"Lying" by Peter Frampton

Song#:  2602
Date:  02/01/1986
Debut:  97
Peak:  74
Weeks:  8
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Frampton tasted success at an early age. When he was sixteen, he was a member of the British band The Herd. They captured two UK Top 10's beginning in 1967. The following year he left that band and joined Humble Pie. That blues-rock band would have good success in the US in the early 70s, but by 1971 Frampton was done and ready to move out on his own. His first three albums were low-charters that failed to yield any charting singles. The tides began to turn with his fourth album, 1975's Frampton. A couple of songs from the album got some attention and even though none of them charted, the album grew in popularity and made it to #32 on the chart. That set him up for one of the biggest albums of the 70s, Frampton Comes Alive! It hit #1 thanks to two Top 10 hits ("Show Me the Way" and "Do You Feel Like I Do") and another that got to #12 ("Baby, I Love Your Way). Although he'd been a star for years, it seemed like overnight Frampton was a superstar. His next studio LP contained the #2 title track "I'm in You," but the #2 platinum album was considered a disappointment after the multi-platinum live set. Things tumbled from there with his next three albums successively doing worse. Due to a dispute with his label (A&M), Frampton didn't record anything for four years. He finally moved over to Atlantic Records for 1986's Premonition. This first single would be his first Top 10 on the Rock chart getting to #4. That result allowed the song to cross over to Pop for a couple of months. It wasn't a major hit, but it got Frampton back in the game. Although it would be his last charting Pop single, the boost helped his career and he would go on to have some good successes such as 2006's Fingerprints, which won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

ReduxReview:  Guitar wizard Frampton returns after a four years absence and glosses up his sound with a slick 80s synths and production. It worked well enough to get him back on the Pop chart, but critics weren't all that kind. I remember the album coming out and hearing this song on the radio. I thought it was a pretty good track that fit in at the time with stuff being pushed out by Huey Lewis, Don Henley, and Steve Winwood. Is it the same 70s classic rock Frampton? Nope. But that is fine. He took a stab at keeping up with trends and I thought it worked out fine.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Back in 1970, Frampton was having issues with his guitar during some Humble Pie shows in San Francisco. An audience member got Frampton's attention and said he had a modified Les Paul guitar available if Frampton wanted to give it a try. Frampton tested it out and immediately fell in love with the guitar. For the next decade he used that guitar in all his performances including the one for his famous Frampton Comes Alive! album (the guitar is on the cover of the LP). In 1980 between stops on a South American tour, the guitar was loaded on the cargo plane that was to take the gear to the next gig. Unfortunately, the plane crashed just after take off killing the pilot. Frampton assumed that his guitar was destroyed in the crash. Yet, it was not. It somehow survived with some bumps and bruises and ended up with a musician who lived in Curaçao. He played it for decades and sometime in 2009 the guitar needed a fix and he took it to a local guy who does repairs. As it happens, that repair guy's main job is as a customs agent and being a collector of guitars, he noticed the modifications on the instrument and thinkg started to click. He identified it as Frampton's guitar and sent pictures to Frampton so that he could verify. It did indeed look like Frampton's guitar, but the current owner wasn't very willing to part with it. After two years, the guy finally sold it to the custom's agent who then presented it back to Frampton. After 31 years, Frampton's guitar was finally back home.
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