Peter Frampton - Playing with Fire (2021)

Live broadcasts from 1979 and 1972. When Peter Frampton finally made his breakthrough as a solo act, it was with a live album. While his earlier records had been well-regarded critically, the praise had failed to translate to record sales, but the release of Frampton Comes Alive! in 1976 finally changed all that. A new studio album, I m In You, the following year consolidated the success, rising to number 2 on the US billboard chart and featuring a constellation of the biggest stars in rock Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder and Richie Hayward all of whom had lined up to be a part of the project. In 1978, however, the wheels came off literally. Frampton was almost killed in a serious car accident while in The Bahamas. He escaped the wreck, but with numerous broken bones, muscle damage and concussion. After slowly nursing himself back to health, Frampton made his comeback in 1979 with the album Where I Should Be and a hit single in I Can t Stand It No More. He sought to confirm his comeback with a summer tour that included a July 2nd show at the Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas and a July 4th show at the Sam Houston Coliseum, in Houston, selections of which would be broadcast on the ABC Radio Network s Supergroups In Concert series. The broadcast, presented here in full on Playing With Fire, showcases Frampton at his best as a live act, a stellar performance in which he runs through the best of Frampton Comes Alive!, with selections from Where I Should Be and I m In You also included in the set list. Also included in this collection is the earliest live recording of Camel, Frampton s early-70s group project, broadcast by the BBC on the 11th of September 1972. The band perform several numbers from both Wind of Change and Frampton s Camel in an essential document of the formative years in Frampton s solo career.