM on January 4, 2012

Not until after the Lead Zeppelins became really popular

::neck twitch, pause, deep breath::

Well done, sirrah.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:57 AM on January 4, 2012

Oh, 1963. Carry on!
posted by thelonius at 11:00 AM on January 4, 2012

I had no idea so many people hated Peter Frampton until this thread.
posted by emd3737 at 11:35 AM on January 4, 2012

I never saw "High Fidelity", but, in the novel, a really perfect touch was the scene where the main character, heartbroken over the end of his relationship, goes out to a bar, and breaks down completely when the singer/songwriter girl performing there does "Show Me The Way". The humiliation and utter defeat he experiences at being so affected by a Frampton hit, not by some esoteric rarity of soul music, is exquisite.
posted by thelonius at 11:41 AM on January 4, 2012

Thanks everyone - a most entertaining thread
posted by kenchie at 11:42 AM on January 4, 2012

Thanks for the post, but I only need the album cover.
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 11:51 AM on January 4, 2012

+1 for FCA and for Frampton as a guitar player. Why all the negative waves on PF?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 11:57 AM on January 4, 2012

A moment from Wayne's World 2 that made me howl with glee:

CASSANDRA: Wait. Let me show you what I got at a garage sale. (shows Wayne album) Isn't that great? Heard of it?

WAYNE Exsqueeze me? Have I ever seen this before? Everybody has Frampton Comes Alive. If you lived in the suburbs, you were issued it. It came in the mail with samples of Tide.

I was only 6 when it came out, but yeah, it was really damn ubiquitous.

But still - huzzah for the long-lost-and-recovered element of the story. Gives me hope for other things being recovered of my own....(that really cool earring I lost in 1984, for one).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:00 PM on January 4, 2012

I never saw "High Fidelity"

The scene is in the movie, thelonius, tho' done somewhat differently. I assume this is what Shakespherian's comment alluded to.

The song is "Oo baby I love your way", by the way.
The singer is Lisa Bonet.
Wanna be with her night and day.
 
posted by Herodios at 12:01 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Herodios: “b) didn't have the patience to learn about music before starting a band.”

Owning a guitar and knowing some chords and maybe even being able to play a wanky solo line with lightning speed does not constitute "learning about music." Most of these 70s rocker dudes couldn't read a lead sheet to save their lives.
posted by koeselitz at 12:13 PM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm just a little surprised that people still believe that punks couldn't play.

Guitar tabs for Johnny's solo on 'I Wanna Be Sedated':

E-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

B—————————————————|—————————————————|———————————————|————————————————

G—————————————————|—————————————————|———————————————|————————————————

D—————————————————|—————————————————|———————————————|————————————————

A—————————————————|—————————————————|———————————————|————————————————

E—————————————————|—————————————————|———————————————|————————————————

posted by shakespeherian at 12:20 PM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Guitar tabs for Johnny's solo on 'I Wanna Be Sedated':

Pretty similar to Pete Townshend's solo on "I Can See For Miles".

Oh, except Pete's was twice as long -- eight bars. What a wanker! Everybody HATES long guitar solos!
 
posted by Herodios at 12:23 PM on January 4, 2012

It showed you could be a legit performer without capes

But a cape can be a showstopper, y'know.
posted by raysmj at 12:32 PM on January 4, 2012

I'm just tickled that someone bothered to tab out four bars of open E-string picking.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:36 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

people who ... didn't have the patience to learn about music before starting a band.

How much patience do you really need?
posted by maudlin at 12:55 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Punk never had anything to do with the top 40. It was folk music.

folk music is a construction - and punk, in its own way, was as pretentious as prog was - even romantic - the noble (or ignoble) primitive savants who came to enliven our degenerate "civilization" of rock - you know, like keith emerson in a leather jacket stabbing his organ with knives that he got from lemmy

come on, the ramones were cool but they never packed weapons they got from LEMMY

hell, malcolm mclaren meant the sex pistols to be some kind of situationist spectacle - fortunately, johnny had a lot more on his mind

i like both approaches to music, and find the whole argument pretty dated

and

3 Johnnie Taylor Diso Lady
8 Paul Simon 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
15 Diana Ross Love Hangover
18 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody

are fine songs and

11 Daryl Hall and John Oates Sara Smile

is a great one

i'd just as soon try to forget 12 and 13, though
posted by pyramid termite at 1:05 PM on January 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

How much patience do you really need?

