Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: Peter Frampton

We have uncovered an album by a guy who was in a lot of big sisters’ bedrooms during the 1970s – Peter Frampton.  But our album today is Wind of Change from 1972, the first solo album by the British rocker after he left the group Humble Pie.

Humble Pie was, of course, the English band formed by Frampton and blues-rock belter Steve Marriott (previously from the Small Faces).  By 1971 Frampton was ready for a split, despite the successes that year of the Humble Pie studio set Rock On and the live Rockin’ The Fillmore.  At that point Humble Pie was being torn apart by the different directions its two main players seemed be taking: Marriott obviously preferred bloozy-boogie tunes, contrasting sharply with Frampton’s more melodic sensibilities.

So Frampton went to work on Winds of Change, encasing his songs in lush, mostly acoustic settings.  The title song is a good signpost: it starts with an chiming acoustic figure that sounds a bit like the gentle underpinnings of Led Zeppelin III (“Tangerine”).  “All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side)” is a pop/rock ballad that recalls a bit of Steve Winwood’s Traffic, and “The Lodger” puts it all on the table with the lyrics “I’ll play the songs I should be singin’.”

But Frampton also liked to rock out: “It’s A Plain Shame” has an electric guitar edge and the album closer “Alright” showcases Frampton’s always-great guitar playing.  (Guest stars Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman and Billy Preston play on “Alright”).  Even the cover of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” manages to catch fire, despite the goofy horn section which drags the song down a bit.  But here you have a British guitar slinger, a pretty decent singer and songwriter, who seems to know where he’s going despite leaving a commercially successful band.

Review: More New Stuff!

It’s not yet the summer, but the new albums are coming pretty hot and heavy now.  Let’s take a listen to a few new sets that have come out recently.

Peter Frampton might have been a bit of a fluke as a platinum-selling superstar in the 1970s, but he’s always been a pretty decent singer/songwriter and an outstanding guitarist.  The veteran rocker’s newest, Thank You Mr. Churchill, is a strong album that showcases the strengths that Frampton always had, even back to his days in Humble Pie.  Anywhere you want to jump in, the music rocks and the 60-year-old rocker sounds as great as he did way back in his teeny-bop-rock days.  If there were any justice in the world – and if such a thing as rock radio still existed – songs like “I’m Due A You” and “Asleep At The Wheel” would rule AM and FM.  This is a pretty good record – if you still like basic rock and roll, this one’s for you.

MP3: “I’m Due A You” by Peter Frampton

I suppose it’s appropriate that the platinum darling Dixie Chicks are going on tour this summer with the Eagles.  They don’t have a new album but Court Yard Hounds, featuring sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison under the name Court Yard Hounds, ought to give the trio a bit of new material to road-test.  Robison takes lead vocal duties on this effort, and for the most part she sounds like a sleepy Sheryl Crow.  Come to think of it, the songs kinda sound like that too.  Oh, this is pleasant enough but nothing really sticks in the ear like those one or two little time bombs that the Chicks plant on each of their records.  Highlights are probably “The Coast,” with a breezy Fleetwood Mac-like lope; “It Didn’t Make A Sound,” with some nice pickin’; and “See You In The Spring,” a welcome duet with Jakob Dylan.

MP3: “The Coast” by Court Yard Hounds

Tears, Lies and Alibis, the eleventh studio album from Shelby Lynne, is a solid affirmation of this singer’s unique talents.  Lynne is a Southern soul gal with a honky-tonk heart, and this album has a relaxed vibe that would perfectly accompany a late-night reverie.  “Alibi” is a breathtaking bit of blue-eyed soul, while “Old #7” sounds like a classic country jukebox weeper.  Very nice!

MP3: “Alibi” by Shelby Lynne

Graham Parker has been around since the punk days, but on Imaginary Television he’s mellow and personal.   Of course, for Parker “mellow” is a highly relative term: “Broken Skin” is tougher than its jangly acoustic setting would lead you to believe.  Like Peter Frampton, Parker always was a solid talent and this new album is a worthy showcase for this great artist.

MP3: “Broken Skin” by Graham Parker

Your Big Sister’s (Record) Rack: “Smokin’,” Humble Pie

OK, enough of the video and back to some old records – this is the stuff that your big sister or big brother had, the stuff that might have been kinda famous back in the day.  Today we remember Humble Pie’s Smokin’, from 1972.

Humble Pie was, of course, the British rock band that started in 1969 with lead singer Steve Marriott (formerly of the Small Faces), bass player Greg Ridley (Spooky Tooth), 17-year-old drummer Jerry Shirley and a pretty-boy guitarist and singer named Peter Frampton.  Frampton made four studio albums (and another live album) with Humble Pie before departing for a solo career in 1971.

Bad Career Moves, Part 1

It’s no secret that rock stars aren’t the best businessmen (and women) in the world.   The very few rock stars who have also “made it” in the world of business are not those you would have expected – Jimmy Buffett, for example, has managed to parlay his business ventures (Margaritaville restaurants, deals with satellite radio and clothing) into an $80 million a year fortune.  You know about Kiss’ Gene Simmons and all of his varied business deals, which earn a mint.  And there are many young people today who think Jerry Garcia is just some guy who designs ties.

But despite their business sense (or lack of it) almost all of  the biggest rock gods and goddesses have made stupid decisions when it comes to choosing projects for themselves – the longer the career, the more time one has to make a fool of him or herself at least once.   Bruce Springsteen and U2, for example, just this year put out mediocre albums but nothing truly embarrassing (some may argue that point over Bruce’s “Outlaw Pete,” but whatever).  So over the next few days we’ll look at a few of the truly mortifying what-the-hell-was-he (she)-thinking moments from rock history:

Lost Classics! “Rock On,” Humble Pie

  

Humble Pie was a British boogie-rock band that reached monstrous success in the early 1970s.   The band was formed in 1968 by former Small Faces guitarist/singer Steve Marriott, and Peter Frampton, a guitar player from the Herd, a moderately successful U.K. pop band.  Because they signed a recording deal with Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, it was thought that Humble Pie would be a sort of Stones-ish blues rock band – but it took a while for them to get there.

The band’s first two albums (As Safe As Yesterday Is and Town and Country) sounded more like the Band, with its acoustic underpinnings.  It wasn’t until the fourth album, Rock On (1971), that Humble Pie hit its stride.  The band recorded many of the songs on tour before they went into the studio and Rock On is a balance, a tug-of-war maybe, of Frampton’s more sedate, acoustic pop sensibility vs. Marriott’s boogie-till-you-puke approach.