Peter Frampton: My biggest mistake? “I’m In You”

In a long career like that of Peter Frampton there can certainly be errors. One, according to the artist himself, was that of his much derided clothing on the cover of the 1977 album “I’m in You”.

“That was the ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ suit, that’s what I call it,” Frampton joked during a recent appearance on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast. “I should have worn jeans and a T-shirt on the cover with a leather jacket or something,” the famous guitarist admitted, noting that the choice of outfit was one of the many “terrible mistakes” of his career. “But instead I was wearing Lord Fauntleroy’s suit with satin trousers, white nurse’s shoes and a horrible woman’s jacket.”

The intention of that cover was to wink at pop fans and women, to attract their attention, but instead it turned out to be wrong and was ridiculed for its obviously poor quality.

As the guitarist explained, the photo was not only embarrassing, but also out of step with the times.

“That outfit would have been “cool” the year before,” Frampton noted. “But right then, in that year, the Sex Pistols were being born and things were changing drastically from one day to the next. And when he came out everything was already behind the times and out of sync.”

But that album also has an artistic value. After the monumental success of the double live album”Frampton Comes Alive” from 1976, the guitarist knew that expectations for his next album would be high. He wanted to take his time creating the LP, but was forced to release it quickly.

“They say you’re only as good as your last album,” Frampton explained. “Well, I told myself, until the next album comes out I’ll be as good as it is “Frampton Comes Alive”. But everyone around them said: “you don’t want to let too much pass because it means you’re too afraid”.

By his own admission, Frampton did not have “what I would call great songs”, noting that the material was “not up to scratch”.

“I was writing new material in the studio. But there was alcohol and drugs and it was demoralizing,” he further recalled. Frampton added that he walked into the offices of his record label and reluctantly handed over what would become “THE‘m in You”. I told them, ‘I don’t want this stuff to come out, but I know you guys are going to do it anyway,'” the rocker recalled. “I was just really disappointed that I didn’t have time to spend another couple of years writing. .”