Recorded in a castle in England, Frampton is the breakout album where it all came together: Peter Frampton’s penchant for writing catchy songs with irresistible hooks, superlative guitar playing, and soulful, evocative vocals. Frampton is also the album in which Peter introduced one of his signatures in the “talk box” for his guitar break on “Show Me the Way,” which became iconic during the tour supporting this album and the live time capsule Frampton Comes Alive. In addition to “Show Me the Way,” ”Baby, I Love Your Way” and “(I’ll Give You) Money” have dominated the airwaves and Frampton’s live shows since this album’s release in early 1975. Frampton is arguably the high-water mark of Frampton’s early studio work and a showcase for an artist who had found himself as a singer/songwriter, and guitar player and was on the way to becoming a household name around the world.
Intervention’s Frampton@50 series hybrid CD/SACD reissues are mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from the best analog tape sources available.
Intervention worked for months with Universal’s archive team, scouring the vaults in the US and UK for the best-sounding tapes . Several sets of tapes, including 1970s-era tape copies, were sent to mastering and evaluated by IR’s Shane Buettner and Chris Bellman.
The best-sounding tapes are 1/2″ safety copies from the 1990s A&M Safety Program. The “Wind of Change” and “Frampton” safeties are sourced from UK Production Masters, while the “Frampton’s Camel” safety is sourced from the Original Stereo Master. These tapes sound sensational, vibrant, detailed and alive. Combined with Chris Bellman’s work at the board, and the superbly transparent mastering chain at Bernie Grundman Mastering, legions of fans will hear what Peter and the band really put on tape during this seminal period. Fans will hear bottom-end authority, dynamics and textural details never revealed on any previous edition. These are the definitive versions of these amazing albums that made Peter Frampton one of the greatest artists of his time!
*Intervention would be remiss not to thank (profusely!) professor producer and engineer Keith Hanlon for introducing us to Team Frampton. Keith is adjunct professor of at Ohio University teaching audio/music production, and a long-serving session engineer for Musicol Recording Studios in Columbus, OH. In 2020, he became the owner/operator of Secret Studio, a recording studio, art gallery and events space allowing artists of all types to connect, share and create. You can find more about Keith and his work HERE.
