It's no secret that one of the best-selling rock albums of all time was the double-LP
Frampton Comes Alive, which rocketed former
Humble Pie guitarist
Peter Frampton into the oftentimes harsh realm of superstar status. That was 1976. Twenty-four years later,
Frampton came alive once again with a rousing 75-minute set recorded at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Detroit on July 17, 1999.
The set combines retellings of the best tracks from
Frampton Comes Alive with an impressive collection of later songs. There is the smooth groove of "Lines on My Face," counterbalanced with the power pop of "Show Me the Way" and "All I Wanna Be (Is by Your Side)."
Frampton is again backed by
Bob Mayo on keyboards,
Chad Cromwell on drums, and
John Regan on bass guitar. This is a band filled with talent and maturity, performing with all the dynamics and emotion of a
Dire Straits or
Pink Floyd.
The ballads far outweigh the rockers this time around, with
Frampton singing beautifully on tunes like "If You Say Goodbye" and "Oh for Another Day," and there is a short but sweet acoustic instrumental, "Nassau," leading into
Frampton's popular "Baby I Love Your Way."
But don't think
Frampton doesn't still kick ass. He dishes up the bluesy rock of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" along with the rocking "You Had to Be There" and the old favorite "Do You Feel Like We Do?" He also kicks things into overdrive with the rocking instrumental "Off the Hook."
Closing out the set is "I Don't Need No Doctor," the Ashford and Simpson tune, rocked up in a style reminiscent of
Mountain with a vocal that at times sounds an awful lot like
Johnny Winter. This track is a smoker, and a fitting closer for an impressive album that finds
Peter Frampton playing and singing just as well, if not better, than he did on that "other" live record. ~ Michael B. Smith