Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: Frampton, Fripp and Stevie Ray



<<Would you agree that Comes Alive was his last
really good album?)>>

To be honest, Frampton Comes Alive is the only
one of his records that I've heard all the way
through. I've never heard the four solo albums he
did prior to it. I do know that I refuse to buy
I'm In You on the grounds that, well, there's no
way in hell that a song called I'm In You can be
any good. I mean, what kind of an idiot writes a
song with a title like that? And it's the title
track! And then there's that RIDICULOUS photo of
him on the cover. Course, the photo on the cover
of Comes Alive is ridiculous too (someone once
pointed out to me that he looks like someone had
just hit in the back of the head with a shovel on
Comes Alive), but at least the song titles aren't
stupid (except maybe Baby I Love Your Way, and I
swear on Keith Moon's grave, I owned that album
for about a decade before I realized that song
was on it). 

And don't even get me started on the Sgt. Pepper
movie. Frampton says he told his manager that he
was afraid to do the movie because he felt it
might be "sacrilege". Should have gone with your
instincts, Pete! But no, he had to let Robert
Stigwood hornswaggle him into doing what is quite
possibly THE worst movie ever made!!! And The Bee
Gees wonder why everyone was doing "Bee Gee Free
Weekends" on the radio during the whole disco
backlash thing! 

I've heard isolated examples of his work since
that fiasco, some of which strike me as bland,
some of which seem not too bad for a guy who's
been around since Nigel Ollson was Uriah Heep's
drummer (actually, longer than that, even). But I
don't really have the evidence to deny any claim
that Frampton's best years are behind him. 

As to the comment that someone else made that
even Comes Alive struck him as bland, I've heard
that comment too. My friend Doug Walker (who is
the leader and synth player in a NYC based band
called Alien Planetscapes) once told me that he
thought Frampton's first four solo records were
rather good, but there was too much filler on
Comes Alive. Nels Cline has also made the
ascertation that he loved Frampton's playing with
Humble Pie, but that he can't even recognize him
on his solo records. 


<< Now, Heroes would have been a good album
without Fripp, but his contributions
unquestionably took it higher and closer to 
greatness.>>

Then you have records like Let's Dance, which is
listenable almost solely due to the playing of a
then unknown guitarist named Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Nile Rodgers (who produced that album) now admits
that he told David that if he wanted bad ass
blues guitar, he should at least get someone like
Albert King, that people have at least heard of,
instead of an unknown. Apparently, Nile needed a
little more convincing than Bowie did. 

I need to get Heroes out again and give it a
listen. Likewise for Lodger (which Belew played
on). Anyone ever heard the live album that Bowie
did around that time, Stage? How is it? I know
both Belew and Hawkwind violinist Simon House are
on it. Can you actually TELL they're on it,
though? 

=====
May you never thirst!
The Scuba Diver Presently Known As Chris

"What do you get when you give a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?"-James 
Earl Jones

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com