Supertramp Week!
 

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Starting on Monday we'll be devoting the whole week to Supertramp, which will of course turn many of you off but may interest some who have not yet read the "What's happening on MB?" thread recently. If you want to take part, here's what's been claimed and what's available. Just post your interest if any.

SUPERTRAMP

Supertramp (1970) Oriphiel

Indelibly Stamped (1971) Trollheart

Crime of the Century (1974) Chula Vista

Crisis? What Crisis? (1975)

Even in the quietest moments (1977) Pet_Sounds

Breakfast in America (1979) Plankton

Famous Last Words (1982) Trollheart

Brother Where You Bound? (1985) OccultHawk

Free as a Bird (1987) Trollheart

Some Things Never Change (1997) Trollheart (Transposition of earlier review)

Slow Motion (2002)

Damn! Would have loved to have done Crime of the Century.

If you weren't too disappointed in my Beefheart work I'll do Brother...

Talk to Unknown Soldier; maybe he can be convinced to do another one, or maybe you can do it together.
I thought your TMR review was amazing! I'd love to hear your thoughts on Brother Where You Bound, as it's such a polarising album. I'll put you down for it.

I would just like to say as a older poster here I had the pleasure of seeing Supertramp in London Ontario on their very first Canadian Tour. They had a screen behind the band that projected a slow motion picture of their Crime Of The Century album cover that started out in space where you could not make it out and slowly got closer till you could see it. They playing the Crime Of The Century album song as the picture was shown.....
Canada embraced Supertramp much quicker then the USA. I also saw the Crisis What Crisis Tour and the lads had a umbrella perched on the stage to mimic the album cover. What struck me the most about the band is their songs played "live " sounded exactly like the album. Each time I saw the band the audience was getting bigger.
First tour London Arena a small venue that probably held 1500 people, second tour Kitchener Arena that held about 5000 third time CNE Toronto 22,000 .Yes they grew in popularity to say the least. These days there are music people that have not even heard of this band. They kind of get lost because they rarely get played on the radio......

You want to do an album? There are a few left...
http://1939-45.co.uk/images/living/trains/svr8.jpg

:wave:

Holy crap! I didn't think you were still around! How ya doin'? :)

You want to review an album?

:) Hey Trollheart, I'm good thanks, but not much of a reviewer I'm afraid.

Since nobody else has stepped up (yet) I've pencilled in Indelibly Stamped and Free as a Bird, but if someone else wants to do them that's fine. If I'm pushed I can transplant my review of Some Things Never Change, though I'd rather see more people taking up reviews here than it just be all about me.

So, anyone wanna grasp the nettle?

Sorry for making you do all of this work, Trollheart. Liao Hua takes the vanguard...

I know it can be difficult to juggle so many tasks, but you should know that everyone really does appreciate it (even if it can be hard to tell when people rarely give feedback).

Note: I'm not doing any full reviews here, particuarly as this album is intended to feature in my journal later in the year, so this will be another short “Love or Hate?” style.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Last_Words.jpg

Famous Last Words (1982)

This was the last album to feature founder member and co-creative force Roger Hodgson, and remains my all-time favourite Supertramp album. I feel that Hodgson brought the fun, lighter element to the band, and when he exited their next few albums were all notable for being much more serious and for a sort of darker tone that began with Brother Where You Bound and more or less persisted right through to their, so far, last release. I've loads to say about the album but will reserve that for my actual review in my journal. For now, let's just get down to tracks.

1. Crazy: The classic Supertramp happy piano and a blast on the harmonica gives the song a cheerful feel, yet there's a dark tone of worry underlying it, as in much of this album, as the two friends contemplate life without each other. It's quite commercial, as is much of this album. It's almost like the guys are trying to put a brave face on things, grit their teeth and get through without getting too emotional. You'd certainly know this was a Supertramp song. Bouncy, uptempo, piano driven and a vehicle for Hodgson's higher, almost effeminate at times voice. A solo from John Helliwell on the sax completes the song and we segue directly into
2. Put on your old brown shoes: A song of letting it all go, saying to hell with it and just enjoying life. Davies sings the lead vocal and exults as he grins “Kick out the morning blues/ Who needs a job?/ Who needs the pain and the pressure?” Another uptempo one, with some great harmonica and backing vocals from Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson.
3. It's raining again: You might know this even if you're not a fan, as it was a single and relatively successful. Upbeat despite the lyric, very catchy and certainly you can read between the lines when Hodgson sings “You're old enough some people say/To read the signs and walk away.” Indeed. Another great sax solo to end.
4. Bonnie: The first time the album slows down and gets a little maudlin, and surprise surprise, it's thanks to Rick Davies. “Bonnie” is a lovely song, but it has a sort of yearning that turns into something a little darker in it, like he's stalking the titular character. The piano is, well, darker, too: whereas up to now it's been bouncing along happily, now it's taken on a moodier tone. The first song on the album that has no harmonica.
5. Know who you are: Another slow one, but this time it's Hodgson (and yes, I am a fanboy) but it's a far gentler, softer song with a really nice lyrical line that basically tells the listener not to change, and to find what is good and unique in themselves. Again, Hodgson could be giving advice to himself here. He certainly plays some truly expressive and emotional guitar on the song. Dreamy is really the only way to describe this song.
6. My kind of lady: The boys ignore the impending departure of Hodgson and just have fun on a mid-paced love song, recalling the glory days of Breakfast in America and Crime of the Century. Great backing vocals, lots of fun, not a whole lot else you can say really in a short note on the track.
7. C'est le bon: Beginning to get more serious now. Actually, from here the album enters much more serious, darker, mature territory as the End draws nigh. It must have been like being on a train ride you hoped would never end and then suddenly the lights of the station are coming up fast. Almost an autobiogaphical song when Roger sings “I met a man from the ministry/ He said my son, better work in a factory/ Oh there are days I can tell you quite honestly/ I saw myself winding up in the military/ So lucky to have all this music running through me.” A reflective, thankful and yet in ways perhaps bitter and sad little song.
8. Waiting so long: Davies has his final say, and it's angry and hurt: “Did you get all you want? / Did you see the whole show? /Where's all the fun that we used to know?” A powerful, snarling sound on the guitar and a morose brooding piano, as it would seem Davies digs his heels in and refuses to change: “Must be set in my old ways”, he admits. “I would rather taste the old wine /Than mess around with something new” and though it's surely not the case I see this as being the metaphor for the final argument which leads to the departure; this is Davies trying to convince his friend not to leave the band, not to leave him, which then finally plays out in the final track, the last time we ever hear Hodgson as part of Supertramp. Superb and really emotional guitar outro which segues on a dark, hollow, ominous synth sound into
9. Don't leave me now: Opening on a lonely, melancholy sax from Helliwell, it bursts to life on powerful, emotional piano before Helliwell comes back in to join the melody. This song truly breaks my heart. It's hard not to see it as a plea from Davies to Hodgson (even the other way around perhaps, and even though it's Hodgson, who, fittingly, sings their last song together) as every line in the lyric begins with the title, with lines like “Don't leave me now out in the pouring rain” and the heart-shattering final line, “Don't leave me now, when I'm old and cold and grey and time is gone.” Sensational sax solo and it ends on a lonely harmonica, kind of harking back to the opener of what many people would consider their first real album, Crime of the Century.

