Ending the week in 1972 with a BBC Radio In Concert featuring Peter Frampton and Frampton’s Camel from November 18, 1972.
This concert comes roughly six months before Peter Frampton’s 2nd Camel album and four years before his groundbreaking Frampton Comes Alive! release which put him seriously in the household name category.
At the time of this program, the band had only been together for three months and this was their first In Concert appearance, so things are pretty new and loaded with potential. It didn’t translate to album sales, because everything prior to “Comes Alive” either didn’t chart or charted very low.
Peter Frampton was coming off a stint with Humble Pie, who had been a very big name in the early 1970s, and the last Humble Pie release Frampton was associated with was the landmark Rockin’ The Fillmore album, which put Humble Pie solidly on the map. Starting Frampton’s Camel at this point (1971) was very much starting over, as laying the groundwork and establishing the fanbase which would translate into sales was a long, arduous road.
Peter Frampton long had a reputation as someone to “keep your eyes on”, since his days with The Herd – he joined Humble Pie when he was only 18, so his reputation as someone to keep their eyes on was more based on how talented he was so early on in his life.
So it would come as no surprise the long shot paid off – it was just a matter of time (and fortunately he had A&M on his side which was one of the few labels during the era that was 100% behind the artist – something we don’t even have A&M to rely on anymore), and within weeks, Frampton Comes Alive shot up to the number 1 slot on Billboard in April of 1976 and became the staple of just about every FM station in the country – and the three singles culled from that album, also became staples on Top-40 AM.
But 1976 was in a future that hadn’t happened yet in 1972 when this concert was recorded. Success was just around the corner, but it was a long corner getting there.
Further evidence if you believe in something in your gut you don’t give up on it.
Get ready for the weekend!
