Peter Frampton made his solo debut with 1972's Wind of Change, following successful stints with The Herd and Humble Pie. The album put his acoustic guitar up front, while he also demonstrated his virtuosity on the organ, keyboards, drums, percussion, dulcimer, harmonium, and, of course, the lead vocals. Now, more than half a century later, Frampton has teamed with Intervention Records for a limited edition vinyl box set and a series of hybrid SACD reissues celebrating his early solo years. The vinyl box set is due on July 28 while the SACDs will ship earlier, in April.
The Frampton@50 box, limited to just 2,500 copies, contains new 180-gram vinyl remasters of three of Frampton's first four A&M albums: Wind of Change (1972), Frampton's Camel (1973), and Frampton (1975). (1974's Somethin's Happening is not included in the series.) All three titles are 100% analog-mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman mastering from "the best-sounding analog tape sources available." Vinyl has been pressed at Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland, Ohio, and the box also includes a replica of the promotional poster included with the first pressing of Frampton's Camel as well as a Certificate of Authenticity with a message from the artist.
In addition, Frampton has autographed the Camel poster in 250 box sets, with all proceeds from the sales of those 250 copies going to the Peter Frampton Myositis Research Fund. Those copies are available directly through his webstore.
The box set's artwork is up to Intervention Records' typical high standards. The "tip-on" jackets have been printed at Stoughton, with Wind of Change and Frampton's Camel having "brown-in" blanks in the style of the original U.K. releases. The original LPs came with inner sleeves bearing the lyrics on both sides; these have been expanded to make up the interior panels of the single-LP gatefold jackets. All three jackets are printed on heavy stock and film-laminated. They're housed in a sturdy slipcase with a matte-textured finish and spot Gloss UV as well as double-pass foil numbering.
Not into vinyl? Intervention has you covered, too. The three Frampton@50 albums will also be released on stereo hybrid SACDs playable on all CD players. These releases feature the same remastered audio by Chris Bellman as the 180-gram LPs, direct to DSD from the analog tapes. The SACDs are available individually or as a bundle.
The singer-guitarist had his commercial breakthrough with the final album in this series, 1975's Frampton; the Gold-certified LP introduced "Show Me the Way" and "Baby I Love Your Way" - both of which would become hit singles in their live versions from 1976's Frampton Comes Alive! double album. Not only did Frampton come alive, but he shot to superstardom. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 the week ending April 10, 1976, spending ten non-consecutive weeks there through October. It's sold more than 11 million copies worldwide to date and is one of the most famous live albums of all time; Frampton released his most recent studio album, Frampton Forgets the Words, in 2021.
The vinyl and hybrid SACD formats of Frampton@50 are available now for pre-order at the links below directly from Intervention Records.
Frampton@50 (Limited Edition Vinyl Box / Autographed Vinyl Box / 3-SACD Collection)
Contains:
- Wind of Change (A&M SP 4348, 1972) (Order Hybrid SACD here)
- Frampton's Camel (A&M SP 4389, 1973) (Order Hybrid SACD here)
- Frampton (A&M SP-4512, 1975) (Order Hybrid SACD here)
Jarmo Keranen says
What's the reason there's no Somethin's Happening?
Harry N Cohen says
$30 per cd is a bit steep, but Wind of Change is such a magnificent album, I may take the plunge! Something's Happening is my favorite of the pre Frampton Comes Alive albums. Why was it left out?
Paul E. says
SACDs are nice and I own plenty of them- just not as appealing for me as compared to Blu-ray audio with both hi-res 2 channel stereo and ATMOS options. Include DTS, a rare Quad mix, extra tracks well beyond the 80 minute mark and they win every time. Can’t believe these are still fetching $30.00 per SACD without, at least, multi-channel audio. Not to mention SACD compatibility limitations most consumers face- they just have an expensive CD to play at the end of the day. Who doesn’t own a Blu-ray player these days and if they don’t, it’s safe to say their setup won’t include a CD player that can read the SACD layer anyway. ATMOS streaming is taking off and physical formats should keep pace or they’ll just continue to decline.
Al Liebson says
Nobody seems to be answering the question re: why Something’s Happening is not included in the box set. Great album—why is it not included?