THE RISE AND RISE OF PETER FRAMPTON

THE RISE AND RISE OF PETER FRAMPTON

IN WHICH THE PLAN IS REVEALED, ITS ARCHITECTS STEP FORWARD, AND ALL CONCERNED LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Penny Valentine

LONDON—“Im more confident now, thats the difference. Success brought me confidence and relief because I finally made it," said Peter Frampton, leaning back into the fat soft cushions in his suite at the Ritz. He was in London on this midsummer day to attend to personal business, mostly. “Happier? I was just as happy when I didnt have any money. Umm...I was told I contradicted myself the other day on that point."

“You were very worried about it," manager Dee Anthony interjected. “It plays an important part in everybodys life. Paying bills, the security, thats human nature. See—he can laugh at it now," he nodded towards Frampton.

“But, I tell you, there were moments of desperation. Moments when he said hed become a session musician. You start to resign yourself, defeat yourself.

Thats when you have to get another little firecracker going."

Anthony, as ebulliant as his artist is reserved, is a managerial tour de force.

His rock n roll track record (after years in “straight" show biz)—first with Humble Pie, then with Framptons Camel—is impressive. He cajoled, fought and pushed both acts to achieve the success they sought. Once there, he became their mentor, his extrovert personality riding along in their slipstream.

A rotund, suntanned man in his caftan; his nails polished, hair gleaming, and a diamond in one ear;

Anthony talks in a series of exclamation marks interspersed by roars of laughter and bear hugs. People love him or hate him—what they cant deny is his ability, not just to sign good business contracts but to be endlessly watchful—sitting out there in the packed auditorium making mental notes. He will come backstage with his suggestions: a switch of number here, a different ending there.

“An artistic manager? said Frampton of Dee. “Thats his forte."

Since Framptons split from Pie and the eventual demise of the band, Dee and Peters relationship has been close. People describe it as father and son, that Anthony has been heard to talk about Frampton as “my boy," not so much possessively as proudly. All through our interview Anthony hovered in the background, although he only interrupted when I asked him a direct question.

So—was he the one that provided that firecracker?

"I was just as happy when I didn't have any money."

" I'm secure In the knowledge that screaming now Isnt all that Its about-not like It used

“Ill tell you—a little bit of everybody did. Doors can be opened, moves can be made—but the biggest move has to be his."

That move started in 1975. Peter Frampton went to Anthony. He told him he wanted to cut a live album. Dee told him to go ahead. At that time neither of them, with all their experience, had a clue what would happen when Frampton Comes Alive hit the racks. It was a calculated risk.

“As much as you can plan anything, we had 'a plan and it worked very well," mused Frampton. “But then we had to make another plan—to cope with what happened."

To date Frampton Comes Alive has sold 13 million copies worldwide, vaulting Frampton—for a while at least—into the annals of rock mythology. From this springboard his next album, Im In You, went platinum in precisely seven days, he won the Playboy poll as best guitarist (“one of the highlights of my life"), his earlier album Frampton picked up on the hysteria to sell a million copies more than when it was first released; in fact, A&M Records report that the whole Frampton back catalogue, which hardly dented the market when it first came out, is currently selling like wildfire.

Its hard these days to avoid Peter Frampton. His toothy grin gleams down from billboards, advertisements, album covers; his shirt seems forever open to the waist, his hair is carefully unruly. He has a heavily subscribed fan club. And now Hollywood is after him. He is already committed to playing Billy Shears in the film version of Sgt. Pepper, due for release next summer.

He has become a rock phenomenon, an “overnight sensation," and its a success that has prompted music sociologists to scratch their heads in bewilderment.

Frampton himself says the question everyone still asks him is “Why?"

On the surface the answer could be that young America, whether it knew it or not, was looking for a new guitar hero. And Frampton, whether he was aware of it or not, fitted the bill. More, he provided the perfect combination: his looks, his simple accessibility as both writer and performer, his more than adequate but certainly less than spectacular guitar work, the intriguing addition of a voice box...although none alone stood out as being unique, the total package was acceptable to the greatest amount of people at the same time. And unlike the Claptons and the Pages, Frampton was still in his mid-20s. Unlike his contemporaries, he was the antithesis of the powerful and often threatening rock hero.

