No. 980 – Doobie Wah

Performer: Peter Frampton

Songwriters: Peter Frampton, John Siomos, Rick Wills

Original Release: Somethin’s Happening

Year: 1974

Definitive Version: Frampton Comes Alive!, 1976

It will become abundantly clear over the course of this list that when it comes to favorite songs, a live version of the song when it’s an option is preferred 99 times out of 100. Sometimes the said version is the ONLY reason that I like the song. That preference can be attributed to Frampton Comes Alive!

Although it wasn’t the first live album that I heard (Four Way Street) or even owned (Stephen Stills Live), Frampton Comes Alive! was the one that turned me on to live albums. First, there are the collection of songs. If you’re diving into a new band or performer, you get essentially the greatest hits up to the time of the album.

Second, there’s the sound itself. Solos and songs can go in different—and much longer—directions. And as long as the sound is somewhat OK—the artist wouldn’t release it if it sounded like a muddy bootleg—the cheers add to the excitement level, as if you were there. And no album that I’ve heard—official or bootleg—ever captured that excitement level like Frampton Comes Alive! did. I’m certain that it was a large part of the album’s success. The crowd is reacting so wildly that you thought what they were seeing was the greatest concert of all time.

Many years later, my sister asked a friend who went to one of the shows that was recorded for the album (the one where the guy is chucking firecrackers). And he says the crowd WAS in fact that loud, at least at that show. That’s cool, but would it really have mattered if it had been punched up? All I know is that I was sold, and it forever shaped how I listen to music.