CoronaVinyl Day 172 (F): Frampton's Camel by Peter Frampton

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and I'm going with Peter Frampton's second solo studio album after leaving Humble Pie, 1973's Frampton's Camel.

If you're like me -- and you better pray to your cleverly placed elf on a shelf that you're not -- then your familiarity with Frampton is largely from songs featured on his massive 1976 live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, which was the top-selling album of 1976 in the U.S. and was, for a time, the best-selling live album of all-time (it's now fourth).  Three songs from that album were Top 12 hits on the Billboard Hot 100:  "Show Me The Way" (#6), "Baby, I Love Your Way" (#10), and "Do You Feel Like We Do" (#12).

What's crazy is that, prior to Frampton Comes Alive!, Frampton didn't have any songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 or on his native UK singles chart, and his highest-charting album only reached #32 on the Billboard album chart (1975's Frampton).  Oh, what a talk box can do.

Despite not having much commercial success (it topped out at #110 on the Billboard album chart), Frampton's Camel is a solid '70s rock album that sets the groundwork for Frampton's later success.  It includes the studio version of "Do You Feel Like We Do," though that's the only track from Frampton's Camel that ended up on Frampton Comes Alive!

Favorite song from Side 1:  "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)"

When this song came on today, before I recognized the song, I thought to myself, Damn, that song sounds familiar.  I didn't realize it was a Frampton song.  Then I realized it's a cover of a Stevie Wonder underrated gem, which was released about a year earlier on Wonder's Talking Book album.  The song is a great, soulful song, and Frampton's cover is pretty solid, even if it doesn't feature as many delicious fills as Wonder provided in the original (as he himself played all the instruments on the song).

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Do You Feel Like We Do"
Until today, I don't think I had ever heard the studio version of "Do You Feel Like We Do."  It's the closer on the album, and perhaps Frampton knew it would end up being his show closer at concerts one day.  The song even kind of has a loose, live feel to it.  At 6:44, it's over seven minutes shorter than the live version on Frampton Comes Alive!, and it doesn't have that signature talk box that the live version has, but it's still pretty epic.