And of course, there was The Plan. It would have finally assured Frampton a fairly comfortable niche in the rock hierarchy. But it was based on longevity, not the explosion that accelerated Frampton from relative obscurity to superstar status in 12 months.

The Plan got underway in 1974. Three albums had come and gone since Frampton had signed solo with A&M—Wind of Change, Framptons Camel, Somethins Happening—and Anthony decided that what his artist needed was constant exposure in front of audiences. The long haul began and the beginning did not augur well:

“Look—how deep do you wanna go to start again?" said Anthony. “He was with a group called Humble Pie who had achieved a fair amount of success and a huge album. You pull away from that—knowing that album is well on its way—for your own reasons." He looks sympathetically at Frampton. “Then you tour with that very same band, open the show, and you come off stage with barely—" he claps his hands together slowly twice “—this. And you go back to your dressing room hearing the ovations given to Pie. Dont you think that had some effect on him? To want maybe more? To get that ill show them feeling?"

Frampton recalled the morning after that opening date. At breakfast Anthony and Frank Barcelona told him he should try changing the order of the act. They agreed to cut out one number.

“Wed never have thought of doing it in a million years—but you saw it," he said admiringly to Anthony.

Anthony nodded. “I saw it."

From then on there were constant changes, constant advice. Anthony was on the road non-stop with Frampton. He admits to a lot of trial and error, a lot of standing in the wings saying 'Go on-you can do it, until Framptons confidence just to get out there had improved.

Anthony continued: “Theres always some trepidation with acoustic numbers, right? Then Came the problem of cutting out—he was having such a good time up there! So you lay it out and you tighten it up. We played games. Little subtleties on stage, things we know make an audience react. The timing has to be perfect, and it was. I could be in a dressing room and just by listening to the audience react Id know when wed hit right on the mark!"

Still, when Frampton went into the studios to cut his fourth album, Framp-

"I'm realistic enough to realize that whatever has made this happen...you don't do 13 million albums every day. ..Dee Anthony"

ton, he was broke. He was still selling off his stereo, tape recorders and guitars when the album started to break in San Francisco in the spring of 1975. It picked up in other areas where Frampton had gigged heavily, then spluttered out.

More touring followed. By then, dejected though he was with lack of album sales, Framptons confidence and pulling power on stage was enormous. Over that year it was to become legendary.

“I think it was just a build-up," Anthony asserted. “It wasnt just the touring—there are hundreds of bands that go touring for years and nothing happens-it was what he did with th# touring. He grew as a performer. He got into this one-to-one relationship with his audience which very few rock artists have. There can be 20 or 90,000 in the audience, but each individual feels its to him that Peter is speaking. Thats a very difficult thing to achieve. And he went into a lot of markets—secondary and third markets. Like theres a dozen major markets," he said, slipping easily into business jargon. “An^l after that—youre out in the woods. All of that, plus his growing and developing...by the live album—although maybe we didnt see it at the time—the dam was ready to overflow."

When Frampton decided that capitalizing on his audience power was the one way he could break his album sales jinx, most people thought he was crazy. But he had history to refer to—Humble Pie had finally broken on a live album, and theyd cut it at exactly the same period in their careers that Frampton chose to cut his: “When the audience is responding more to the live shows than they are to the records. So I thought, well, lets try it again. I wasnt really worried at all, at that point I had nothing to lose."

The album seemed likely, at least, to pick up 100,000 off live dates. When it reached four million, Frampton, Anthony and A&M were, stunned. This past summer 13 million sent them into a temporary state of euphoria—although they are already expressing concern about where they go from here.

“Im realistic enough to realize that whatever has made this happen, you dont do 13 million albums every day," Anthony frowned. “Like coming out with Im In You...you just dont know. How high is up?" g

The MOR musical stamp thats been attached to Frampton only slightly jars on artist and manager. Anthony opined that the main criticism theyre going1 to get now is from “die-hard" rock critics not knowing what thle word entertainment means," and that the people who were always writing “Why has he never had a hit? are the same ones who now accuse him of selling out and going commercial.

