Frampton Comes Alive! - Background and Recording

Background and Recording

The album was recorded in summer and fall 1975, primarily at Winterland in San Francisco, California and the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York. The Winterland recordings were recorded on a 24 track master recorder. Other concerts were recorded on a 16 track recorder. Recordings from four different shows were used for the original album. Master tapes were recorded at 15 inches per second using professional Dolby "A" noise reduction.

The live album was originally intended as a single LP disc, but at the suggestion of A&M Records additional shows were recorded and the album expanded to two LPs for release. On the special features for the "Live in Detroit" concert DVD, Frampton commented that some difficulty was encountered in the mixing after the cord to the bass drum mic got pulled, accidentally causing the mic to face at a 90-degree angle from the drum head. During the concerts, Frampton principally used a distinctive black custom Gibson Les Paul electric guitar (with three humbucking pickups as opposed to the usual two).

The double album was released in the US with a special reduced list price of $7.98, only $1.00 more than the standard $6.98 of most single-disc albums in 1976. The album was pressed in "automatic sequence", with sides one and four on one record, followed by sides two and three on the other. This arrangement was intended to make it easier to listen through the whole album in sequence on automatic record changers.

Three hit singles were released from the album: "Baby, I Love Your Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do" and "Show Me the Way". The talk box guitar effect became strongly associated with Frampton when it was heard on two of these singles. The "Do You Feel Like We Do" single version was edited to 7:19 from the 14:15 album version. But even at just over 7 minutes, it is about twice the length of the average hit single and one of the longest ever to make the top 40 (even The Beatles' "Hey Jude" ran 7:11). Oddly enough, the B-side of "Do You Feel Like We Do" was the shortest song on "Frampton Comes Alive", the acoustic instrumental, "Penny For Your Thoughts", which ran just 1:23.