No Filler Music Podcast - Sidetrack: Frampton Comes Alive!

Episode Date: January 27, 2020

Hot on the heels of our McCartney Unplugged episode, we're listening to one of the most beloved and best selling live records of all time, "Frampton Comes Alive!". Recorded in 1975 and released the following year, this album took Peter Frampton from opening act to household name, and made him synonymous with the Talk Box vocal effect after singles "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me The Way" flirted with the top of the charts. Tracklist Something's Happening All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side) I'll Give You Money Lines On My Face This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Explore the new Peloton Cross-training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. And welcome to No Filler. The music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Travis. Got my brother Quentin with me. Last week, we talked about, Paul McCartney's MTV Unplugged Live album.

And so we thought to ourselves, you know what? We just talked about the greatest rock musician of all time and one of his live records. Why not talk about the greatest best-selling live album of all time? And that would, of course, be Peter Frampton comes alive. It's called Frampton Comes Alive. And that would be called Frampton comes a lot. So here's a thank you about this record. This was, you know, one of those constantly in the background of our childhood type albums, right?

But I can honestly tell you that I only know the three songs that everybody else associates with this record, right? Right. I mean, I've never pulled it up and hit play and paid attention to it. So the ones that I'm familiar with are show me the way. Baby, I love your way. And do you feel like we do? Yeah. So, you know, that's essentially, like, to me, those songs are synonymous with Frampton.

That's my, that's the beginning and the end of my Frampton knowledge. So. Well, the thing about those three songs, like if you, if you've heard Peter Frampton on the radio, you've heard these versions of the song. You've heard the live version of those songs. Yeah, it's interesting. Because it's like, yeah, they were all released before this live album came out. But like, so he was in a band called Humble Pie as the guitarist before he did his own solo stuff. And when he branched off and did his own thing, I mean, he was, you know, he would make it on the charts, but he would be pretty damn low on the lists.

It wasn't until this album came out that he was starting to see any kind of success as a solo artist. So I feel like a lot of it had to do with the time that it was released. So this live album was released in 1976, a solid four years in. to him, you know, getting out there doing his own thing, touring constantly. His first full-length album as a solo artist was in 1972 with an album called Wind of Change. And, yeah, there's a couple songs, actually quite a few songs on this album, Wind of Change, that he does live on Frampton Comes Live. But, yeah, he just, for whatever reason, like, you know, no one really seemed to care about

him until this album came out. I'm just going to read some stats here because it's pretty ridiculous. So as of 2011, this record has gone platinum eight times. It was voted album of the year by Rolling Stone in 1976. It was in the top 10 for the majority of 76 once it came out. And it was at number one for 20. 10 weeks straight. And a lot of it had to do with the fact that FM radio was starting to do,

uh, was called album oriented rock stations, you know, which were, you know, they, it's basically like what we think of when we think of, uh,

you know, like genre specific FM stations. I think our dad used that exact phrase when he was on our, our episode. Yeah. He was a DJ and around this time, dude. I'm sure he was playing the,

shit out of preampton comes alive. But yeah, so... Playing the shit right off of the vinyl. Playing... What? Playing... I just like your phrase playing the... Sometimes I like to stop and think...

Man, that's a funny phrase that humans came up with. Playing the shit out of something. But anyway... Are you really taking that shit and going somewhere with it? Or are you just taking... You know, are you just dropping off of shit? into the toilet. You mean like,

oh, yeah. When you take a shit. I'm going to go take a shit. Where are you taking it? Are you going to go take a shower? Where are you going to go? Where are you doing with it?

That's good. I mean, let's just, can we, let's get a linguistic, a linguistics person on here. We'll get to the bottom of this. Okay. All right.

So, yes, all of those things you said. It is incredible. I feel like it's, um, I mean, to me,

it's like you hear the audience. there, I mean, he, he was able to, I mean, was it, where was it recorded? Did he, did he pack a stadium? No, this is actually four different, uh, concerts. Okay. Yeah. So, um, two of them were in New York in, in 1970. Actually, all of them were recorded in 1975.

Uh, two of them were in California. And the other two were in New York. And I don't know which track belongs to what. set, you know what I mean? But to put things in perspective, one of the recordings is from a venue called the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in June of 75. And this was Frampton's first time as a headliner, was that show. Six months before this album came out, he was the opening act. Six months. he wasn't headlining before this album came out basically.