So, Love or Hate? This is my favourite Supertramp album. It's stellar all the way through, it's heartbreaking and a triumph of passion and emotion, it captures them at their very best and makes you just wish that somehow, somehow they could have worked it out and stayed together, but it was not to be. An absolute True Love, and always will be.

I bought a couple of the last Supertramp albums that they made. They were kind of jazzy.

If you really want to do it tell me before I start it, as I won't be doing it until the weekend.

Brother Where You Bound

I have three Supertramp albums in my official music collection: Even in the Quietest Moments, Paris, and the album I'm reviewing here, Brother Where You Bound. If you're the sort that still buys records or CDs and you want just one Supertramp album in your collection I definitely recommend the live album, Paris. I have it; double album on vinyl. Great live album that showcases the best they had to offer in an incredibly meticulous perfectionist way. Fans of Rush can understand. It's like Exit Stage Left or any of the other live Rush records. Unlike Rush, I regretfully never had the pleasure of seeing Supertramp live.

But this isn't a review of Paris. Brother Where You Bound isn't a sure fire work of genius. It's the sound of a band making what many fans would consider an uncomfortable transition. There's lots of information and excellent reviews on Amazon that spell the out the ramifications of the major personnel shift on this album. But in a nutshell this is the first Supertramp record without Rodger Hodgson which is a lot like Pink Floyd carrying on with Roger Waters or if you want to imagine a fictional scenario it's sort of like The Beatles without Paul. The master melody maker had moved on. However, it doesn't necessarily take a personnel shift in order for a band or solo artist to make a paradigm shift, as fans of Neil Young and Bob Dylan can attest to.

Brother Where You Bound is an interesting record. I like interesting records. This record is fun to listen to even if you're thinking about whether or not it successfully achieves what it set out to do. The songs may not be great but they're good enough to merit your consideration. I have friends who if you mention the Stones they'll say, "Not as good as the Beatles", if you mention My Bloody Valentine well they're not as good as The Jesus and Mary Chain. The Dead not as Good as The Band (I don't agree with that but I've heard it). Well, a record doesn't have to be as good as Revolver, Psychocandy, or Music from Big Pink to be worth listening to. By the same token Brother deserves the same charity when compared to previous and obviously better earlier Supertramp. In other words, put down your swords and enjoy it for what it is.

I bought this on cassette when it came out. I was drawn to it because I was interested in the darker prog direction and because of David Gilmour's presence. Before I go into a song for song tally I'm going to list three albums from various rock'n'roll time and places that all remind me of this record for whatever reason:

The Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station
Roger Waters - Radio K.A.O.S
Sonic Youth - Goo

Brother Where You Bound only has six tracks:

Cannonball - The opening track clocks in at 7 minutes and change and if I got my info straight was an American Top 40 hit. I wonder what Casey Kasem thought. Anyone who hasn't heard Negativland's U2 should go dig it up. Yeah, so this Cannonball is definitely inferior to the Breeders track. Keyboard and Sax solo repeat the main theme. Hodgson is missed nowhere so much as he is on the hit. Still, if this came on Pandora I'd go ahead and click thumbs up. It's kind of catchy if you don't think too hard. Plus, there is a background laughter that's kind of Pink Floydy.

Still In Love

Horrible Wonder Bread attempts at blues/jazz with an acceptable chorus. This is the type of song that might have made it on some Portland hipster's mix tape back in say 1992, like is he being ironic or not?

No Inbetween

Surprisingly, the talking blues style of this song actually works. And the sax solo has a nice Cinemax late night skin flick vibe to it. I'm not being ironic; it's a decent tune.

