On 20 October 1973, Peter Frampton released his second solo album, Frampton's Camel, a record named after the band he had assembled the year before. It was his first album recorded in the United States, and he produced it himself. The sessions took place at Electric Lady, the New York studio built for Jimi Hendrix. The album's title pointed back to the group Frampton had formed in 1972, the same year he released his debut solo record, Wind of Change. That first album had been a quieter affair, but by the time he entered Electric Lady he was thinking in band terms. The New York sessions were not the only ones, however: part of the record was also cut at Olympic Studios in London.
A band assembled for a heavier sound
Frampton had walked away from Humble Pie, the British rock band where he had made his name, and he wanted something tougher. The album's hard-rock edge was deliberate: he was after a heavier sound than his previous work. To get it, he surrounded himself with a new group: bassist Rick Wills, drummer John Siomos, and keyboardist Mick Gallagher.
Frampton had walked away from Humble Pie, the British rock band where he had made his name, and he wanted something tougher.
The packaging made the point clearly. Early pressings and eight-track cartridges credited the record to Frampton's Camel, and the cover read 'Frampton's Camel by Frampton's Camel'. This was not a solo project in the old sense; it was a band effort, and Frampton wanted that identity stamped on the music. The band identity carried into the studio credits as well. Frank Carillo, an additional musician on the sessions, played acoustic and electric guitar and sang backing vocals. Behind the desk, the recording and mixing were handled by Eddie Kramer, Chris Kimsey, Dave Wittman, and Doug Bennett.
Instruments and credits across the record
Frampton himself played electric and acoustic guitar, but he also sat behind the drum kit, played piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond organ, and Hohner clavinet. Gallagher handled the same keyboard range and sang, while Wills played bass and Siomos played drums and percussion. The album's centerpiece, 'Do You Feel Like We Do', ran six minutes and forty-four seconds and was credited to all four musicians. The album ran just over thirty-seven minutes in total, a compact statement of the harder direction Frampton wanted. Its genre sits firmly in hard rock and rock music, and that toughness was matched by the way the songs were credited across the band. 'All Night Long', one of the singles, was written by Frampton together with Mick Gallagher.
The record also reached outside the band. Frampton included a cover of Stevie Wonder's 'I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)', written by Wonder and Yvonne Wright. Singles like 'All Night Long' and 'Lines on My Face' were released, but the album peaked at 110 on the American Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. The singles kept coming through 1973: alongside 'All Night Long' and 'Lines on My Face', the label released 'I Got My Eyes on You' and 'Which Way the Wind Blows'. The following year, Frampton returned with Somethin's Happening, the next step in the run of A&M albums that began with Frampton's Camel. Four years after these sessions, he would be back at Electric Lady to record I'm in You.
That modest chart position did not stop the album from launching a new phase. Frampton's Camel was the first of a series of albums Frampton would release on A&M Records, and it marked the real start of his solo career after Humble Pie. The hard-rock sound he chased in that New York studio became the foundation for everything that followed.