This Day in Music
January 6th
A legendary guitarist is no longer humble, a legendary crooner is traveling the world, and Elvis stirs up controversy, all on this day in music.
Releases
1976: Ex-Humble Pie guitarist Peter Frampton releases his first contemporary live album, and fifth solo album in total, “Frampton Comes Alive.” Recorded over three dates during his summer/fall tour of 1975, including at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, it became one of the top-selling live albums of all time at over ten million copies shipped.
Routinely cited on lists of best-ever live albums, it spun off three hit singles, all of which had previously been studio singles from prior releases, and all of which placed in the Top-10 on the Billboard Hot 100: “Show Me the Way,” (No. 6), “Baby, I Love Your Way,” (No. 6), and a shortened, radio version of “Do You Feel Like We Do” (No. 10).
The double-LP itself reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and was also Billboard’s No. 1 album of 1976. It was certified 8x Platinum in the U.S., and Gold and Platinum in several other countries.
1958: Legendary American crooner and actor, Frank Sinatra, releases his 14th studio album, “Come Fly With Me.”
Beginning with 1955’s “In the Wee Small Hours,” Sinatra would occasionally release albums with a central theme, such as “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers.” Though not quite concept albums, all the songs were focused on a core idea. “Come Fly With Me” is a trip around the world in song.
In addition to the famous title track, the record includes Sinatra’s versions of “Brazil,” “Blue Hawaii,” and “April in Paris.” A non-album single of “Chicago” was recorded and released just three months before, and was included on the UK version of the album, and subsequent CD releases.
Critics raved about the LP, with most rating it at the top of their scales, and fans adored it, sending it to No. 1 on the Billboard Albums Chart, where it remained for five weeks. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the first-ever Grammy Awards in May of 1958, and is listed at No. 616 in Colin Larkin’s Year-2000 compilation of All Time Top 1000 Albums.
Events
1979: YMCA, the infamous disco classic by The Village People, reaches No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. At its peak popularity, the single was selling 150,000 copies a day worldwide, on its way to total estimated sales of 12 million, and multi-Platinum certification.
1979: Meanwhile in the US, disco was still king as The Bee Gees classic, “Too Much Heaven,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the seventh Bee Gees song to top the chart.
The band had contributed the song to the Music for UNICEF Fund, and donated all of the royalties to UNICEF. It is estimated that over ten million dollars has been raised from the single to date.
The horns are played by James Pankow (tb), Walter Parazaider (ts), and Lee Loughnane (t), from the band Chicago.
The Daily Elvis
1957: Appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis performs a set of six would-be classics, including “Hound Dog,” “Love Me Tender,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”
CBS-TV censors demanded that Elvis be photographed from the waist up because of complaints received about his suggestive hip gyrations in previous telecasts. Addressing the controversy in Elvis’s defence, Sullivan remarked at the end of the show that he was a “real, decent, fine boy.”
Pictured: Elvis, and consequently all other musicians in the frame, photographed from the waist up on the Ed Sullivan Show.