Like, 1975 was his first headlining act and that set was actually recorded and ended up on this record. I just think it's interesting that, you know, to me, a band doesn't put a live record out until they're, you know, until they have enough, like, you know, that seems like something that doesn't happen

until much later after success. You know what I mean? Like after success happens, you put out a best-up album or a live album. Yeah, they took a gamble for sure. Do you think it's one of those things where it's like, this guy is just so much better live that, you know, we need to put out a live record because it'll sell better than his other stuff?

Or there's so many great songs from all of his other albums that... I mean, I don't know because... How many albums did he put out before this? Wind of Change in 72. Frampton's Camel in 73. Something's happening in 74. and then a self-titled album called Frampton that came out in 75. So already released four records.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, that's just interesting. You know, it just makes you wonder like what the thinking was. I mean, maybe it was just one of those ways for the record label to get older songs to be on the radio again. You know what I mean? Like if you put out a live record, then all of his old catalog is now new again in a way because it's on a new record. And it's the way, so what I love about this album, and I found a really great copy of it, probably like a Goodwill or something, a while ago. So I've had a, you know, a record copy of it for a while. So I've listened to it all the way through quite a few times. There's something about the way that the microphones picked up the audience and like his reaction, you know, and his like little, you know, conversations with. with the audience in between the tracks that makes it a really special listen.

Let's go ahead and play it our first song, dude. Yeah, yeah, let's do it. This is a sidetrack episode, so let's make this short and short. And we're going to cram in three songs in here because what, so what makes Frampton so great is he's got a really great, like, fusion of rock and jazz. And he's kind of all over the map in these, this, the selection of these songs from, from these. concerts. So it's a really good representation of kind of who he is as an artist. So the first song we're going to play is the first track on the record. This song is called Something's Happening. If there was ever a musician that was an honorary member of San Francisco Society, Mr. Peter

Frafter. Q, so that was the title track off of his record, Something's Happening. Huh? Yeah. So that's technically a single. But you know what? It wasn't released as a single for the Frampton comes alive off. There you go. It's fair game. I like the guitar solo and that one, and I like the ooh babies at the end where I faded out. Yeah.

It's just a solid track. This is just your classic, classic rock sound, you know? Yeah. I guess that's what, I mean, that's what it is, right? So, you know, I mean, this is a conversation for a different day, Q. but I've become, I shouldn't say this on the Pantheon Network queue, they might kick me off.

But I've become a little bit I don't know what the word is, but tired or burnt out on the 50 or so songs that the music industry

has decided represents classic rock, you know? In other words, like if you're out in public, and you hear a classic rock song, it's going to be, you know, the 50 or so singles from, you know, the who's who of that era, you know what I mean? Right. And the who's who includes the who. Yeah.

Well, I was going to say it includes the three singles from this album. Yeah. Or at least show me the way. But yeah, it's, you know, I don't know why I brought that up. But this has that sound, but it's not one of the first. of those songs. So it's, it's, it's, I, I enjoy listening to, I mean, maybe that's why we do the format that we do on this podcast, talk about the non-singles, because you're never going to hear those, you know. Right. There's a lot of great songs that aren't represented. Right.

In the mainstream. And I mean, that's the thing. Like, is radio a dying, uh, industry? You know, yes. Does that even mean anything to people? No, but I mean, it's still a thing when you're out and about at a restaurant at a sports bar or something like that. You're going to hear fucking, you know, back in black

or you're going to hear, you know, any other ACDC song that I can't fucking stand. You take that out. You take that out. No, no,

no, I did. We'll even at any because I'm with you on that, man. But I'm just said, but here's the question that I have to ask myself.

Do I not like ACDC because I'm tired of hearing the same five songs and I've never dove into their other songs, their catalog? I mean, that's on me.

as a fan of music. Right. And dude, here's what we should do. Let's fucking cover some ACDC, man. Like, that's the challenge that we're placing on ourselves as no filler. Yeah, I'm down for that challenge, Q and I'll tell you what. Let me tell you one thing here. There is an album, there's an ACDC album that I fucking, there's a song in here called Baby Please Don't Go. It's from 74 jailbreak.

This is before they switch the singers. I don't even know their names. I'm not going to look it up. Yeah. But it's a great fucking song. Angus Young. No, Angus Young is a guitar player. I know that much.

