Take Five: ‘70s Guest Spots featuring Peter Frampton

Guitarist and singer Peter Frampton is best known for his juggernaut 1976 double album Frampton Comes Alive. The release that sparked the mid-decade live album craze, Frampton Comes Alive remains one of the best-selling albums – live or otherwise – in the history of recorded music. Spawning three hit singles and selling more than 8 million copies in the U.S. alone, the album was also a blockbuster in Australia, Canada and Portugal (where it reached the no. 1 spot); it top-tenned in eight other countries as well.

The runaway success of Frampton Comes Alive did have a negative side, though: it overshadows everything else that Peter Frampton had done before and since. A supremely gifted artist, Frampton has had a career worthy of widespread praise even had he never made that live record. Today he suffers from inclusion body myositis, a muscle disease that affects his ability to play. But he soldiers on, continuing to wow audiences while he can.

And Frampton has an expansive body of work upon which to draw. He got his start fronting The Herd, scoring some modest success with a few singles in 1967 and ‘68 in the UK. Frampton went on to major success with Humble Pie before venturing out on his own as a solo artist. Frampton Comes Alive was in fact his fifth solo record. And while it’s even less well-known, along the way he has lent his skills to the work of friends and fellow rockers across the musical landscape.

In celebration of this year’s 50th anniversary of the release of Frampton Comes Alive (January 15, 1976) here are five recordings featuring Peter Frampton as a guest artist. (We’ll skip over his playing on Frankie Valli’s “Grease” and his contributions to the disastrous 1978 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack; the less said about the latter, the better).

“The Blues in England” from Ben Sidran’s Feel Your Groove (1970)
Keyboardist with the Steve Miller Band, Ben Sidran also took part in recording sessions for other artists including the Rolling Stones. When Sidran scored a record deal of his own, he made 1970’s Feel Your Groove. His solo record featured contributions by drummer Jim Keltner, guitarists Scaggs and Jesse Ed Davis, singer Mimi Farina, and – on “The Blues in England” – Stones drummer Charlie Watts and Humble Pie’s Greg Ridley and Peter Frampton. (A prolific artist, Sidran would go on to release more than 30 solo albums.)

“World Without End” from Jobriath’s Jobriath (1973)
Touted as the glam-rock successor to David Bowie, androgynous artist Jobriath never caught on in a big way. The first openly gay rocker artist to land a major-label contract, he would only release two albums under his own name. The first of those, 1973’s Jobriath didn’t sell in great numbers but has been critically lauded. Produced by Eddie Kramer and recorded with a lineup of largely non-famous musicians, the album featured at least one genuine star in guitarist Peter Frampton.

“Daybreak” from Harry Nilsson’s Son of Dracula (1974)
The American singer-songwriter named by the Beatles as their “favorite group,” Harry Nilsson earned his biggest fame when he recorded songs written by others: Badfinger’s “Without You” and Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’.” But Nilsson was a gifted composer and singer of extraordinary range. He was also a close friend of John Lennon and Ringo Starr; with the latter he starred (as Count Downe) in a wild, unhinged (and drug-fueled) film project, Son of Dracula. Frampton appeared in the film as a member of Downe’s band, alongside Keith Moon, John Bonham, Leon Russell, Klaus Voormann and others. “Daybreak” was the only song recorded expressly for the film.

“A Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll” from Ringo Starr’s Ringo’s Rotogravure (1976)
Peter Frampton has worked with Ringo Starr many times over the years. When Apple Records folded in the mid ‘70s, Starr inked a new record deal with Polydor/Atlantic. His first project with his new label was his fifth LP, released in 1976. The album is notable as the last recording project to feature the participation of all four Beatles during John Lennon’s life. The album sold modestly well, charting in ten countries and spawning a minor hit single in “A Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” That song featured Jesse Ed Davis, Danny Kortchmar, Voormann, Dr. John, the Brecker brothers and Peter Frampton.

“Let’s Be Together” from Sly & the Family Stone’s Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back (1976)
Sly & the Family Stone’s classic era spanned 1968-73; after that, the band splintered, and while some subsequent releases were credited to the group, in truth they were primarily Sly Stone solo efforts with session musicians. One of those was 1976’s Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back, the first in a succession of albums pushing the idea that the endlessly troubled Sly was mounting a comeback of sorts. Nonetheless, the album was poorly received by critics and sold in modest quantities. But it’s not without high points, and with its Frampton guest spot, “Let’s Be Together” is certainly among those.