Better Days

OK, this takes us closer to the heart of what this record is meant to be in a thematic sense. Feels like early Genesis with lyrics a lot like Roger Waters. There's an excellent flute solo, fake crowd noise reminiscent of The Wall, samples of political candidates reminds me of Radio KAOS, which hadn't come out yet, and it has the best sax work on the record.

Look. There's something here that I don't want to be overlooked. The message of this music, what they were trying to say. Mankind moving toward disaster is still important. We shouldn't forget these issues. Like Nuclear Disarmament for example. How can America say to Iran that we deserve this military might and they don't? Why don't we lead by example and disarm ourselves. It's so dangerous to take this incredible attitude of superiority. It's like we're (sorry for the "we"non-Americans. I don't want to deflect responsibility here.) saying obviously your culture is inferior so we deserve to be more powerful. How can we expect another culture to accept that? Also, I've been to the A-Bomb museums in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The horror that was inflicted was unimaginable. It's amazing to me how out of vogue nuclear disarmament has become. One of the things Supertramp was telling us back then, directly or indirectly, by asking us "Where You Bound" is that as long as these huge arsenals of WMD's continue to exist we might completely kill ourselves off. Completely completely. Thirty years on it's still just as important. Let's get rid of this ****. The world does not need thousands of hydrogen bombs.

Brother Where You Bound

This track is over 16 minutes long. Music snobs watch yourselves. Were Supertramp just radio friendly stylings? Was there enough depth to take this band seriously? Well, I don't know what they were listening to but there's all kinds of stuff that comes to mind here: a piano interlude that sounds like it was written by Arnold Schoenberg, a guitar crescendo seemingly taken from Glenn Branca's playbook, sound effects that could have been on Ummagumma. Plus, David Gilmour. His signature sound kills it (in a good way). I wish Gilmour had a stronger presence. The song is also peppered with quotes from Orwell's 1984 and actual Cold War rhetoric.

Ever Open Door - Final Track. Friendly song. Reminds me of Wings. Also reminds me of the Roger Waters' track The Tide is Turning.

Is this a prog rock masterpiece? No.
Is it worth a listen? Hell Yes.

Peace to Alexander Supertramp. A hero.

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Indelibly Stamped (1971)

I hate this album. I think most Supertramp fans do. It bears little or no resemblance even to the debut self-titled, which itself shows little of the flair for catchy and memorable melodies that would characterise their career during the later half of the seventies and into the eighties, and though it's billed as “progressive rock” there's very little to mark it as such, most of the songs being basic rock songs. Even then I don't like them: I think there are two songs I can stick on this album, out of the ten on it.

1. Your poppa don't mind: Starts off with a nice Supertramp-y piano but quickly devolves into a bog-standard twelve-bar blues rocker with a fairly mindless lyric. Kind of reminds me of the Zodiacs' “Stay”. Davies sings this one. Not that it really matters. At least it's short, just under three minutes. Good piano solo, but you can kind of hear early Eagles here too. Not what I had expected even after listening to the debut.
2. Travelled: Hodgson takes a turn at the mike, one of only three tracks he will sing on this album, it being very much a Davies-driven beast. There is some nice flute opening it which kind of reminds me of the likes of “Shadow song” and “Maybe I'm a beggar” from the debut, and it's nicely restrained after the exuberant but very ordinary opener. Problem here is that Hodgson's voice for some reason is very low and quiet. Nevertheless, I could see this on their first album; it certainly fits more into that mould than track one does. Kicks up fairly soon though into a CSNY/Eagles idea. Meh.
3. Rosie had everything planned: This is the only track I can honestly say I like on the album. With a swaying, waltz sort of rhythm it's a song about a girl who I think kills her lover on incorrect intel --- “Acting upon information received/ Rosie had everything planned/ Standing there with a shotgun in hand” --- and Hodgson sings it beautifully. It's a plain, simple tune but cuts to the heart of the issue, and if the rest of the album could have measured up to this it would have been a much better prospect. Some evocative accordion and a lovely rippling piano.
4. Remember: Back to Davies howling his guts out with a lot of hard brass, giving this song a kind of soul feel and I reckon the production is not so hot either. I will say it's the first time we hear sax on a Supertramp album, something that would become part of their trademark sound, but it's not John Helliwell but some guy called Dave Winthrop, and there's also some nice harmonica added. Still hate the song though.
5. Forever: Davies maintains his iron grip on the mike, and we get a sort of sixties Fender Rhodes based ballad, whcih to be fair is not too bad but still a long way from the best Supertramp can do. Lot of blues and soul in this, and with a bit of polishing up I could see it having been on something like maybe Some Things Never Change or Free as a Bird. Winthrop does add some nice sax licks, it has to be said.
6. Potter: New man Frank Farrell takes a shot at singing. Unsurprisingly, he, Winthrop and the new drummer Kevin Currie would be gone before the guys went into the studio to begin work on their seminal third album, Crime of the Century. It's nearly as bad as “Your poppa don't mind”, but with even less of an idea for the song. At least, again, it's short, even shorter than the opener.
7. Coming home to see you: Starts out like a ballad with some sort of discordant piano then throws off the disguise and becomes a rockabilly uptempo tune driven on fast guitar and what sounds like organ. Fun yes, but even the harmonica blast and the long instrumental jam that closes it out can't really save this from going on the meh pile.
8. Times have changed: Another sub-Eagles ballad with echoes of early ELO and a definite Country flavour to the tune
9. Friend in need: Uptempo piano tune with some good backing vocals. At least it's short. Decent piano outro.
10. Aries: Hodgson comes back to close out the album with the longest track on it, nearly seven and a half minutes long. Winthrop bring the flute again and for a moment you get the feeling this could be a return to the debut, but then it gets more psychedelic rock than anything else, too much flute in the end. Jaunty guitar but for such a long song it's quite empty; elements of “It's a long road” but it's nowhere near as good as that song. Like much of this album it's relatively short on lyrics and tries to survive through jams and instrumental improvisations. It doesn't really work and it's something of a damp squib to end on.

