J. Geils Band, Frampton's Camel, Slade
Academy Of Music, NY 16/9/1972
Slade and Frampton’s Camel, British rock quartets making their Gotham debuts at Howard Stein’s Academy of Music series Saturday, both appear to have bright futures, but the audience saved most of its enthusiasm for the J. Geils Band. The two shows grossed $27,500 out of a potential $35,262, probably hurt by overbooking by the headliner in the Gotham area during the past year.
Slade, together for about five years, seems headed down the pop road to success and probably will become a big group. The music is hard and solid. Lead guitarist Dave Hill was resplendent in shimmering light suit with sequin effects in his hair. Drawback for some was rhythm guitarist Noddy Holder, a good lead singer, who never let up in his screaming demands for audience participation. He roused relatively few but enough for an encore.
Frampton’s Camel in their first date were instrumentally strong in rock and blues-rock with Peter Frampton, ex of Humble Pie, an excellent lead guitarist and vocalist and Mick Gallagher a standout on organ and electric piano. The combo were put together after Frampton’s first solo album on A&M. Drummer Mike Kellie and bass guitarist Ricky Wills are on the album and in the group. Despite loose spots, Frampton’s Camel could, make an underground mark.
Peter Wolf, energetic lead singer of Atlantic’s J.Geils Band, promised that Hank Ballard, a star of the early days of rock'n’roll, would join the Boston sextet in the second show.
Kirb ~ VARIETY, 20/9/1972
Geils and friends have already proven that they can energize a crowd, but this date offered two new tickets to ride with the world premiere of Frampton's Camel and the American debut of Slade, rudely raunchy English ravers. Sparing the anxious the cruelty of suspense, be advised that Peter Frampton has lost none of the subtlety and fire that characterized his lamentably overlooked contributions to Humble Pie.
Frampton has honed that edge further and he's now more than matched by the powers of Mick Gallagher's keyboards, Rick Wills' sturdy but agile bass lines and Mike Kellie's precise, explosive drumming. Their set was lean on theatrics, relying on the spectacle of Kellie's whirring sticks and that facial ecstasy that crosses Frampton's smile as his lead lines soar powerfully over the band.
Rough spots were to be expected, but even Frampton's staunchest admirers may be unprepared for the startling stability of so young a band. Their set drew primarily from Frampton's A&M album, "Winds of Change", with "It's a Plain Shame", "All I Want to Be", and "Jumpin' Jack Flash", all exemplary exercises in overdrive transport, and easily compelling as their superb, recorded versions. More important, the restraint that distinguished Frampton's earliest work with the Pie and the Herd is shared by the entire band, and as they expand their repertoire to accommodate gentler, acoustic numbers, the final impact should be tasty indeed.
Slade? The reports were true. First-rate raunch delivered with expedient power and requisite simplicity, packed irresistibly in a durable highly visible outer coat of pure flesh. Noddy Holder and Dave Hill walk off with top honors in Raw Vocals and Subliminal lead Rhythm Guitar, respectively, although Hill also pulls weight as resident extraterrestrial sex symbol via his metallic suit and crown of stars. They will most certainly decimate future audiences, just as they spurred the kids at the Academy. They record for Polydor.
NY Times 22/9/1972