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“What they don i consider is that hes never had a number one single. His singles NEVER led the field as his albums do. And because of the album success, his singles got so much airplay they sounded like big big hit singles. But from a point of sales he did not have a gold single! Im In You could possibly be the first one."

Although Frampton is the first to agree that his songwriting is less than astounding (“When I write I only do it when I have to. A few chords, a few words. Im npt someone who sits down every day and comes out with 12 songs"), Anthony springs to his defense:

“Hes not Cole Porter! He writes a line like 'Im in you, youre in me, cause you gave me the love I never had and people go: 'Oh how trite! Well you can say it a lot of ways—thats the way he says it!

“I dont know," he said, warming to his subject, “what some reviewers expect to happen on a record—is it supposed to blow up? Sometimes the best hit over the head is a subtle sledgehammer and thats what this album is. Its so basically simple."

Certainly, Frampton agrees that Im In You was a problem to start on. For the first three days of recording, things went badly.

“I kept telling myself there was no pressure and not to compare it to the live album. But however you do it, people will. I did start to panic. Then I had a mini-nervous breakdown," he laughed. “Then it wasJfine."

Frampton speculates that it is hard to gauge how many people have bought the new album simply on the strength of Frampton Comes Alive.

“Everybody seemed to luuve the live album. But do they luuve the new one? I dont really think they can as much."

Neither he nor Anthony seem naive enough to believe they can hit the 13 million mark again in the near future. The new Plah has had to accomodate the twists of fate and looks likely to concentrate itself once again with improving and building Framptons stage act. Most artists in' Framptons position' have a plan of some kind to work through the machinations of the rock world, but very few would own up to it with the surprising honesty of Frampton and Anthony.

They admit quite readily to a certain amount of audience manipulation, which came to a head at Madison Square Garden. Framptons three hour show normally ends with an up number like “Jumping Jack Flash." Frampton had just written “Im In You" and Dee agreed that it would be better to end the show with that. “Its called a kiss-off," he told Frampton that night. “Its something calm and theyll be singing it when you get back to the dressing room "

Frampton did the number with a hand mike, no guitar and just Bobby Mayo on keyboard. The result was not quite what they expected. On the chorus Frampton naturally fell into the position of pointing to each part of the auditorium: “And wherever I pointed the place just...erupted! It was amazing."

“So the kiss-off," said Anthony, laughing,, “became a scream-off! So you see you find new magic by accident, never mind the plans. A song you put in like a nice nostalgic good night becomes 'Now how do you follow that? "

After the three nights at the Garden, Frampton came off the road for the 'new album. It was the first long break hed had in three years. He retired to his 45-acre woodland estate outside New York, trying “not to think about why it all happened. I tried to push it away and forget. Its something if I did find out, Id be more nervous about."

When he went back to touring this summer, he realized he needed the constant exposure in front of an audience more than hed thought:

“I got back on stage and felt...unoiled, and it wasnt a nice feeling. Now I know I cant afford to take that amount of time off again. I couldnt talk on that first gig. Here I was, supposedly the great communicator., .so obviously the secret of my success is to just keep working."

Anthonys summer tour schedule was set up to send Frampton to places hed never headlined before, appearing in cities most artists tend to avoid. “Believe it or not, there are still some places I havent played yet," he laughed.

The last few dates on the first leg of the summer tour, according to Frampton, brought the screamers out in force. He seemed unconcerned, although years ago the fact that an audience would scream as he stepped forward to take a solo was a huge psychological barrier. He quit one group as a result and bitterly resented the fact that nobody would treat him as a serious musician. The album sales, the accolades, the press attitude over the past few years have made up for all that.

“Im secure in the knowledge that the screaming now isnt all thjat its about— not like it used to be."

Does he find his. “power" over an audience frightening?

“Mmm yeah—but fun."

“Its called command of an audience," said Anthony. “Its knowing. Thats, the difference between going to work for 8 to 10 hours a day and having nothing to show for it. Hes got a lot to show for the three years hes been out there."