So, Love or Hate? If I had to pick my least favourite Supertramp album, it would either be this or Slow Motion, so it has to be a Hate.

Thanks Unknown Soldier. I'll get to it in the next couple of days.

Supertramp - Even in the Quietest Moments… (1977)

Give a Little Bit - Who doesn't know this? It starts off with some acoustic strumming (a rarity for Supertramp), and the bass and drums come in on the second verse. It's fairly simple and repetitive, but catchy enough that that doesn't matter. And now there's a great instrumental bridge/saxophone solo. This song is a rarity in that there's almost no piano, only a bit playing some bass notes in the third verse. And now it's over in just over four minutes. Perfect opener.

Lover Boy - It opens with some jazzy, '30s music hall-sounding piano. And now the rest of the band comes in, giving the song a light prog feeling--Supertramp's unique sound. Now we're back to the music hall vibe. And just as quickly, that's over, with some electric guitar lines and feedback. Now it's fading out. Ooh, a trick ending. The tempo seems to have picked up, and the synth and guitar are front and centre. It feels mildly psychedelic. Now it's ending--for real this time.

Even in the Quietest Moments - This is, in my opinion, the most beautiful song Supertramp released. It begins with birds twittering, then an acoustic guitar riff--very Beatle-esque. And there are a synth and woodwind--probably a clarinet. Now the vocals come in. The lyrics are about spiritual longing. Now there's a bit of organ. The volume picks up a bit. Now the guitar sounds like the intro of Boston's "More Than a Feeling". Here are the drums. Now the vocals are getting distorted, repeating the same lines over and over. Now there's just a snippet--a tiny hint--of the opening track, "Give a Little Bit". Then it's just guitar and the vocalist for the final verse.

Downstream - Gorgeous ballad--just Rick Davies and his piano (recorded in the same take). The spiritual theme is back. Or is just talking about a lover? It's a bit unclear. This album is unique in that Supertramp almost never uses their signature Wurlitzer electric piano--it's all acoustic.

Babaji - This sounds like a precursor to Supertramp's 1979 hit, "The Logical Song" (which I'm not a fan of). However, this song is much better. It's heavier than the previous track, but the spiritual theme is definitely present again. Here comes the saxophone--maybe two of them. It fades out repeating the chorus.

From Now On Just hearing this intro gives me chills. It's my favourite Supertramp song, and one of my favourite songs in general. It's also very fun to play. Now the vocals come in, followed by drum and guitar. The lyrics express boredom with everyday routine and alleviating that boredom with fantasies of crime. Here comes a beautiful saxophone solo. And now Supertramp gets all proggy with a heavy guitar and synth. The piano intro returns, accompanied by drumming, and the sax plays over it. And the vocals are back. They fade out on the same lines as the background builds for two minutes.
"Guess I'll always have to be
Living in a fantasy
That's the way it's got to be
From now on"

Fool's Overture - It's been a long time since I've heard this song. It blew me away when I first heard it. Let's see if it has the same effect.
It begins with just a standard intro--piano chords and arpeggios. Now a synth comes in. At least I think it's synth--maybe a flute. No, it must be a synth. Now the string synthesizer joins in, and there's some muffled cherring. A couple trumpet lines. And now Big Ben. And now a snippet of Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech. Here's the trumpet again. And now a synth comes in, picking up volume. It's joined by percussion. Now the synth is playing a riff of sorts. We're now over four minutes into the song--no vocals. A sax, bass and piano join in, providing an orchestral sound. Now it strips down to just piano. Here are the vocals--singing about a prophet who warns the people of imminent destruction, but who is ignored. Maybe that explains the Winston Churchill snippet. What a high note Roger Hodgson hits. Now the strings are back. Here's the rest of the band, with a powerful, proggy entry. And now it breaks down, with weird vocal whisperings, saxophone, and wind. Now there's a snippet of a choir singing William Blake's "Jerusalem". Now the synth builds up agin, playing the same quick riff as earlier. Now Hodgsond is singing that melody, backed up by the rest of the band. Now there are some woodwind arpeggios, and the strings hit a final chord and fade out, blended with the sound of an orchestra tuning up.

The verdict: This is one of my all time favourite albums, and in my opinion, it's perfect. Definitely a True Love.

Just a note to OcculthawK; superb review. That's an album I never liked (well, being the first without HRH it was going to be a tough sell to me) but what's weird is that I, too, bought it on cassette! Never liked it enough to go for the CD or even the vinyl, as I think I mention in another review or did already.

Pet_Sounds: Love the enthusiasm and genuine love you have for EitQM:great review.

Well done, guys! Thanks for playing! :thumb:

Thank you.

Thanks, TH. I doubt I'll have time for Crisis (another tourney this weekend), so you can give that to US if he wants it.

I'd like to help out but I'm not going to be around that much this weekend, which is the reason I offloaded my album to Chula Vista. ;)

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7jnsyqqe.pngby Supertramp (1979 AMI Records).

Gone Hollywood
We open with a fade-in. Beautiful sax, a bit of some melancholy to this as this tells the story of someone who moves to Hollywood in the hopes of making it big. Davies (or Hodgson, not sure which right now) does a fantastic job on this story. Some outstanding use of minor chord changes here that sit well. Some playful meanderings in outro fade.

