The Perks of Life

As my daughter and her friend sang the "1985" song about ancient history, I told them about something that had occurred to me: "Ron Wood is the newest member of the Rolling Stones. He's only been in the band for thirty years."

Then the Peter Frampton song "Do You Feel Like We Do" went through my mind. When I was growing up, this song was really really cool. You know why, don't you?

Actually, the early pioneer in vocoding was Peter Frampton. I don't know if you are old enough to remember the love version of "Do You Feel Like We Do", with the extended guitar/voice box solo (Wayne's World - "this album was issued to everyone in the suburbs"). That was a very different technology, but similar sound idea of combining voice tone shaping and non-vocal sounds....
As Mindles notes, Peter Frampton didn't use a vocoder; he used a "talk box", an altogether more primitive and weirder technology. The squawk box is a small amplifier and speaker on the ground, with a tube coming up from the speaker to your microphone stand. You play the guitar, the sound comes out the small speaker and travels up the tube, which you have by now wrapped your mouth around, and you "shape" the guitar sound by moving your mouth. I swear I am not making this up. Presumably the same effect is achieved these days in a more hygienic manner.

I also think that the solo in question is from "Show Me The Way", but I may be wrong.
And finally to note that the technology on the Cher record is a bit more advanced than the good old vocoder ... the voice sounds weird because it's been forcibly pitch-mapped onto the notes so that Cher's trademark swooping glissandi turn into sudden jumps. I don't think the signal has been comingled with anything else. And of course, vocoder was an analogue technology ... I'm boring myself now.
re. Frampton Solo - on "Frampton Comes Alive" he uses the fellatiotalk box on both songs. "Do You Feel Like We Do" was, of course, the cliche air guitar song on the live album.

[please ignore obvious signs of misspent youth]....


So in response to these mind ramblings, I spent the late evening re-reading parts of Bill Wyman's autobiography, Stone Alone. (A young Peter Frampton appears in the text.) You may recall that Wyman left the Rolling Stones shortly after the book was published. Today he has a website and a full tour schedule:

Tuesday 20th September 2005 Deventer NETHERLANDS
Wednesday 21st September 2005 Zoetermeer NETHERLANDS
Thursday 22nd September 2005 Groneau GERMANY
Friday 23rd September 2005 TBC GERMANY
Saturday 24th September 2005 TBC GERMANY
Monday 26th September 2005 Stuttgart GERMANY
Thursday 29th September 2005 Nurnberg (TBC) GERMANY
Thursday 29th September 2005 Prague (TBC) CZECH REPUBLIC
Friday 30th September 2005 Brno CZECH REPUBLIC
Saturday 1st October 2005 Bratislava SLOVAKIA
Sunday 2nd October 2005 Budapest HUNGARY
Tuesday 4th October 2005 Ostrava (TBC) CZECH REPUBLIC
Thursday 6th October 2005 Warsaw POLAND
Friday 7th October 2005 Vilnius (TBC) LITHUANIA
Saturday 8th October 2005 Riga (TBC) LATVIA
Sunday 9th October 2005 Tallinn (TBC) ESTONIA
Monday 10th October 2005 St Petersburg (TBC) RUSSIA
Tuesday 11th October 2005 St Petersburg (TBC) RUSSIA
Wednesday 12th October 2005 St Petersburg (TBC) RUSSIA
Thursday 13th October 2005 Helsinki FINLAND
Friday 14th October 2005 Tampere (TBC) FINLAND
Saturday 15th October 2005 Boden (TBC) SWEDEN
Sunday 16th October 2005 Umea SWEDEN
Monday 17th October 2005 Sundsvall SWEDEN
Tuesday 18th October 2005 Falun SWEDEN
Wednesday 19th October 2005 Trondheim (TBC) NORWAY
Thursday 20th October 2005 Trondheim (TBC) NORWAY
Friday 21st October 2005 Bergen (TBC) NORWAY
Saturday 22nd October 2005 Bergen (TBC) NORWAY
Sunday 23rd October 2005 Stavangar NORWAY
Monday 24th October 2005 Oslo NORWAY
Sunday 30th October 2005 Gothenberg SWEDEN
Tuesday 1st November 2005 Stockholm SWEDEN
Wednesday 2nd November 2005 Gaevle SWEDEN
Thursday 3rd November 2005 Vasteras SWEDEN
Friday 4th November 2005 Malmo SWEDEN
Saturday 5th November 2005 Roskilde DENMARK
Sunday 6th November 2005 Herning DENMARK
Tuesday 8th November 2005 Hamburg GERMANY
Saturday 21st January 2006 Muziekcentrum, Enschede NETHERLANDS
Monday 23rd January 2006 Luxor, Rotterdam NETHERLANDS
Tuesday 24th January 2006 De Oosterpoort, Groningen NETHERLANDS
Thursday 26th January 2006 De Tamboer, Hoogeveen NETHERLANDS
Friday 27th January 2006 De Philharmonie, Haarlem NETHERLANDS
Sunday 29th January 2006 Muziekcentrum Frits Philips, Eindhoven NETHERLANDS
Monday 30th January 2006 De Naaid, Naaldwijk NETHERLANDS
Tuesday 31st January 2006 De Harmonie, Leeuwarden NETHERLANDS


And if you can't hear him in concert, perhaps you can persuade him to say a few words:

It is worth mentioning that Bill is available for public speaking and after dinner speaking events; he is represented by Kruger Cowne

For any enquiries please contact Kruger Cowne on
Tel: + 44 (0) 208 877 0200


Kruger Cowne also represents Bob Geldof and Jane Goodall. So book all three for an evening of Stones, Rats, and Chimps.

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