In 1976 Peter Frampton made live album history with "Frampton Comes Alive!"
The double live album was released in 1976 and became one of the best-selling live albums of all time. "Show Me the Way", "Baby, I Love Your Way", and "Do You Feel Like We Do" were released as singles, and reached the top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Receiving frequent airplay on rock radio, Frampton finally hit it big after four albums with no success.
The album was recorded between four shows through June and November 1975. The bulk came from the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco as well as Marin Veterans' Memorial Auditorium in California. The Long Island Arena in New York, and a concert on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus filled out the rest. The album was intended to be a single LP, but A&M Records suggested additional shows and the album expanded to two LPs.
Frampton used his infamous "Black Beauty" modified black 1954 Gibson Les Paul Custom electric guitar, with three Humbucker pick-ups. The guitar was famously lost later after a flight carrying Frampton's equipment crashed and burned up in Venezuela. It was thought to be lost in the fire until it turned up in a guitar shop in Curacao and given back after 30 years.
Frampton Comes Alive! debuted on the charts at #191, and reached number one on the Billboard 200 April 10, 1976. It spent 10 weeks in the top spot, as it was the best-selling album of 1976 and sold over 8 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Frampton Comes Alive! stayed on the chart for 97 weeks and was still at No. 14 by the end of 1977. For one moment in time in the late 70's Peter Frampton was the biggest rock star on the planet and had the biggest album of its time. Unlike Kiss' "Alive," the album did not lead to a successful album career like it did for them. Frampton's success would lead to a failed movie and then the 80's came and his sound did not adapt well to the time. He would go on to have moderate success since then, and toured heavily with David Bowie and solo, but never again did he have the radio success that Frampton Comes Alive gave him. His is a story of a glorious shooting star that shined bright and faded as quickly as it rose into the sky.