Logical Song
A song that always had a personal impact on me for the fact that I had been "sent away" quite a few times in my youth. Very haunting and deliberate at times. Some of the most memorable sax playing here as Helliwell plays in and out, providing some horn stabs and a give and take with the vocals. Outstanding songwriting on this piece.

Goodbye Stranger
I've always loved the backwoods quality of the vocals on this tune. Playful keys paired with some delicate guitar voicings as the chorus marches forth with the cadence of the tune. The phased guitar scratches keep the beat as the bridge brings it around full circle. This is a powerful earworm. One can't help but boogie along as the tune picks up steam and eventually builds to a fantastic crescendo. The phrasing on the outro guitar is fantastic.

Breakfast In America
A playful ragtime beat that tells the story of someone who dreams of coming to America. Kind of a sinister quality to the entire song with a beautiful clarinet that accents the intrinsic quality of the lyrics.

Oh Darling
One of the tunes I've never heard. Some lovely keys/synth. Kind of feels like the tones may have been Stevie Wonder inspired. The vocal harmonies are nice, and then there's the sax hidden in there in the mix. The tune really rides on the strength of that root chord. Some Franky Valley style falsetto that seems a bit forced and a bit comical. No wonder I've never heard this.

Take The Long Way Home
My parents divorced when I was 3, and my Father used to pick my brother and me up every weekend. The trip was about an hour each way, and when this song came out on the local radio, I'd hear it just about every trip. Sitting staring out the window of my Father's van, this song always had me longing for something more, something unattainable, yet feeling like I was living in the moment. A beautifully haunting song. Now that I'm older, the lyrics really hit home as I feel Hodgson is telling me to enjoy life, and savor every moment. I try to do that everyday.

Lord Is It Mine
Haven't heard this one either. More melancholy here as it opens with a lone piano and voice. Beautiful chorus as Davies belts out his refrain. The lyrics tell me he's giving some sort of hope to the listener. Lovely clarinet solo in this piece as it builds to a bit of a crescendo here, then drops away to it's melancholy root. Very nice.

Just Another Nervous Wreck
Another first. More of the playful keys driving this tune as it opens with the singer/songwriter approach. A bit of an anthem here as the vocals charge ahead. Some beautiful guitar soloing give this a bit of a rock feel to it. For some reason this feels inspired by some Neil Diamond. I'm not sure why.

Casual Conversations
More new here. Laid back and mellow approach here. Reminds me of a bit of lounge music, especially with that phased out hammond plugging along while the sax fills in the gaps. Kind of groovy.

Child Of Vision
For some reason, I feel I've heard this. Ah yes. This has some elements of prog to it. Some great syncopated keys that take the lead as Hodgson comes in. All three vocalists peer through the chorus, which takes on a dreamlike quality, then back to the main beat. The piano solo is a nice touch as it bounces playfully in and out of the cadence. Some beautiful outro sax. I'm a sucker for any sax playing, good or bad. Great way to end an album.

-Summation-
I've always wondered what the rest of this album sounded like apart from all the hit's that get regular radio play and I'm happy I finally found the motivation to give it a listen. No rating or anything like that from me, so I'll just say I enjoyed myself. Supertramp were definitely a force to be reckoned with in the industry.

Nice review Plankton. Also like the way you made your avatar announce it (good to have him back too!) --- I always like it when people have a personal connection to an album; makes it more likely they'll do a, if you will, non-standard review, and yours did not disappoint.

One of my favourite 'Tramp albums and I'd just like also to point out the clever album sleeve, where the dishes are all piled up in a mockup of the New York skyline, to say nothing of the waitress striking the pose of the Statue of Liberty. The album that really broke Supertramp internationally, and like most such albums, also led to something of a decline in their fortunes commercially.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...in_America.jpg

How did it lead to a decline?

Crime of the Century - 1974

This may disappoint but I've decided to review this album as a whole rather than breaking it down song by song. I did try taking a few stabs at going tune by tune but frankly it just wasn't working. I kept finding myself being redundant since many of the overall redeeming qualities of each song are indicative of the entire piece of work.

I have to start by saying this is one of my all time favorite rock albums. A deserted island disc for me. I think it's a total masterpiece in every single way; songwriting, production, concepts, performances, tones, mixing, and on and on. It's one of the very few albums I would categorize as perfect. It's also one of the few that I can't just listen to a song or two at a time. If I put it on I listen to the whole thing, every time.

After the poor sales of their first two albums, Supertramp had broken up. Founding members, and singers/songwriters Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson regrouped with three brand new members. The bands A&R man (and subsequent long time manager) convinced their record label to give them another shot. The label financed putting the "new" group up in a centuries old farmhouse out in the English countryside so that they could get to know each other personally and musically in an intimate setting. For the next few weeks it was nothing but eating, sleeping, and music.

Davies and Hodgson had gone armed with dozens of demo ideas and slowly the 8 songs that made the album began to take shape. It was time to head into the studio. It was at this point that the new group struck gold by way of hooking up with famed recording engineer Ken Scott. Scott had been lead engineer working for George Martin and had manned the board for the majority of the Beatles work from 1967 till the band broke up. In the years since he'd moved on to producing, taking everything he'd learned previously and putting his own stamp on it.