Whoops. Anyway. So my point being, there is one ACDC song that I do like that's not a single. I don't think it is. Dude, which means that there's probably countless that you would love. Exactly.

Let's do it. Yeah. You know what I was thinking? We could do a whole month of that style of rock. Classic rock. We could do ACDC and ZZ Top as our two main. Okay. Fuck, yeah, dude, I bet we could find countless ZZ Top songs that weren't singles that are fucking jam.

We could just do a month of, of, how about this, dude? How about we challenge ourselves to pick the four, look at some of the four bestselling records from that era, rock and roll records, right? Okay. And then talk about the non-sicles. And then, you know, essentially we'll be reacting for the first time, I'm guessing, because we don't have much exposure to this stuff. Anyway, all right. That was a tangent.

But, um, that's a tangent. Anyway. Yeah, all right, Q, let's get back to Frampton here. So what else you got for us, Q? You're the one who has this record at home, right? You've listened to this. Yeah. And let me tell you this.

It's really hard to pick songs. There's a lot of great songs on this record. So I'm trying to pick songs that will, I don't know, kind of represent his wide range and sounds as, you know, rock singer from the 70, mid-70s. So I'm going to play a song that's more, I mean, for I don't know, a lot of great love songs, you know. The three singles, show me the way, baby, I love your way, and fucking, and, well, do you feel like we do is not necessarily a love song, but, you know, you have some great lovey-dovey songs.

And I'm going to play another one that I really like. This is a few tracks down. It is called All I Want to Be is By Your Side. It's just another. I'm sure there is a feel for that. You run, you rush. You see a bone. Yeah, it's, it's nice to hear Frampton with.

without his electric guitar, his Les Paul, you know. Yeah. What I love about this song, this live recording, is when he cuts out his voice and, you know, points to the audience. Yeah. Dude, that's like just captures the, you know, what makes concerts so special, you know? And it puts a smile on my face every time I hear that part, dude,

when he lets the audience finish the verse. I mean, there's people in the crowd that are into it, dude. Yeah. But that's what's interesting to me, like you said, is that he didn't have much commercial success before this record, but he clearly had a fan base. Yeah, right. Like a devoted fan base, they knew all the words, they went to the shows, they screamed the words out loud. Yeah, I do. He pointed to him.

I mean, yeah, so that's cool. Yeah. You know, I don't know if it's one of those things where all Frampton songs. sort of, you know, it's, it's, you can tell immediately that it's Frampton because of his voice. So I'm like, have I heard this song? Or is it just because it's Frampton

that I think I've heard the song? Well, you gotta think about it, dude. Like you said, this, like, our dad played this album a lot. Well, then I probably heard every one of these songs, man. Well, I was gonna say, like, it's not like he just skipped to the three singles on this record that you know. Those are the only ones I remember.

Right, but he played this album, you know? Like, I don't remember these songs from my childhood either, but... They're just buried deep in my psyche then. Right. Yeah, because, you know, along with dad playing this record, the three songs that you heard the most, just because they were played on the radio, were the three singles, you know?

But yeah, dude, I guarantee you, we heard this album all the way through multiple times growing up. You're probably right. Yeah. But hey, before we jump into our next pick, let's take a quick break. All right, so I'm going to play another song that's a little bit more rock and roll, you know. Now, cute, I got to ask you. I hope the answer is yes.

Does he use the vocoder on this song? On this next one? No, he only uses the vocoder. The talk box is what it's called. It's a talk box. He uses that on, what is it? Do you feel like we do? And show me the way to.

and show me. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't think he does it on this one. Well, that's a real bummer. I'm sorry, dude. But hey, you know what? I'll intro us in with one of those tracks. Okay, excellent. Excellent. All right, so this is a few tracks down on the record. This one is called I'll give you money. Yeah, man, that guitar intro was fire, as they say. as you see it, I think. I think you're the only one that says then. No, no, plenty of people say that. It was, yeah, the song, that was a banger, dude.

