Peter Frampton was coming off his first all-instrumental album, titled Fingerprints, when he made a return to his bread-and-butter of straight-ahead rock. Thank You Mr. Churchill, released on April 27, 2010, arrived just five days after Frampton turned 60, so it was only fair to ask: How did this aging rocker sound doing the same kind of music he was doing when had a baby face and long, flowing locks?
The answer is, he held up quite well. Peter Frampton’s guitar licks remained tasty, his riffs were huge (the funky one on “I’m Due a You” is Godzilla-sized) and his voice was still in fine form. If anything, he sang with more nuance than before.
Even as this was a mainline Frampton record, it was also a very personal one. The title cut on Thank You Mr. Churchill expressed gratitude to the great British P.M. for standing up to aggression which made Frampton’s existence possible. Songs like “Vaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele” and “Black Ice” were also autobiographical.
Elsewhere, “Asleep at the Wheel” and “Restraint” cast an angry eye at the excesses and immorality of (American) society today. And right in the middle of the record is a delightful two-part instrumental “Suite: Liberte. A. Megumi B. Huria Wat,” an acoustic-led rewrite of “Sleepwalk” that morphs into a burning electric blues rocker.
Like the best of Peter Frampton’s records, Thank You Mr. Churchill showcases a firm command of songcraft, vocals and, of course, dazzling fretwork. There were only a couple of average cuts and no clunkers, but the rest is killer. It may as well have been 1976 all over again.
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