Prampton alive in NZ

Rip It Up, Issue 17, 1 November 1978, Page 3

Pra mpton alive in NZ

Ten years ago, Peter Frampton was named ‘‘Face of the Year” by Britain’s teenybopper magazines.

If anything, the title is more applicable today. Then, Frampton was just another pretty kid with a British band called The Herd, which had its moment in the spotlight. A sojourn with the ruff ’n’ reddy Humble Pie followed. This was Frampton’s baptism in hard-slogging American roadwork.

The Americans went for the Pie’s thrashing boogie and Frampton is on the double Rockin' the Fillmore, a classic LP for head bruisers. A series of solo albums followed, but aside from plaudits for his general good taste, things weren’t coming Frampton's way. But all the while, he was out on the road, criss crossing America. (“Now, let me see, if all the people who came to the show buy an album of the show. . .") In 1976 the double live Frampton Comes Alive broke album sales records, gave Frampton stellar status and established a recording format that rapidly became a tiresome cliche. Frampton Comes Alive remains the high spot of the Frampton career. Material from that album will form the mainstay of Frampton’s New Zealand performances (Western Springs, Auckland, November 22 and QE2 Park, Christchurch, November 26). Frampton says he may also play a few of the Beatles tunes he performs in the Sgt Pepper film.

Second billed are the Kinks, who were last in New Zealand nearly 14 years ago on a package with Manfred Mann and (ahem!) the Honeycombs (you know, the girl drummer and all that).

With the Kinks’ latest album Misfits, Ray Davies continues to explore his miniaturist’s view of society and his own brand of Anglo

nostalgia. At a recent London gig, the Kinks encored with the hardy “All Day and All of the Night,” so expect music from any period of their 22 album history. Also on the bill are Sherbet, once voted Australia’s Most Popular Group three years in a row. They’re best known here for the single “Howzat” but in Australia they were enormously successful, with lead singer Daryl Braithwaite often gracing the covers of the Oz pop papers. They're Robert Stigwood’s newest discovery. For Sherbet, the signing with Stigwood is a big break. Look what he did for John Travolta.