Peter Frampton’s equipment featured on Kiss’s Alive! album
Rock legends Peter Frampton, Ace Frehley, and Paul Stanley found themselves unexpectedly intertwined during the making of their iconic live albums at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Frampton Comes Alive! was Frampton’s game-changing live album from 1976 that shot to the top of the charts. Meanwhile, Kiss was working on their 1975 live album Alive!, which featured the hit track “Rock And Roll All Nite”.
It is widely known that Kiss’s Alive! album underwent studio modifications to enhance its live sound. In their autobiographies, Stanley, Frehley, and Criss all confirm this, with Simmons elaborating on the topic separately. The challenge of capturing Kiss’s energetic stage presence and epic live performances in a recording was met with obstacles such as Stanley’s dynamic stage movements causing microphone issues and the intense stage lights throwing the guitars out of tune. Overdubbing and re-recording parts in the studio helped maintain the album’s live energy while rectifying these technical issues.
Producer and engineer Eddie Kramer, who worked with Kiss on Alive!, recalls the challenges of translating their elaborate stage show to a recording. The band’s explosive performances with fire-breathing stunts, pyrotechnics, and high-energy movements made capturing the live essence a daunting task. Therefore, multiple guitar and vocal overdubs were performed at Electric Lady Studios to ensure the album’s final polish.
Interestingly, there was a crossover between Kiss’s Alive! and Frampton Comes Alive! during these recording sessions. Frampton recollects how Stanley and Frehley from Kiss would frequently borrow his guitars, amps, and basses to fine-tune their record while working next door in the studio. Among the instruments Frampton lent was his legendary mid-1950s Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty”, which gained iconic status after appearing on the cover of Frampton Comes Alive! and Humble Pie’s Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore. This guitar, named Phenix, became all the more legendary after surviving a plane crash in 1980.
Frampton humorously mentioned, “They kept on coming to us and asking if we got guitars, amps or basses, as they were doing some fixing on their live record. So my equipment is on that album — but not me!” Kramer corroborates Frampton’s account, recalling the presence of Frampton’s amps at the studio and hinting at potential appearances of his gear in the final mix of Kiss’s Alive!
The fusion of talent, equipment, and stories between these legendary rock acts during the creation of their live albums underscores the interconnectedness of the music world. Despite the technical challenges faced during recording, both Kiss’s Alive! and Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive! have cemented their legacy as monumental live albums that captured the energy and spirit of these iconic performers.