continued from page 15
Though the band certainly never found the chart success that Frampton would go on to enjoy as a solo artist, Humble Pie played an important role in the pioneering of the guitar-laden supergroups of the decade. He released his solo debut Wind of Change, featuring Ringo Starr and Billy Preston, in 1972 and went on to record three more for A&M Records, all moderately received, between that year and the unforseen breakout Frampton Comes Alive!, recorded primarily at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
16 THE NASHVILLE MUSICIAN
As if someone had flipped a switch, Frampton was suddenly the shining idol and all that entails, rollicking to the rattle and jangle — as well as the distorted beat — of the rock & roll superstar. There he is, frenetic and thin as a scarecrow in bellbottoms, rocking the show on Midnight Special for Wolfman Jack. America was making it up as it went along. “It was such a jolt when it all took off, that it’s very hard to remember details back then — it all happened so fast,” Frampton said. “It was a very surreal period. I went from basically being
unknown, apart from Humble Pie, to this worldwide biggest record ever. “I think you can actually use the term ‘It blew my mind!’ in its correct form and place. That was definitely a mind-blowing moment. I had to sit down on that one.” A critical element that fueled Frampton’s meteoric rise was the use of a vocal effect that would become a trademark — the talkbox. The unit, which modifies the sound of Frampton’s guitar and directs it through a tube that is adjacent to his vocal mic, allows him to “sing” the guitar’s output. Two of the monster hits from Frampton Comes Alive!, “Do You Feel Like We Do” and “Show Me The Way,” featured the talkbox, bringing the obscure effect into the mainstream consciousness. The use of the talkbox is very much a Frampton fingerprint, and — of course! — its roots can be traced to a Nashville connection. “The first person I met from Nashville was Pete Drake, the pedal steel player,” Frampton said. “It was at Abbey Road Studios, during [the recording of] George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass record. I was playing on some of those sessions. He [Drake] had played on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, and recommended to George that if you wanted pedal steel, this was the man for him. “So, George flew him over and set him up right next to me in Abbey Road in London, and in a slow moment, he got out this little box — and I didn’t know what he was doing. Drake said ‘check this out,’ and all of a sudden he put this little pipe in his mouth, and the next thing I know the pedal steel is singing to me! It was a eureka moment for me. I had heard that sound, but Pete Drake had made it himself. There were no talkboxes being made commercially. It was his. Then, years later, I came to Nashville to live. It’s funny that this is the place [from which] the talkbox reached out to me.” The success, and excess, of Frampton Comes Alive! was unexpected, uncharted — and ultimately — unsustainable. “From that moment on, I became more and more scared,” Frampton said. “It was like I had the feeling that the bigger you are, or the higher you go, the bigger the crash. And that was in my mind right from the time we hit No. 1.”