Customer Reviews

Frampton Comes Alive 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Regardless of what the other reviewers are saying...this is a pretty good concert...You wouldn't expect Frampton to do any repeats of songs he did on the classic Frampton Comes Alive...Why should he??? He has nothing to prove..That album still holds the record as being the largest selling live album in history...how can you improve on a flawless performance that has been remastered to HDCD standards? But then...why would you??

Frampton himself always expressed that he lived for the stage and the rush of the live performace....he never felt the recording studio did his music justice...as it lacked the audience vibe.

I attended the 1976 tour and witnessed the full impact of his stage prowess from a center position not 75 feet from the stage....best location to get the best sound.

I have been a consistent fan since his early days with Humble Pie...and altho I was never really impressed with his post 1976 albums..I feel this live set features his later material in their most beneficial and natural setting....the live concert...
Try and forget the studio versions of these songs and give them a fresh listen....as I did....If you liked Peter Frampton back when he rode the wave of fame in the mid 70's....you wont be disappointed. He pulls out the talk box and uses it sparingly....just to treat you to a bit of nostalgia.....so you can say.....WOW...it really is him.....he might not have the long curly locks anymore...but he still knows how to wield a mean guitar...Whether it's his famed black beauty or any from his sizeable arsenal...there's no mistaking mister Framptons dynamically powerful playing. Bob Mayo is as supportive as ever...John Regan on bass and JR Robinson on drums are a very tight and solid rythym section..The chops are as strong as anything from 1976's classic.

I always wondered if there was more of the post 1976 material to this concert that wasn't included here...Might be nice if they release this CD set in a 2cd deluxe version in HDCD format.

"Live In Detroit" is better, "Frampton Comes Alive" is the best. Ironically, Peter frampton is alway better live than in the studio yet in this case, the studio album that this tour was promoting ("Peter Frampton") was better than this performance.

If you can still find a copy of the video that was released simultaneously with this album you'll know why. This was not one of Peter Frampton's better tours (this work was compiled from the San Francisco and Ventura, California shows). This project was poorly conceived and executed. Further, while all excellant musicians, the band was just a bit too loose -- at times downright silly -- to justify putting this event on wax and releasing it to the public.

Oh well, what's done is done.

However, despite my prior comments I still have hope that they will come to rerelease this concert on DVD along with some special features (such as the in-flight interview with Peter Frampton that persuaded me to buy to buy it in the first place). That's because there are some great covers of individual songs (as has been mentioned in other reviews, "I'm In You" comes to mind as does "Lying" and "Off The Hook") There were also eight (8) additional songs* on the video that did not make it to CD.

If you're looking for some truly great Frampton live projects I would steer you toward the 25th Anniversary Special Edition of "Frampton Comes Alive" or "Live In Detroit" instead of this CD. However, if my "wishlist" DVD version of this concert ever becomes available I will buy it since there was no visual record of the original concerts (there were actually five cities and several shows) that "Frampton Comes Alive" came from. If that makes me an unobjective devoted Peter Frampton fan then I suppose it's, "Guilty as charged!" I like this guy, his band, and his music.

* The eight missing songs are as follows: 1) "Sunrise" (actually an extended J.R. Robinson drum solo); 2) "Lines On My Face"; 3) "Show Me The Way"; 4) "All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side); 5) "Penny For Your Thoughts"; 6) "Nassau/Baby I Love Your Way"; 7) "I Wanna Go To The Sun"; 8) "Do You Feel Like We Do?"

This could be looked at as a sincere attempt to release totally new music in a live setting. Or it could be seen as a shameless attempt to cash in on phenomenon that happened twenty years earlier. Since he didn't throw "Show Me the Way" on this one, I'll give the benefit of the doubt that it's mostly the former, with a little bit of the latter thrown in for marketing purposes.

So on the good side, we have a group of veteran rockers putting on a well-played set. As said before, he didn't duplicate stuff from "Frampton Comes Alive", unless you want to count the part where he "talks" through his guitar. And some of the numbers do rock quite well.

The problem is not enough really good songs. I never liked "I'm in You", which I thought WAS a marketing attempt to sell his picture with his curly locks to the ladies, so if this is the hit, it's disapointing. Also, there are too many other songs in this vein that aren't even as good as that.

Not bad, but not something I'd keep coming back to for more.

Peter Frampton is mainly known for two things : his "Frampton comes alive" album (I believe the biggest seller of live recordings in music history), and the not less famous "Do you feel like we do?", from that same live act.

Besides that, he has an impressive collection of fine songs, and two more live recordings (the latest being "In Detroit"). Let me tell you that this "II" is just amazing, but you need to get the double cd edition. The story most people don't seem to know is that there are actually two versions of the Frampton comes alive II; for some incomprehensible reason (marginal cost for the record company between a 1 cd and a 2 cd release is peanuts), the more common release is the 1 cd one.

One of the reviewers seemed to say there was something missing in this album. And he is right since he apparently got the 1 cd edition. On cd 2, totaling 39 minutes of music, you will find these four songs :
- Show me the way
- Nassau/Baby I love your way
- Lines on my face
- Do you feel like we do ?

Any of these four songs are a true delight. Since they are also live, they are not a carbon copy of the performance of 1976. "Do you feel like we do" is a classic, and the power generated from this performance is just blowing...The line up is the same as FCA I except for drums (John Siomos is replaced by J.R. Robinson).

As for the rest of the album (CD1), I just cannot find any really weak track. Frampton was also promoting his self-titled album on this tour, and you can find 5 songs from that cd, with the little edge of the live performance, which is always nice, plus a couple of songs that have that "unplugged" sound ("Talk to me" and "Hang on to a dream").

Peter Frampton still is today one of the finest guitarists of the the rock scene, and a fun musician to watch/listen to during his concerts. True that he also has weaker albums ("Premonition" wasn't that great, "The art of control" was more the art of releasing a flat album), but that is true for most artists, when they last (a lot just don't, have you thought about that too?). Has he changed ? Sure. He doesn't have that seventies/beach surfer/Leif Garrett look. He has lost a lot of hair. But who cares ? Larry Carlton also has. James Taylor too. As for Donald Fagen, lots of gray hair too. But they are still there, a reference in their own style of music, and their songs will be everlasting.

In short, get the three live recordings, get "Peter Frampton", get one of his studio recordings pre "Comes alive", or take the short cut and get the "Shine on collection". If you don't, you'll be missing something. Then, get is latest, "fingerprints". Any of those albums I mentioned are power plays.

For a guy who grew up with Frampton Live and matured(?) through the 70's and 80's, Live II is a fun reminder of what drew me to Frampton Live orginally. Live II is a more mature Frampton, whose music is best heard rather loud when driving to and from appointments.

This particular album has two tracks(Lying & Can't Take That Away) which he plays on the new DVD/CD. I personally think these two tracks sound better than the new "Detroit", perhaps because he might not have been distracted by the Camera. There are other tracks which sound good as well, making the album a must have for any Frampton Live fanatic.

If you're a Frampton fan, this is a must.
The song, "Most of all", should have made
the top ten in the pop charts. "I'm in you"
played live, is much better than the studio version.