Scott and the band immediately hit it off and he not only helped them fine tune the songs, but also encouraged them to experiment with different tones, effects, recording techniques, and adding orchestration. I consider him a sixth band member based on his contributions on COTC. A perfect example: for the train sounds in Rudy the guys took a field recorder to a London station. After getting what they needed they were wrapping things up when a busker started playing a violin nearby. Scott immediately decided to record him and to use it on the song and it completely works and fits the mood of the track.

If you've never heard COTC do yourself a favor. Get the remastered CD and then put aside 45 minutes where you won't be interrupted in any way. Be sure to use a good quality stereo or set of headphones. Now listen to the album from start to finish. The lyrics cover fear, loneliness, cynicism, self doubt, mental illness, and underneath it all, a hint of hope. The songs are all gems that would stand on their own if only strummed on a single acoustic guitar. And the overall production value of the finished product is remarkable. Sometimes it's a single reverb drenched harmonica, or an untreated piano, other times there's so much going on, so many different instruments and tones, so many effects and changes in the mood and ambiance of the pieces, yet is all 100% works perfectly.

If I had to vote on the most perfect rock album ever I'd probably give the nod to DSOTM, but COTC would make the decision a really hard one.

(reserve the right to supplement this review later)

Really, really great reviews, Chula and Plank. :clap:

Because after it they had zero hits, with only one more album featuring HRH, and after that, well, they essentially just disappeared really. Their heyday was in the mid-to-late seventies, that's pretty much all anyone remembers of them who is not a fan.

Essentially, Breakfast in America was their commercial peak, and there's only one way to go from there...

I feel like Breakfast led to their immortalization but I guess it's just semantics and perspective.

Well yeah it did, but unlike say Jackson with Thriller, it didn't lead to more successful albums, is what I'm saying. Personally, for me, as I think I've already mentioned, Famous Last Words was the last Supertramp album I really enjoyed. Some Things Never Change was a nice surprise, but the albums around it, pretty terrible all told. When you consider this band produced superb albums like Crime of the Century, Even in the Quietest Moments and of course Breakfast in America, I just feel they tailed off after that. Failed to perhaps capitalise on their fame and the interest in them, though indeed as you say it did make them immortal.

Since nobody wants to do it, here's the transposition of my review of
Some things never change --- Supertramp --- 1997 (EMI)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ver_Change.jpg

Despite the title, for fifteen years it had and has been quite obvious that things have changed, and drastically within the Supertramp fold, leading to a watering-down of their music and a serious waning of their popularity. When guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and co-founder of the band Roger Hodgson left in 1982 after the superlative "Famous last words", the band struggled to cope without his input, his presence, his inspiration. Of course, maybe internally they didn't, but looking at their output from that to this, it's clear that many of the sounds, melodies, ideas and themes that characterised their previous albums --- including such commercially successful ones as "Breakfast in America" and "Even in the quietest moments" --- departed with Hodgson. Although Rick Davies had always co-written and sung with Roger, it was the latter who was known as the voice of Supertramp, since most if not all of the singles have his voice and he always tended to sing on the more "up" songs, while Davies tended to take the more mature, downbeat, serious ones. This of course led to Hodgson being identified with such hits as "Breakfast in America", "The logical song", "It's raining again" and "Dreamer"; he presented the "happy", some might say more poppy side of Supertramp, and people knew the band by his voice.

But on the evidence of their last few albums Supertramp have never managed to recapture that special something that Hodgson brought to the table. "Famous last words" was a tour-de-force, a fitting swansong for the man who had guided Supertramp through twelve years and seven albums, but when the last echoes of "Don't leave me now" had faded away into the distance, there was a numbing sense of finality, and to be honest, had Supertramp disbanded then I would not have been that surprised. Perhaps, in the light of what came next, they should have done so. But no doubt Rick Davies and John Helliwell, who had been there from the early years, believed the band could survive his departure, and unlike Queen without Freddie or Lizzy without Phil, they forged ahead and tried to continue without him.

Without him though their music leaned away from the happy pop sensibilities of their hit albums and returned in the main to the progressive rock, blues/jazz themes of their first two albums, with a lot of the material coming across both as dour and dated. Though they scored a minor hit with "Cannonball" from the first album post-Hodgson, "Brother where you bound", the album did not do well and though it was praised by critics I found it meandering and boring. With only six tracks on it I believe it represented poor value for money too, even if the title track was over sixteen minutes long. The followup, "Free as a bird", was marginally better, but I could still only pick out one or two --- literally --- good tracks off it.

I believe they returned to a measure of their previous glory though with this, their, to date, penultimate album. There's a mixture of the long prog rock wandering songs that tend to crop up on the self-titled debut and some reasonably good rock, a bit of pop and it's almost something for everyone. Of the later (post-Hodgson) albums I'd say it's far and away the best, even if sadly it was followed by one of their worst ever. The album cover is very clever, a typical Supertramp motif that echoes the sleeves of "Breakfast in America" and "Famous last words", as well as "Crime of the century" but is more closely linked to the cover for 1974's "Crisis? What crisis?", with the advent of afternoon tea doggedly persisting despite the fact that the characters appear to be living on the moon. Some things, indeed, never change.

The music had changed though, and even with some quite impressive tracks this is still a long way removed from the heyday of Supertramp; there would be no hit singles from this album --- "Cannonball" has to date been their last incursion on the pop charts --- but it does at least improve on the track numbers, with this album containing twelve in all, compared to the previous nine on "Free as a bird" and the laughable six on "Brother where you bound". It also features the very first solo lead vocals from Mark Hart, who had joined the band in 1986 and had first tried out his singing on one track on the prior album, though in that case he had shared vocals with Davies. It probably isn't the best of signs that the album opens with a nine-minute epic, rather slow and plodding and with a downbeat message, but throughout the album it does brighten up and the style takes a turn back towards the more "happy" Supertramp sound of the seventies and eighties.

