Frampton Comes Alive by Peter Frampton (1976). When this live album was released in 1976, it shot to the top of the charts and became a staple in record collections for years. What I love about this album is the crispness of Frampton's lead guitar style. He is a very melodic, fluid guitarist. Nothing I've heard of his studio work (particularly his follow-up studio album, the disappointing I'm In You) matches the graceful performances on this album.

"Lines On My Face" is among my favorites because of Frampton’s lead guitar work. Where lead guitar is concerned, I guess I’m pretty conservative. I want the lead to stay in key—I’m not one for atonal or dissonant music even in jazz and classical music (although Monk’s work is interesting). I also want the lead to flow with the tempo, not create its own rhythm and expect the band’s rhythm section (and the listener) to follow along. Frampton accomplishes both of these brilliantly. His lead work is slick and seamless. I suppose people can criticize him for not taking more chances, but frankly I often find that what pass for “chances” in other hot-shot guitarists are actually cop outs that disguise an inability to go with the song, stay within its boundaries (of key and tempo) and still produce something interesting to listen to.

The 25^th Anniversary release of this album includes some tracks left off the original, and some liner notes. The notes are better than the tracks, which means that you shouldn’t shell out money for the notes alone. The new tracks were left off the original album for a reason. The notes boil down to “This album made a big difference in Peter Frampton’s career.”

It would be much more interesting if the liner notes in the 25^th Anniversary release included a more specific and critical explanation of what the hell happened to Peter Frampton after this album came out.