Peter Frampton didn’t expect “Frampton Comes Alive” to make him a phenomenon.
The British singer/songwriter/guitarist was a rock-‘n’-roll veteran by the time the two-record set appeared Jan. 6, 1976. He’d logged stints in several bands, and his sideman credits included ex-Beatle George Harrison’s landmark release “All Things Must Pass” (1970).
Frampton said he hoped that his live album would mimic “Rockin’ the Fillmore” (1971), a live-album peak for his previous band, Humble Pie. A gold record, representing sales of half a million copies, would be a nice achievement, Frampton thought.
More than 25 million copies and a quarter-century later, he can only laugh at his modest ambitions.
“I just wanted a gold record — literally, that’s what we were thinking,” says Frampton, 50, who is releasing an expanded “Deluxe Edition” of “Frampton Comes Alive” to mark its anniversary.
