Great Rock Albums of 1986: Peter Frampton- Premonition

If you had been listening to commercial radio or watching MTV back in 1986, you would have been hit with the hype that the 1986 “Premonition” album was Peter Frampton’s big comeback album. While it was true that he seemed out of the limelight since the late 1970s, he did put out a couple of albums in the early 1980s. They just didn’t get much notice from people, including me. There were also rumours that Peter gave up touring because like Steve Tyler in Philadelphia in 1979, he too was hit by a bottle thrown from the audience. I have found no evidence of this.

When the first single from “Premonition,” “Lying,” first aired, I thought that Peter Frampton was simply going with the commerciality of the time and released an album suited to that way. Yes, it’s true that the synthesizers are definitely turned up on the album but there is some evidence of the Peter everyone remembered from the famous “Frampton Comes Alive” album. It came in evidence of the guitar solos on many of the songs. Take “Lying” for example. I don’t remember a guitar solo in the intro on the version I heard on the radio but it’s there on the album version. If fact, he solos quite a all throughout the album and over the synths and while he doesn’t use the famous talk box guitar from his famous live album, he proves he can still wail.

The title track is certainly the best song on the album for me. The synths take more of a backseat and the guitars show through. If this had been released as a single at the time, I would have been more into the album and would have not thought that Peter was trying to recapture his past glory by trying to remain relevant with a commercial sounding album. This track reminds me of those great glorious days when “Frampton Comes Alive” was the most talked about subject in high school, at least in my Sophmore year.

Another good rocking track is “Moving a Mountain.” This is also more a straight ahead rocker but unlike the title track, Peter doesn’t solo his way through the song. It’s still a very good track and his guitar solo in the song is top notch. Saying that, he does solo his way through the track, “You Know So Well” but the rhythm is more synthesizer than guitar so while it’s a cool track, it comes in third. What it does do, however, is to prove that Peter was not trying to be more Duran Duran and actually put out a decent serious album. God, I can’t believe how close minded I was back in 1986. I mean even the power ballad, “All Eyes on You” is pretty good.

Track Listing:

1. Stop
2. Hiding from a Heartache
3. You Know So Well
4. Premonition
5. Lying
6. Moving a Mountain
7. All Eyes on You
8. Into View
9. Call of the Wild

Peter Frampton (though in 1986 he sported a mullet)

Peter Frampton- guitar, vocals, synthesizer, bass on “Stop” and “Lying”

Tony Levin- bass, Chapman stick on “Call of the Wild”

Richard Cottle- keyboards

Omar Hakim, Steve Ferrone- drums

Chuck Kirkpatrick, Johnne Sambataro- backing vocals

Peter Solley- piano on “Stop”

Richard Puente- percussion on “Hiding From a Heartache” and “All Eyes on You”

It’s apparent that Steve Lukather wasn’t informed of Peter Frampton’s comeback album

The problem Peter had with “Premonition” was that people would always compare it to “Frampton Comes Alive.” Unlike that album, “Premonition” didn’t come in the mail with samples of Tide. (Wayne’s World 2) It’s still a good album and should have been judged on its individual merit. Oh yes, another point, if it hadn’t been for the holidays, I would have posted about this album straight after the Stevie Nicks post. Peter supported Stevie on tour in 1986 and from what I heard, it was a great combo for a concert.

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