Again with this? That lesson will not be enough to be allow you to play "Pretty Vacant" just to pick a salient example. And by and large punk music doesn't employ thirds, so that's stylistically wrong. And open G Major? Never.
 
posted by Herodios at 1:09 PM on January 4, 2012

I lost my virginity to Margaret Thatcher's 1977 live album
posted by stupidsexyFlanders

I lost my virginity to Margaret Thatcher.
posted by COBRA! at 1:14 PM on January 4, 2012

now that's punk.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 1:32 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thorzdad: I would love to know how the "unnamed individual" came to have the guitar in the first place.

Obviously, somebody showed him the way.
posted by dr_dank at 1:50 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

whuppy: I know someone who can identify Frampton Comes Alive tunes from the crowd noise.

I can do that. I can also identify the crowd noises off of Cheap Trick at Budokan all of the songs that got radio play.

I wonder if there are any others out there that could be easily identified by crowd noise...
posted by thanotopsis at 2:09 PM on January 4, 2012

damn - when I finally bought a cheap, used vinyl copy of Rockin' The Fillmore, I had to admit I was sadly mistaken. The version of "I Don't Need No Doctor" on that record... when the band locks back into the main riff at the end and the crowd just roars... WOW. It never fails to send shivers down my spine. Probably the single best example of 'take it down, bring it back up' in all of arena rock. Masterful.

Totally agree -- terrific record. A good chunk of the credit has to be shared with the late, great Steve Marriott, as well.
posted by scody at 2:34 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I may as well (eponysterically) mention that Frampton was a schoolmate of Bowie's, and that, yes, they've worked and partied together.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:40 PM on January 4, 2012

I was 15 the first time I heard FCA. One song in particular really got to me. I loved the music and solos and all, but more than that, it made me think about all the things life had in store. 35 years later, I still do and it still does, albeit in a much different way.
posted by timsteil at 2:43 PM on January 4, 2012

I wonder if there are any others out there that could be easily identified by crowd noise...

Sure:

Herb Alpert, The Lonely Bull
The Premiers, Farmer John
The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's
 
posted by Herodios at 3:04 PM on January 4, 2012

In high school (late 90s?), we had a Frampton Comes Alive album cover propped atop an English classroom blackboard for at least a year... heaven knows why.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 3:11 PM on January 4, 2012

People who "don't understand" the Peter Frampton hate have obviously never seen the movie version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", with the Bee Gees and George Burns.
posted by Fnarf at 3:20 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

/imagines Fnarf strapped to a chair like Alex in Clockwork Orange with his eyelids propped open being forced to watch the Sgt. Pepper movie
posted by zomg at 3:25 PM on January 4, 2012

But what if I like both FCA and punk???
posted by stenseng at 3:28 PM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

I saw it, yeah. In the theatre, bitches.
posted by thelonius at 3:29 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't have any burning love for Frampton, but if the Frampton haters don't want to read about him or his prodigal guitar they should skip on to a thread that interests them. Don't like it? Don't listen to it. No one wants to hear you blather on about it any more than you want to listen to Frampton Comes Alive.
posted by Daddy-O at 3:41 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

PS - talkboxes are cool.
posted by stenseng at 3:42 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

To be fair, Frampton wasn't really hatable in Sgt. Pepper. He was just as much a victim as the audience. He had a deer-in-the-headlights look the whole time, like "I can feel this movie destroying my career RIGHT NOW".

The answer to the question "what record made punk necessary" is "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield. Runner-up: "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Rick Wakeman.
posted by Fnarf at 3:48 PM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Guitar tabs for Johnny's solo on 'I Wanna Be Sedated':

Pretty similar to Pete Townshend's solo on "I Can See For Miles".

Neil Young's solo on 'Cinnamon Girl' is better.
posted by ovvl at 3:56 PM on January 4, 2012

Daddy-O: “I don't have any burning love for Frampton, but if the Frampton haters don't want to read about him or his prodigal guitar they should skip on to a thread that interests them. Don't like it? Don't listen to it. No one wants to hear you blather on about it any more than you want to listen to Frampton Comes Alive.”

