Frampton Comes Alive Becomes A Letdown....

Like practically everyone else circa 1976, I loved this album. I played it for years, & his subsequent failure afterwards is one of the great puzzles of that era for me. Yes, in part it was due to a rushed out follow up & mismanagement, but he never really got over the stigma of I'm In You, Where I Should Be, Breaking All The Rules, etc.

Anyhow, I guess I gradually played it less & less by the mid 80s & hadn't ever replaced it when I went from vinyl to CDs in 1990. I got a copy of it on CD cheap a while back at Walmart & bought it. And though I still like it, it really hasn't held up for me after all this time has passed. It's still pleasant enough & worth a listen, but I suppose that misguided nostalgia made me forget how lightweight it is. This was one album that did not age well, at least for me.

 

Why this album was so special?

 

I still love it - just listened to it the other day in fact, but I totally get where you’re coming from. I’ve had similar feelings about other LP’s I grew up with in the mid-70’s.

 

Never liked it, never understood why it was so popular. Seemed like it could have been much more than it ended up.

 

After 44 years I really can't tell you what made it take off like it did. I wish I remembered myself.

 

That's brilliant!!

 

Truly one of WTF? phenomenons in pop history.

 

This is one of a few for me, & I still like it, but nothing like I did back then.

 

Huge album in its time and a real breakthrough for Frampton but , as you say , it hasn't aged well.
I don't have it anymore and have no interest in hearing it again. I do have a double-CD Frampton collection which has a handful of cuts from it and that's plenty.

Anyway, I always preferred his solo debut' Wind of Change ' which is a fine album.

 

Credit due to LiarTownUSA. Peruse for funny, but be aware of NSFW content.

LiarTownUSA

 

I also just picked up a CD copy. I pretty much agree that it's fine but not completely magical like the sales figures would indicate. The radio hits are hits. A lot of the rest seemed a little average to my more "hard rock" ears.

Humble Pie's Fillmore has probably aged better for my taste.

 

It's a funny phenomena. Sometimes an album just takes off, and everyone buys it, and it becomes a sort of time capsule. Bat Out of Hell, Cracked Rear View, that Shania Twain album. There's a bunch more. Everyone buys it and at some point they collectively put it away forever.

 

I loved that album and played it constantly. I saw him around 3 years ago live and he did most of the songs. It was amazing.

He seems very happy.

 

Double live album with good cover art. It promised more than it delivered.

 

I got to know it fairly recently, so it doesn’t sound dated at all to me. I like it fine, great atmosphere and all.

Every copy I tried ordering on Amazon skips at track #8. Seems to be a mispressing they have on stock.

 

Easily my favorite Framptom albums are I'm In You and Breaking All the Rules. The latter is my absolute favorite. I never got on with Frampton Live, it's just so inoffensive, lacks edge. it's AOR that never interested me in the slightest.

 

It's always just been okay for me. The hits remain good but there's not too much else there when you dig deep. "Something's Happening" and "I'll Give You Money" are all right, maybe "Penny for Your Thoughts" in a pinch - but there's too many better double live '70s LPs for me to spend too much time with this one.

 

"Do You Feel Like We Do" is always a fun listen..........probably the only use of voice box I like.

 

Not the only top selling album of the year that hasn't survived the test of time...
List of best-selling albums by year in the United States - Wikipedia

A couple of the albums on the list are quite surprising to me... For instance, I hadn't realized that In-a-Gadda-da-Vida or The World Is a Ghetto were THAT popular at the time.

 

STILL LOVE that album but could never get into his studio work.

Damn shame Steve Marriott was such a mess.. That was one reunion that could have rocked

 

My uncle had that album. I never got into it, but I will say that when I've heard "Do You Feel..." on the radio I've noticed that Frampton plays some fine guitar (before he gets into the talk box stuff).

 

It would have been a great Humble Pie album.

 

I really enjoyed it as a kid, but it hasn't aged that well for me.