I was pretty excited to hear about the new disc Fingerprints (A M/New Door/UMe) from Peter Frampton, a seminal guitar god from the 70s who became enormously famous for his Frampton Comes Alive album and for his formant-tube guitar talk box sound on that record 30 years ago. I hadn t really thought about him much lately except when my iTunes jukebox cycled around to his tunes. So, getting the new disc was like hearing from an old friend again.
What makes the album intriguing is that it s an instrumental album, where Frampton teams with many musicians he is friends with, or who he s always wanted to work with.
The press materials have a great paragraph about the disc which I could reword to make my own, but I think it speaks well of the line-up of talent found on the album:
Fingerprints features Frampton having exhilarating musical conversations with a who s who of the pop world, including Rolling Stones Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman, Pearl Jam s Mike McCready and Matt Cameron, original Shadows Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett, Allman Brothers/Gov t Mule slide slinger Warren Haynes, Nashville pedal steel virtuoso Paul Franklin and gypsy guitar maestro John Jorgenson. In addition, Frampton band mate, Gordon Kennedy, who co-wrote many of the originals as well as co-produces the album, is prominently featured as a guitar companion.
When I mentioned to a couple of friends I was reviewing the new Frampton album, inevitably one smart remark came up which was Frampton is still alive?
which, although a jest at the expense of Pete based on the title of his mega successful Alive underscores how many of the truly talented musicians of the 60s, 70s and 80s who don t subscribe to the hit factory school of music can fall from the public s consciousness. The last I d really heard from Frampton was in 2000, when he earned a Best Rock Instrumental Performance Grammy nomination for Live in Detroit and I bought the 2003 Now which earned this review from an Associated Press writer: When it comes to fiery, guitar-drenched rock, Frampton delivers.
Unlike many of his rock contemporaries, Frampton has traditionally not done collaborations to raise awareness of his albums, or to stay current with the so-called gen-x and gen-y crowd.
Carlos Santana has always been an instrumentalist who brings in guest vocal talent and lyricists for the current decade, and this has helped him sell 
With solo artists like Frampton, who does both the playing and is the front man on vocals, it s actually harder to stay fresh in a world filled with boy bands and overly sexed teen pop princesses. Without directly catering to boomers, it s difficult to compete with My milkshake brings more boys to the yard or the latest Beyonce video, or the crop of pop-rock bands who provide the soundtrack for just about every youth oriented TV show and movie currently made.
Ironic since he was one a pop idol, movie star and as recognizable as any music celebrity. But, he s always a little overshadowed by that one big album that is still considered the best selling live record of all time (with 16 million copies sold, it s also one of the best selling records of any decade in any genre).
Personally I think it s a really ballsy, and possibly brilliant, idea to do an instrumental album and concentrate on both the playing and the vibe that comes from good rock, blues and even the pop-jazz music of sax players like Dave Koz.
I am likely the target audience for this disc, since I buy every album that Joe Satriani puts out, since I dig his guitar playing, and the rock and melodic hooks over which he can then noodle or riff without worrying about whether the vocal performance or lyrics mean anything or not.
News RSS