As (I guess) the chief Frampton hater here, I can say that there's no relation between my dislike of Frampton Comes Alive and this article, which was very interesting. And I don't see much blather here, but maybe that's just me.
posted by koeselitz at 3:56 PM on January 4, 2012

Yeah, FCA sucked, especially if you were a fan of the 'Pie, because you knew what Frampton was capable of. Rock On, their best album with Frampton, combined his soaring, lyrical lead guitar with some truly thunderous rock, to intoxicating effect:
Stone Cold Fever
posted by Bron at 5:11 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

See, maybe Frampton Comes Alive was one of the excesses that forced punk's hand, but that was then. This is now, and I think a lot of early punk is as overrated for its fury as Frampton was for his sheen. But under the proper circumstances I dig 'em both. It's oll roight. It's oll roight.

Incidentally, back in the early 90s the Volunteers of America near my house shut down (?). It had been my go to store for LP's, and I checked in every few days of the going out of business sale. Finally, the last day I was there the records were down to 10 for a buck, but all that was left were a few loathsome Christmas albums, some TJB, and, yes, three copies of Frampton Comes Alive. People wouldn't pay a DIME for it. And it's a double album!
posted by dirtdirt at 7:17 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

That is a man who has gotten amazingly better looking with age. Good riddance to the hair.
posted by HotToddy at 8:41 PM on January 4, 2012

For zomg: It looks like this must be the crash, based on the date/location info in this article.
posted by gubo at 8:58 PM on January 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

My Marine Corps buddy Rick P is now Frampton's touring guitar tech, so I caught the latest tour in Santa Rosa, late in 2010. Co-headlining was whatever is left of Yes, which in high school in the '80's was my favorite band (along with Talking Heads). I was never a Frampton fan- even when FCA was all over the radio it seemed like shite to me. HOWEVER. Steve Howe now looks like Skeletor. Chris Squire's ear is completely gone. Jon Anderson has been replaced by a poncy Belgian teenager. Can't remember who was drumming, prob'ly Alan White. And Frampton's playing was...quite wonderful, very creative solos. What a revoltin' development! Rick will be the one restoring that beautiful Les Paul, which is awesome.
posted by ergomatic at 11:01 PM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

It is currently receiving a few repairs at the Gibson Custom Shop, although he will be leaving the burn marks and scrapes intact "I want it to have its battle scars," he said.

Like.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:29 AM on January 5, 2012

Jeeze, I sure am glad that I'm not judged solely on something I did 36 years ago. I had a deep dislike for Frampton until I saw a documentary the showcased everything besides FCA, and found out what an excellent player he is.

Anyone who owned it was instantly dismissed as a boring old fart; a clueless prat; a musical shitebonce; a cloth-eared, pap-scarfing ninny and a lousy fuck.

My favorite sentence of the year, so far. Extra credit for using "shitebonce". I'm having business cards printed describing myself as such, but I'm also adding "bon vivant and man about town".
posted by Enron Hubbard at 7:52 AM on January 5, 2012

Ah, thanks gubo. Still some consistencies - that report does not say the destination was Panama, and further says it was a training flight (why would there be cargo on a training flight?). Anyway, this crash was not listed in the other sources I searched, and it is the right time and place.

Convair 880! Cool plane. bummer about the crash and the crew.
posted by zomg at 10:06 AM on January 5, 2012

You can pretty much blame the Sgt. Pepper film on Robert Stigwood. The Bee Gees--whom Stig had made very wealthy and famous, both through their own careers and through the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack--were begging to be let out of their contracts even before filming began.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:29 PM on January 5, 2012

I liked Frampton Comes Alive when I bought it in the nineties, when vinyl was cheap; I sort of knew its reputation, but I found out I also sort of knew many of the songs on it already and it was actually not so bad. A decentish live album that only got its bad reputation because it was bloody everywhere.
posted by MartinWisse at 3:11 PM on January 5, 2012

Among remainder bins rejects, there is only one more ubiquitous.
posted by stinkycheese at 3:43 PM on January 5, 2012

Okay, sweet christing fuck - I had an unused synapse fire in my brain for the first time in over 20 years this morning and for the last 7 hours, Show Me The Way has been on repeat in my head. It's not a good song, in retrospect. In fact, I will say it is a Bad Song and he should feel bad for singing it. Also, I've decided that Frampton's singing voice had all the subtlety and nuance of a rutting, wounded bull elephant seal.

Make it stop.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:32 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

From the Public Radio International show The World comes more information on the losing and finding of the guitar.
posted by Daddy-O at 6:01 PM on January 5, 2012

MartinWisse, that was the first album that I ever bought.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:22 PM on January 7, 2012