The album opens with "It's a hard road", soft digital piano and organ, bass guitar thrumming away and it's almost like a sort of a tuneup, the bass mostly leading the line as the piano chimes away in the background, soft synth laying down a backdrop until the drums cut in and the familiar sax work of John Anthony Helliwell sweeps up Rick Davies' voice in a funky, jazzy song that details the dreams of someone waiting to make it --- "Right now I'm just trying to survive/ Livin' rough, hangin' tough, shapin' up" --- his faith unshakeable that he will break into the big time. Over the last few years Davies has introduced more and more brass into the Supertramp sound, pulling them towards a more jazz area than in the Hodgson era, and it does work but reduces the commercial appeal of the band, making their current music less accessible to those who don't know them.

Davies has of course always shared vocal duties with his departed partner, and we know him from many Supertramp songs that didn't make it as hits, such as "Bloody well right", "Rudy" and even "Goodbye stranger", so it's no wrench to hear him sing here --- he has after all been bossing the vocals for fifteen years now --- and his voice certainly suits the dour almost blind optimism of this song. To be fair, for a song over nine minutes this does not seem stretched or overlong. There's a return of sorts to a pop sound with "You win I lose", those familiar uptempo Supertramp piano lines leading the way, and it's more boppy and even poppy: you could hear Roger singing this. Some great organ too from Mark Hart, and a wonderful little sax solo from Helliwell that evokes the golden years of the band. There's actually a lot of their massive hit "Breakfast in America" in this, then "Get your act together" is a more typical Davies composition, with a sort of half-bitter worldweariness about it, juxtaposed against a swinging uptempo melody with some fine harmonica. Sort of reminds me of "Put on your old brown shoes" from "Famous last words". More trumpets and trombones add to the upbeat tone of the song despite the somewhat sardonic lyric, which could almost be in response to the unswerving, almost naive faith expressed in the opener.

Nice organ and piano on "Live to love you", essentially the first ballad on the album, with what sounds like the ghost of Roger Hodgson in the backing vocals --- guess that must be Hart --- and another fine sax solo from John Helliwell, while the title track goes almost dance/funk with hard cracking drums and jazzy guitar, warbling organ and a tight bassline. Hints that our "new friends" may not be as reliable as they seem in lines like "In some countries far from here/ You know, the ones we used to fear/ Are they just waiting to return to/ Their old evil ways?" and some very acrobatic guitar from Mark Hart mark this out as different to the usual thing we've come to expect from Supertramp. An uptempo song with a bleak message and a warning, and a piano solo from Davies the like of which we really haven't heard since the seminal closer for "Breakfast in America", "Child of vision". Joined by Helliwell's horn then it makes a fine instrumental end to the song, with the sounds of sirens threaded through the tune, as if the point hadn't already been made.

The standout of the album by a long way comes with "Listen to me please", with a boppy, uptempo song that just fizzes with energy and a great fast piano opening, with vocals for the first time on the album shared by Davies and Mark Hart, though the former not surprisingly dominates. It seems to be a cautionary tale about perhaps not putting all your trust in record label executives? "We'll make it easy for you/ Plan evertyhing you do/ Won't have to work very hard/ You'll make it big from the start/ Don't have to take it from me/ Here's a list you can see/ For every one of those names/ I brought them fortune and fame." Or maybe it's just a warning that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. It's when the chorus gets going though that the song really takes off, and in the fadeout it speeds up and gets quite frenetic. "Sooner or later" then goes back into the slow funk groove of the title track, again driven mostly on piano and organ. It's the first song to feature Mark Hart on solo vocals, and he does really well. He's no Roger Hodgson, but his more falsetto voice contrasts nicely against Davies' baritone, and either way it's nice to hear a different singer. The song itself is no great shakes, though it does feature some nice interplay between Helliwell and Davies.

Blues and honky-tonk merge in "Help me down that road", great piano work from Rick Davies and a soulful vocal performance, then there's almost a sense of gospel to "And the light", one of the other standouts with lush organ and some great guitar, the first really slow song on the album, and in effect the first proper ballad. Brilliant smoky sax solo in it, then "C'est what?" is a return to uptempo poppy music and with a fine piano intro is almost a fast "Bloody well right", though some punching brass adds real teeth to it, as well as Hart's screaming guitar. It's the second-longest track, at over eight minutes, with some jazzy backing vocals, very danceable I would think, and it gives the brass section a real chance to shine. Very happy, very bouncy and again for such a long track doesn't drag or seem overextended. The album then closes on another ballad, the rather beautiful and quite uplifting "Where there's a will".

Opening on solo piano from Davies, the song mixes blues and gospel, with some solid drumming from longtime skinsman Bob Siebenberg, and Davies almost preacher-like on the vocals with some of the most basic truisms of humanity: "I don't know nothin' about this world/ And all its pains/ I can't tell you why we can't/ All just get along/ But after all is said and done/ Gotta keep on keepin' on!" Couldn't have said it better myself Rick! Great chorus on the backing vocals and a fine powerful ending that brings to a close a Supertramp album that stands head and shoulders above the work post-Hodgson, and which they completely failed to repeat on their next, and so far last, outing.