Like you said, dude, this is just straight up 70s rock and roll, you know? Right. But, yeah, this is one of those records, I mean, that's what we preach on this goddamn What are we preach, cute? Podcast, but we preach listening to it from start to finish. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if this is the case with most live. records, but it's interesting that they piece this together from four different

concerts. Yeah, that is interesting. But, I mean, I've seen that before. I mean, Metallica, one of Metallica's very famous live records was, was the same kind of thing, whereas multiple shows. Yeah. Yeah, so they piece this together in a way that it flows well, you know? It wasn't necessarily how the set list was, you know, so, but it's, yeah, it's a great

listen all the way through. It's got a really great, you know, flow to it. For every, you know, banger track, like this one, that's more like heavy with, you know, heavy on the guitar solos and the, and the, you know, catchy riffs and whatever, there's an equal amount of, like, slow, you know, acoustic songs, like, like, all I want to be is by your side. Yeah, dude, it's just one of those it's one of those records you'd I mean it stands the test of time it's won platinum

by 2011 and it won eight times it just makes you wonder why these songs didn't catch on when they were originally released like what about this right I mean it must have been maybe you know

to your point earlier about the you know the album oriented rock station that makes sense now it's all starting to click it because these songs probably just weren't

didn't have a stage to be played on. Yeah, and it was, I mean, think about it, dude, it was probably really exciting to hear a live recording of an artist on the radio, you know, like, that was, maybe that was something that never happened before. Maybe, maybe.

You know, right, and, and, you know, like I said, you know, being able to hear the audience in the tracks, you know, it was just, the way it was recorded is just, it just makes you, it just takes you straight to that night, you know? And that's what's great about live records. And yeah, this is just one of those, one of those albums, dude, that stands the test of time. I'm going to fade us out with another song from this one because I want to, I want to play more of it. But hey, dude, I think it's what you heard's time.

Yes, yes, it is. Got anything for me? Boy, do I have her. So, we're going to have to do an episode on this band. at some point. This is a fresh, not even a month-old record. This came out like a few days ago. This is one of our favorite bands.

Well, no, it's not one of our favorite bands, but this record that came out in 2007 is something I always remember and go back to you over and over again. I'm talking about holy fuck. Oh, my God. Yeah, dude. I haven't thought about that band in years.

Well, they put out a... They are. They've been putting out stuff kind of sporadically since then. But that record that we fell in love with, it was called LP. Yeah, dude. Came out in 2007. Man, I need to listen to that again. Tell me about it, dude. But like I said, I've been going back to this record ever sitting like the whole time.

Not really been too impressed with the other two releases that have came out since then. But they just put out a new record last week. And it is really good, man. It's called Deleter. and they are sort of bringing in some outside vocalists on a few of the tracks. This song in particular is one of those tracks. It features a singer named Angus Andrew. So this song is called Deletors by Holy Fuck.

That's great, man. I love that it still sounds like what they were doing in 2007. Right, right. Yeah. So what's interesting about these guys, I like this genre label. Electronic rock, right? Because they're doing electronic,

they have elements about their music that is electronic, for sure, but it has sort of the rock edge to it, you know? Here's a quote about sort of their, or some information about the way that they approach music. The band uses live instrumentation in miscellaneous instruments and non-instruments. including toy keyboards, toy phaser guns, to achieve electronic sounding effects

without the use of laptops or programmed backing tracks. According to Pitchfork, the band was formed with the intent of creating the equivalent of modern electronic music without actually using the techniques, such as looping, splicing, programming. So that's cool. I remember watching a live video of them

that was recorded at South by Southwest. This was probably in 2007. And yeah, dude, they just had a ridiculous amount of just the most random shit you could think of up on stage that they either had mics pointed to or, you know, they were just, you know, manipulating in ways that was just like how the, what the, what the fuck's happening right now? How are they doing this?

That's really cool, dude. And that's, and that's like I was saying, this kind of, this sounds like holy fuck this sounds like them from 2007 that's because they i guess they must have stuck to that rule as a band yeah that's really cool yeah it is yeah it's great man this record this record is great man from start to finish it's really good so yeah it's always it's always great to um to stumble across a band that you listen to over a decade and then and then find out that they literally just put out a record you know and it sounds just as great as as they used to you know i always love that yeah so anyway all right keel

what you got? What you've been heard? Well, we actually played a song from this band for our, I think it was our top tens or it was either our discoveries. One of those episodes, I covered the sound carriers. Okay. Yep. And I played a song from their album, Celeste, which came out in 2010. I played the track, Step Outside. Anyways, I've been getting into them. You know, listening to their back catalogs since then. And there's an album of theirs that came out in 2014 called Entropicalia. And it's just the sound carriers doing what they do. You know, it's that awesome, like 60s pop rock kind of vibe.

