The British rock legend’s first album in 16 years is a life-affirming expression of perseverance with an all-star crew of admirers. Peter Frampton last released a full-length album of original material in 2010, and for a while there, it seemed doubtful we would ever see another. The British rock legend spent much of the subsequent decade covering other people’s material or reinterpreting his own, all while battling a progressive muscular disorder that threatened to end his touring career. But with his son Julian in the producer’s chair and an all-star crew of admirers at his side, he’s rallied to deliver his 19th studio album Carry the Light, a life-affirming expression of perseverance and protest from an artist determined to make the most of his return to the spotlight. Frampton’s sense of casting here is impeccable: The hard-rock groover “Lions at the Gate” is a power-to-the-people anthem that communicates its rage through Tom Morello’s signature guitar squeals, and the similarly on-edge “Tinderbox” is set ablaze by jazz saxophonist Bill Evans. But amid these world-weary statements are more reflective turns—like the gorgeous, Graham Nash-assisted lullaby “I’m Sorry Elle” and the Fleetwood Mac-esque “Breaking the Mold” (featuring Sheryl Crow in the Stevie Nicks role)—that remind us, for all his mastery of the Les Paul, Frampton was truly one of the great tender-hearted balladeers of ’70s rock. That said, the album’s most affecting duet is the one that features no singing: On “Islamorada,” Frampton teams up with H.E.R. for a windswept instrumental in which two generations of guitar gods engage in a poignant six-stringed conversation that feels like a symbolic passing of the torch.