TRACKLISTING

1. It's a hard world
2. You win, I lose
3. Get your act together
4. Live to love you
5. Some things never change
6. Listen to me please
7. Sooner or later
8. Help me down that road
9. And the light
10. C'est what?
11. Where there's a will

There is, weirdly, a "hidden track" which is in fact the other one on which Mark Hart takes lead vocals, but as it's uncertain where it comes in the album --- my version shows it at the beginning, as "track 0" while Wiki lists it as track 10 --- I'm not going to go into it. I can't remember if it's on my original CD or not, but I don't remember it to be honest.

For a brief moment then in the late nineties Supertramp managed to recapture, at least partially, the magic and the excitement that characterised such albums as "Crime of the century", "Breakfast in America" and "Crisis? What crisis?" but the true spirit of the band left along with Roger Hodgson. In many ways, "Some things never change" can be seen as quite an optimistic album, from the blind faith of the opener to the determined insistence of the closer, and there are some really upbeat messages on it. There are of course darker elements, with the title track and yes even the opener can be viewed from a position of negativity and scorn, but this is a well put together album and recalls, probably for the last time in their career, the Supertramp I used to know and love.

Note: Supertramp videos are almost non-existent on the net. Where you can find them they're invariably "not available in your country", so rather than search YouTube fruitlessly I've provided a link here to the full album on Grooveshark. It's worth listening to.
Grooveshark - Free Music Streaming, Online Music

Edit: Grooveshark is now dead, so maybe check Spotify? Or just buy the album...

You guys may have noticed, but I've been really busy lately, and haven't had the time to go on MB the past few days. I'll write up and post my review tomorrow. Promise. :thumb:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._As_a_Bird.jpg
Free as a bird (1987)

I suppose everyone will have their own ideas about Brother Where You Bound, but I have only listened to it once or twice (originally only had it on a cassette tape and was not in any way impressed enough to buy it on CD or even vinyl) and did not like what I heard. For me, with the departure of Roger Hodgson in 1982 the magic was gone, and Supertramp have struggled to regain it ever since. This was their second album since his departure, and shows a continuing slide in quality, with again I think one or maybe two tracks I could point to as being noteworthy, the rest pretty much filler, and bad filler at that.

1. It's alright: It most certainly is not, with a kind of reggae/soul opening, utilising electronic drumbeats and what sounds like timpani, trumpets and not too much of the famous Supertramp piano, it being initially swapped for electronic synth. It is upbeat, but it doesn't really say Supertramp to me; the female backing vocals give it too much of a soul edging into gospel feel and it just doesn't sound right. Good piano solo though, which is always nice to hear.
2. Not the moment: A big sax blast at the beginning raises hopes this might pick up the quality, and it's not the worst song but it's still a long way from what I expect from this band. Sort of a low-key new-wave feel to it, thinking Split Enz or Cutting Crew here. Helliwell does his best, but the song is just not up to it.
3. It doesn't matter: Starts out with some nice rolling piano then harder organ takes over with heavy percussion. Kind of echoes of Hodgson here in the almost Beach Boys-style backing vocals, but it's a poor shadow and I'm just not feeling it.
4. Where I stand: Now this is very new-wave with elements of later Springsteen and Meat Loaf thrown in. And I hate it. With a passion. Sounds like something Kenny Loggins might write if he was really desperate for cash and didn't care about artstic int --- yeah I know: Kenny Loggins caring about artistic integrity? Who am I trying to fool? Anyway, terrible terrible song.
5. Free as a bird: One of the two songs I can stand on this album. Something of a return to form, for a few minutes, with sprinkly piano and a decent vocal, expressive organ and a great hook in the melody. Sax solo from Helliwell and it goes all sort of gospel for the chorus fadeout.
6. I'm beggin' you: Ah, if only all the tracks were like this! Actually gets into my top ten favourite Supertramp songs, this does. A breezy, uptempo song that you would not have been surprised to have found on Breakfast in America or Famous Last Words. Driven on Davies's exuberant piano with a great lead-up to the chorus and then a great chorus itself, a hook to die for and in fact this apparently became a big hit in the clubs! Who woulda thought it? Great brass section really “happys-up” the song, as do the squealy keyboard runs.
7. You never can tell with friends: As if he's said “Okay, you had your two happy tracks, now let's get back to sulking”, Davies inflicts this on us, and to be honest there's no let-up until the end of the album, as he plumbs the depth of mediocrity and certainly makes me wish the album would end. Heavy brass here gives the song a weird forties feel for me then mixes in a kind of seventies soul vibe, neither of which work.
8. Thing for you: More regage, and a sort of preview of the opener to the next album. One of the worst tracks on the album, and it's up against some stiff competition, so that's really saying a lot.
9. An awful thing to waste: Considering how bad most of this album is, why Davies saw fit to end it on a nearly eight-minute track is beyond me, but that's what he decided to do, so we have to suffer through this. Starts off really well, with a piano intro that harks back to the days of Even in the quietest moments, a slow kind of overture I guess, then it jumps into some sort of weird salsa rhythm which reminds me of James Bond and has French vocals? Also seems like Davies suddenly decided he wanted to be Santana. Weird. I find it hard to follow the song and it leaves me with a feeling of beign a little lost at the end of the album.

So, Love or Hate? One really good song and one good song cannot rescue an album, and so it's a clear Hate for this one.

Famous Last Words?
 

So I guess that brings Supertramp Week officially to an end. Frownland has, in his own inimitable way, pioneered the idea of going beyond mere chronological boundaries as he pushed Beefheart week into a second week, so in fairness anyone who didn't review and still wants to, you're welcome to do so.

Thanks to all who took part. Great reviews by everyone, and I hope you all enjoyed it. So, what's next? ;)