Good stuff. I'm going to play a track two from the record. This song is called The Outsider. cue i can smell the incense and i can see the like the black light poster and stuff right now that's a compliment that is a compliment by the way yeah no dude they've captured that moment in music like perfectly dude like i just love it

and you know what dude they've they've in in some ways they've they've improved on it and totally do that and that's what i do that's that's what i love about how music is so cyclical, or not really cyclical even, but like how we're always barring from the past, and sometimes kind of like that band Narrowhead that I was loving on last year, you improve on the sound from a decade, you know? Yeah, because you're also pulling from different influences, you know, from bands that preceded that sound.

Yeah. It's just cool. Yeah, man, that's the thing about the song carriers, like, you know, a lot of bands change over time, like their sound and everything. The sound carriers is this through and through. This is who they are as artists. You know, so when you press play on a sound carrier's record, and I'm not saying this in like it's boring and don't waste your time. It's like, you know what you're going to get.

And it's going to be this kind of stuff, really pretty harmonizing. You know, just that 60s pop, like, what's the word? Like, go-go girls or whatever, you know, like that. Sure. Like, think, think, like, Austin Powers, you know? Yeah, yeah. That vibe.

That era of, yeah. 60s, 70s vibes. I love the sound carriers, dude. I'm happy to share the planet with him right now. All right. So let's wrap it up, dude. Yes. All right.

Short and sweet. Yep, yep, yep. Okay, so next week, we will start our electronic month. And I'm fucking stoked about that, dude. So we're going to start off with a, a, an electronic producer who goes by Com Trues

which is Tom Cruise Did you say Tom Cruise? No, I didn't. It's, you know, that's Tom Cruise with the scene and the T-Switch. Com Trus is playing 10 night at 9 p.m.

I could go see him. Why don't you go see him? No, dude. So how familiar are you with him? I've heard a handful of songs. Okay. So we're going to... I get it.

You know, like, I get it. Yes. Yes. All right. So we're going to talk about his record called in decay. And I think it's going to, I mean, I know we say this, we use this term all the time,

but get ready to talk about hip-negoti. What was that? Hypnogia. Is that the, you know, like the... Hypnaggia, I don't know. Hypnagogic pop. Yeah, hypnagogic music. Just get ready for it.

that. Hypnogosia, maybe. Is that the, like, I want to, I want to know what the, yeah, hypnogosia. I think, I think it's hypnogia. Yes, there you go. That's the thing. I'm just kidding. Actually, no, no, no, no.

Hypnegotia. Actually, hypnogosia is something entirely different. So just get ready to talk about hypnagogic pop. Again, because, you know, that's what, that's what he's all about. And he does it better than, than most. So anyway, I'm excited about that. And then, yeah, we'll spend the next few episodes covering different types of electronic music. Let's put it this way, Q.

It's going to be electronic music that falls under weird, obscure subgenres maybe, right? You know, when you think about electronic music, I think a lot of people, if you're not familiar with it, you don't really, you know, if you're not a fan of electronic music, I think your brain might go straight to sort of like the techno beat or daft punk or something like that. It probably goes to daft punk. Yeah, exactly.

So there's, it's a very wide, wide umbrella, kind of like metal music, you know, and rock music and general. Like there are so many different subgenres and, and sounds that fall under the electronic music genre as a whole.

So, yeah, we're going to get into some of that. So, all right, Q, where can they find us? Are you going to pass this off to me? Sure. Yeah, so we're part of the Pantheon Podcast Network. You can find us on their website, pantheonpodcasts.com.

There you can find a lot of other awesome music podcasts. If you like our podcasts, chances are you'll find another handful of other awesome podcasts to listen to you on the daily. You can also check us out on no-filler podcast.com. You can stream our episodes directly from the website. And yeah, dude, I'm going to leave it short and sweet this time, dude. No one cares about our show notes, you know? So, yeah, I'm going to close us out with another track from Frampton Comes Alive. And that's going to do it for us today.

This song is called Lines on My Face. And until next week, y'all take care. Thank you so much, as always, for listening. My name's Quentin, and my name is Travis. She said, she spoke of strangers deep to bed, kept on trying, buying time, eating unfa, I've got the feelings too low and serving.