PETER FRAMPTON
I'm In You (A&M/UMG)
Reviewed by Bill Holmes

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Uh, no you're not! Ewwww….

Why Behind The Music hasn't rung Peter Frampton's doorbell by now is a mystery to me. Who would have thought that recording the biggest-selling live album of all time (at the time, one of the biggest selling records, period!) would cause his career to go into such a tailspin? It's not his fault that Frampton Comes Alive was played incessantly for almost two years until even his own fans had their fill and then some.

So how do you follow up a record like that? Well, appearing on the cover in lumpy satin pants and an open-shirt beefcake pose didn't send the male fans rushing to the front counter, that's for certain. And although the album and title song charted at #2 and gave him his first platinum studio record, the songs on I'm In You just don't hold up to his prior work. But artists needed to be more prolific in the mid-seventies, and with A&M hustling a new Frampton title on the heels of Comes Alive, even a spoken word album would have gone platinum. In fairness, when would he have had time to write anything during two years as rock's poster boy? The cover of "(I'm A) Roadrunner" is arguably the best track on the record, and that's not a good sign for someone who is supposed to be a strong songwriter. The huge drop-off in sales made this record look like a total failure, and Frampton's star would never hit those heights again (in retrospect, probably a relief for the artist!)

With success come the star trappings, so we have Stevie Wonder clocking in to play harmonica on "Rocky's Hot Club" (about Frampton's dog, another clue he had no time to write strong material for this record). The favor is returned with a decent cover of "Signed Sealed Delivered (I'm Yours)". But Little Feat's Ritchie Hayward does contribute some stellar drum work (although prior drummer John Siomos plays most tracks); as a result "Tried To Love" and especially "St. Thomas" sound like Little Feat songs circa "Dixie Chicken". Also joining the fold was multi- instrumentalist Bob Mayo, who recently reunited with Frampton for his Live In Detroit release.

I'm In You has its moments, but if you're looking for prime Frampton material, head for the first four studio albums (all of which will be released this Summer).

© 2000 - Bill Holmes